Hi guys, I see a lot of you joining the roller skating family, I am super excited for your journey and I hope you keep me updated on how it has been. Don’t forget to leave your opinions on the topics you want me to run through on everything skating and I’ll be happy to be of help.
I see a lot of people saying that there are no way you can become and expert roller skater in just 2 years and that is totally not true.
Started skating in the midst of the pandemic, about mid may 2020 and fast-forward to now, it’s been almost two years I started this journey and I’ve done excellently well in building my skill and level. And I believe I am currently an expert skater. You too can become one if you set your mind to the task. It is not exactly as hard as they say and you’re in for a fun experience.
Now, I know a lot of you guys have the mindset that you will fall while skating as a beginner. While there’s nothing wrong with falling, records show that it reduces the self esteem and confidence of roller skating beginners.
Yes, falling is a skill in roller skating- but nobody likes falling. It is one of the things I hated while learning how to roller skate for the first time. Now, I learned this after crossing the beginner stage that you can skate without falling.
Yes! I said that and it is very much possible.
The only way to be confident and stand the test of time in roller skating requires you to learn and follow the correct techniques.
There is no way you can be confident as an amateur roller skater, trying out techniques only meant for a skilled and expert roller skater. I mean what do you even expect to achieve? Because you’re not only going to fall but might injure yourself in the process.
With that being said, I have decided to draw up and guide and plan to boost your confidence in yourself while roller skating. It’s not going to be very easy, especially if you’ve already lost it, but it is indeed achievable.
Ready? Let’s go!
Important practices to boost your confidence
Now, although learning roller skating for me was not really easy neither was it that hard, it may be different for you. So below are some of the things you want to make sure that you do in order to build confidence in yourself.
1. Ensure that your skates are tightly fitted
I see a lot of new skaters these days nonchalant about skating tightly. I mean how else are you supposed to skate properly if the skates are properly positioned? If you are already lazy when it comes to buckling your roller skates and tying up those laces, you won’t go far in your roller skating journey.
So instead of leaving your skates tongues not positioned properly and just tying your laces any how you deem fit, why not try these instead.
- Put on your skates and make sure your toes are staying correctly inside
- Pull out the tongue and adjust it properly to the center of your outside ankle
- Use both your hand and begin pulling your laces from the very first line, up to the end of the ropes until they are as tight as you want them.
- Tie the laces at the center of the tongue for a more tight and secure grip.
Following the steps above will make you look smart and ready for whatever technique you have to learn that day. Go you!
First step accomplished, moving unto the next!
2. Practice falling
Do not be deceived, I know I mentioned skating without falling and I meant every bit of that. When I say practice falling, I don’t actually mean the usual falling while skating. I do not also mean falling to the ground per say.
My own concept of practicing falling is learning how to fall forward but not actually falling forward. The reason for this is that, if you learn how t grip and hold yourself properly, when it seems like you want to fall, every fear lurking in the shadows begins to vanish thereby boosting your confidence as a roller skater.
However, in other to overcome such fear, you need to practice falling forward. If you don’t understand how it’s done, here are a few tips to it.
- Put on your protective gear
- Kneel down slowly and firmly on your knee pad and begin banging the ground with your knew. As crazy as this sounds, it actually convinces you on just how much you are protected if fall while roller skating. This helps to get rid of any fear you may have had earlier on.
- After you’ve learned this, go further and fall with your knee pads, but slightly wedging yourself from hitting hard on the ground with your wrist guards.
- Practice this every day before skating.
The idea behind this method is to let you know that even though you fall while skating, as far as you have protective gear on. You’re not going to injure yourself. And if you do this occasionally, it builds your confidence knowing that you practiced falling every day before roller skating.
3. Ready position
If you are learning how to skate for the first time, this technique gives you an edge. This is why many expert trainers always ensure that their student master the ready position.
In this position, you’re neither going back and forth, just learning how to stand readily without actually moving. I’ll like to pitch in not to learn this on a really flat surface, until you’re certain you’ve got a hang of it. A grassland or carpet is an ideal sot to learn the ready position properly. Here’s how it’s done.
- Stand with your feet parallel to each other (close enough till it’s uncomfortable)
- While you are standing, look at your toes. Making sure you can see them properly
- Still looking at your toes, bend your knees slightly until you can’t see your toes anymore.
- You will know you are on the right track when you suddenly feel all your body weight at the tip of your toes, don’t stop though.
- Your shins would begin to touch your ankle straps which are a supporting feature to help you not to move. If you don’t feel anything, readjust your straps until you start feeling the above mentioned.
While doing this, if you’re not able to bend your knees to enable your toes disappears, it only means that your knee pads are placed tightly and you may need to readjust them properly.
4. Wear nice clothes
In our everyday life, you can agree with me that looking good have a way of increasing your self esteem and confidence as you walk into a store or your place of work- wherever it may be. This is also the same for skating. s
Just because you’re feeling bad or not having a good day, doesn’t mean you should dress shabbily and gloomy to skate. Ensure that you are looking your best all the time. It goes further to help you master that technique even faster because you’ll be getting a lot of compliments about your clothes.
Dress well, do your hair, and pick out great roller skates to compliment your looks.
5. Minimize your speed
The last step in building your confidence is to go as slow as possible at your pace. Do not let anybody other than yourself to force you into going faster than you can.
You can create a skating planner for yourself and note down when you start a new speeding pace.
Do you!
Conclusion
The ball is now in your court. If you follow all that we have talked about, you’ll definitely see a spike in your confidence level as a roller skater.
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Until next time friends!
