For a smoother riding experience, your skating wheels are as good as the surface that they are riding on. If you skate on the wrong surface with the wrong wheels, you won’t only fall of your skates, but might get injured in the process.
Skating surfaces or areas are important to skating as they ensure that the skater enjoys his skating activity. This translates to better skating performance and the skater would be able to reap the full health benefits of skating. So in this article, we shall be discussing about where to practice roller skating.
Where to Practice Roller Skating
There are a lot of places or areas where you can practice your roller skating tricks and techniques. Like we stated, certain areas are better suited to certain skate wheels, so wrong choice of skating wheels will seriously hamper your performance.
You can skate on parking lots, roller rinks, parking garages (if there are no cars parked inside), concrete backyards, asphalt, sidewalks, etc. A basketball court and an hockey rink are awesome alternatives. In general, any empty space that’s wide enough can serve as a good spot for you to practice roller skating.
However, it isn’t enough to just know where you can practice roller skating. There are important factors to consider and these factors will surely determine if where you want to skate is ideal and suitable for your skates. So what are those factors?
One of those factors to consider is the hardness of the wheel. You want to skate on a basketball court, but do you have the right skating wheels? You want to skate on asphalt, but are you wearing the right wheels that will enable you to skate smoothly on asphalt? You need to make sure that you are wearing the right wheel, so that you don’t get to fall off your skates each time you try to move.
For example, there are skate wheels that have a rating of 78A – 89A, while there are others that have a scale of 90A – 103A. Wheels that have scale rating between 78A – 89A are soft wheels. This type of wheel is best for outdoor use because the floors are non-smooth, uneven, and bumpy.
Soft wheels or outdoor wheels provide better grip, perform better on rough surfaces, which translates to smoother ride. They also provide shock absorption since the wheels are mostly made out of rubber material. The softer the wheels, the better the control, grippier, and smoother it would roll on bumpy surfaces. There are soft wheels that can be used both indoors and outdoors too. They usually have a scale of 84A – 85A.
Harder wheels, on the other hand is best used indoors or on floors that are hard, smooth, tight, and sticky. In fact, if you intend to practice roller skating on skating surfaces or floors that promotes speed, you should get harder wheels or indoor skating wheels. This type of wheel allows the skater to perform a variety of skating techniques and spins. They are best suited for that kind of purpose.
Types of Flooring Surfaces Where You Can Roller Skate
Remember, we made mention of surfaces like asphalt, roller rinks, garages, sidewalks, sport courts, etc as places or areas where you can practice roller skating, but do you know that these surfaces are made of different flooring materials? Knowing this will ensure you get the best out of your skating activity. It will also go a long way in determining which type of skating wheel would be ideal for you. In general, skating surfaces influence how you skate.
Now, let’s take a look at what these flooring materials and thereafter, recommend which type of surface is best for beginners and professionals.
Concrete Flooring Material
Concrete floors are slick in nature and very hard. This type of flooring material enables the skater to perform power spins, and skate very fast due to the hardness of the floor.
You should be careful when skating on surfaces that are concrete. That’s because the surface can easily throw people off. If you intend skating on concrete surfaces excellently, you should get hold of hard skating wheels. Hard skating wheels, alongside concrete surfaces will give you total control on how you want to spin and do a whole lot of skating skills.
However, if you are looking at skating with better grip because of how slippery the surface is, you can opt for soft wheels with scale of 84A – 85A. They provide better grip on surfaces like concrete and will allow you to a certain degree, perform some spins.
Asphalt is another surface similar to that of concrete. It’s slippery, and that makes it easier for soft wheels to thrive in them. However, if you should try any other type of wheel, other than soft wheels, you will fall off very often.
Hardwood Flooring Material
Rinks that are made of hardwood flooring material has a smooth surface and will favor mostly soft wheels. You can also skate on it with hard wheels as well if you are good with skating. Unlike concrete surfaces, wood floors are smooth and provide excellent grip. This means that as a beginner, falling off your skates while skating on this type of floor is less. It is stickier than concrete.
A wood floor is soft too and somewhat sticky. Like we said, it’s best for skaters who are looking for grip, rather than powerful spinning or those high-performance tricks.
Versacourt
Unlike wood and concrete, this type of skate floor is the least used. That’s because it doesn’t work well for roller skating rinks. They are not suitable for speed lovers, it’s noisy while skating on it, and even rough.
For beginners, we recommend that you avoid skating on this type of skating floor. The grip is poor and the floor can easily burn your skin if you should fall off your roller skate.
However, versacourt might be an alternative to those who are thinking of starting a roller derby rink.
Which Surface Is Best to Practice Roller Skating for Beginners?
When it comes to choosing the best roller skating surface for beginners, individual preferences would likely come into play. Some skaters prefer concrete flooring surface to that of wood surfaces because it’s slick and it offers them the chance to do spins and perform several tricks, especially for jam skaters. There are also others that prefer wood flooring surfaces to that of concrete because it’s soft and offers better grip. At the end, the question of which flooring surface is best for beginners is dependent on the person and the flooring surface available to them.
However, we would recommend wood floors for the average beginner or starter. It’s best that you stick to wooden floors, except if it’s unavailable. Concrete floors are really hard surfaces to skate on if you are just starting out. This will curtail any chances of you falling off or sustaining any accident, but if you know that you can handle skating on concrete floors, then there is no need being too cautious.
A lot of beginners grow up skating on one type of surface, while others grow up to skate on different surfaces. The choice is not always easy, but for those who know nothing about skating and based on factors, such as injury rate, we recommend wooden surfaces for beginners.
The injury rate on wood floors is less and even less severe compared to other floor surfaces like that of concrete. Wooden surfaces like wooden roller rinks will only give you a minor scratch, unlike other surfaces that will decorate your elbows and legs with bruises.
However, if you stay in a neighborhood where you don’t have access to wood skating surfaces, you can opt for other types of available surfaces. It may be hard at first practicing roller skating on non-wood surfaces, but if you are taught by a professional and you are determined, you can skate pretty well on other surfaces.
Which Surface Is Best to for Professionals to Skate on?
Any professional can skate on any surface, so far he/she has the experience and skills. That’s why there are professionals, aren’t they? However, wood surfaces won’t be so beneficial to them because it is too sticky for them to perform power spins and skills. Concrete and skate courts are better suited for professionals because of the freedom and maneuverability they are given.
Conclusion
You can practice roller skating anywhere, provided that you are equipped and skilled enough to skate in your desired area. You should endeavor to wear safety gear, which includes knee pads, a helmet, elbow pads, etc. This will help minimize the severity of your injuries should you fall off your skates.
