Roller skating is a great way to get around, have fun, and stay in shape. But it’s important to know how to stop safely. If you don’t know how to stop, you could end up injuring yourself or someone else.
If you’re a beginner and looking for tips on how to stop on roller skates, read on. In this article, we’ll give show you different ways to stop, depending on your skill level. So let’s learn to stop skates with step by step process.
How To Stop On Roller Skates For Beginners?
If you are new to skating, your first priority should be learning how to stop because if you can’t stop, you can’t be safe.
Here are different ways you can stop on roller skates, depending on your skill level:
1. Stop Using Knee Pad – Best For Beginners
If you’re just starting out, you should learn to stop skating using a knee pad. Make sure you wear proper skating gear, including knee and elbow pads.
When you’re ready to stop, lower your body and touch your knee to the ground. This will help you to slow down and eventually stop.
This technique doesn’t require any hard technique or practice, and that’s why it is best for beginners. You can learn this technique quickly, which will help you stay safe on skates.
2. Toe stop drags
This is another easy technique that you can use to stop your skates. For this, you need to purchase a pair of skates that have toe stops.
When you’re ready to stop, drag your toe stop on the ground. This will help you to slow down and eventually stop.
To do this effectively, you must practice because dragging your toe stop can be difficult. First, you must maintain balance on one foot and then try to drag your toe to the ground with another foot. This will help you to get the feel of it, and eventually, you’ll be able to do it without any problem.
3. Heel brake stop
This is a bit more advanced technique and requires some practice to master. But once you get the hang of it, this will become your go-to technique for stopping.
When you’re ready to stop, drag your heel on the ground. This will help you to slow down and eventually stop.
To do this effectively, you need to maintain balance on one foot and then try to drag your heel on the ground with another foot.
However, you can do this only on inline skates or quad skates. You can’t do this on roller skates because they don’t have heel brakes. You can also learn how to stop on inline skates.
4. T-Stop
This is an advanced technique that experienced skaters use. It requires a lot of practice and balances to master it. However, using this method, you can stop quickly and effectively.
To do this, first bend your knees and lower your body down. Then put one foot in front of the other and keep going straight.
After this, make your back foot 90 degrees to the front foot and then apply pressure on the back foot to stop. This will help you to stop your skates quickly.
5. Plow Stop
This is another advanced technique that is used by experienced skaters. It requires a lot of practice and balances to master it.
To do this, first spread your legs wide apart. Make sure your legs are wider than your shoulders.
Then point both foot toes to each other and keep going straight. After this, both your skates front wheels will touch each other, and you will stop.
Don’t try to stop using this quickly, first make the wheels touch slightly and keep them touching for some time. Then slowly release the pressure, and you will stop effectively.
6. Spin stop
If you’re riding at slow or medium speed and want to make a quick stop, then you can use the spin stop technique.
To do this, instead of going straight and applying any other technique, just make a small circle. This will quickly stop your skates. You should transfer all your riding speed into the spin to make this work.
Practice this method in an open area first because you need more confidence to avoid falling while doing this.
7. Slalom stop
Slalom stop is an advanced technique and experienced skaters use it.
To do this, you should first keep going straight and start changing the riding direction like a zig-zag. This will reduce your speed, and you will eventually stop.
This technique requires a lot of practice to master it. You should first master how to balance yourself and then try this method.
8. Hockey stop
Hockey stop is another advanced technique that is used by experienced skaters.
To do this, you’ve to keep going forward and make a sudden curve maintaining your balance. This will quickly stop your skates.
Like slalom stop, this technique also requires a lot of practice to master it.
Additional Tips
Here are some tips to help you stop effectively on roller skates.
- First of all, you should practice in an open area to gain confidence.
- You should also practice stopping at different speeds. This will help you to stop effectively in all kinds of situations.
- Always wear proper safety gear while skating. This will help you avoid any serious injury in case you fall.
- Only try advanced techniques after mastering the basic ones. This will help you to avoid any accidents.
- Try all the techniques and then find the one which suits you the best. This will help you to stop effectively in all kinds of situations.
With these tips, you can quickly learn how to stop on roller skates. Practice all these techniques and master them to enjoy skating without any worries.
If you like to learn to go backward on skates you can also learn how to roller skate backwards for beginners from our previous guide.
FAQ’s
Q. How to stop on roller skates without toe stops?
Answer: If your skates don’t have toe stops, you also have various options to stop effectively. You can use the knee pad, heel brake, spin stop, and plow stop techniques to stop your skates without toe stops.
Q. How to stop on roller skates with toe stops?
Answer: If your skates have toe stops, then you can use them to stop your skates quickly. To do this, maintain balance on one foot and then press the toe stop with the other foot. This will help you to stop your skates quickly.
Q. How to stop on roller skates when going fast?
Answer: If you’re going fast on your skates, you can use the toe stop, t-stop or heel stop technique to stop your skates quickly. You should first practice these techniques in an open area so that you can gain confidence.
Q. How to stop on roller skates going downhill?
Answer: If you’re going downhill on your skates, you can use the t-stop or heel stop technique to stop your skates quickly. Never try to stop on a downhill because it can lead to an accident.
Conclusion
Stopping is an important part of skating, and you should know how to do it effectively. In this article, we’ve discussed various techniques which you can use to stop your skates quickly.
Practice all these techniques and find the one which suits you the best. With proper practice, you can master these techniques and enjoy skating without any worries.