How to Stop on Roller Skates | Beginner Tutorial

Stopping is one of those things that's always overlooked when you're learning to skate. You throw your skates on, whether it's your first time after 20 or 30 years, and just take off, not even thinking about how you're actually going to stop. Then suddenly you hit a wall, literally, and panic sets in. That's why a skill called a plough stop is a game changer. It's beginner friendly and helps you slow down and take control without freaking out. Hey, I'm Tracey. I coach people to skate confidently while having fun doing it. This is video three of my five part beginner series, because we're breaking down the skills that gets you skating safely and having fun. And today we're tackling the plough stop. I'm going to walk you through the plough stop step by step to show you what to focus on and to share some quick tips to make stopping way less scary. And this is what a plough stop looks like in action. Your skates form a triangle, your knees are bent, and it's a slow and controlled stop. So when I say triangle shape, I mean your toes are slightly pointed in and your heels are gently pushing out. As you can see here, the pressure is inside of your wheels and this creates the friction to the ground. And that's what slows you down. You don't need to force it, that shape and control the pressure through your legs. Think of it more like you're gently pressing rather than pushing really hard. Learning how to stop properly will build your confidence in every other part of your skating, because when you know how to stop, I promise you, you'll feel more in control. So let's try a couple together. So I want you to come into the final stopping position before we try it rolling. So bring your skates into a slight triangle shape. Keep your knees nice and bent and your arms out for balance. This is your stopping position. As you can see here, you're going to bend like you're about to sit down. No stiff legs. You want to bend as you stop. So by doing this bend, it lowers your centre of gravity and that's what pulls you in to help you stop. The other motion that we're doing with our skates is pressing on our inside edges. So you can see here, as I press my inside edges, my skates go inside. So we're not going outside, we're pressing on our inside edges. So make sure you've got a smooth surface and let's try putting all of that together. So you're going to be skating forward. You're going to roll. You're going to let your knees come out. Let them roll out to make a circle and then press on your inside edges, finishing in that triangle stance. So a few things that can go wrong here is that when you finish in that triangle plow stop, if your knees aren't bent and they're too stiff, you can slip backwards. So we still want nice bent knees because if we lean forwards, it will look like this. So bend knees out and you come over. So you end up in this position. We want to be standing up with our posture tall. When you bring your skates into that triangle stance, make sure that your skates aren't touching because if your wheels flip, you'll also go forward. A lot of people think that stopping should be instant, just like hitting the brakes in the car. But on skates, it's all about slowing down gradually. So it takes a couple of meters to stop and that's totally normal. Don't worry if you wobble or stop too fast. That's part of the learning and just keep practicing it over and over and over. This is what it looks like if you've got too much speed, you'll come into a plow stop and you'll feel like you're going to go over the top of your skates. Instead, if you've still got a lot of speed, I want you to hang out in this position here before you come into the plow stop. Stopping shouldn't be scary. It should be something that comes really natural and controls your skating and gives you more confidence. So make sure you're practicing your stopping every time you put your skates on. If you're new here, make sure to hit the subscribe button and don't miss the next video where we'll be learning how to balance. It's another essential skill that you should have under your belt if you're learning how to roller skate. Keep going guys, keep practicing and you should be proud of how far you've come. You're honestly doing so well by just showing up each time and practicing and giving it a go. Thanks for skating with me today and I'll see you guys in the next video.