Rollerblader Diary
A first hand account of Phillipa Elliot’s progress
on learning how to skate.
Lesson 1 (of a 4 week course)
I didn’t really know what to expect. I’m not one of these people who prepares themselves physically and mentally for things. I cross that bridge when it happens. So there I was Tuesday night beginners skate course at Westbourne Green (near Royal Oak) with my new blades smiling apprehensively at a whole variety of different faces that were going to join me on this challenge.
I suddenly started feeling the pressure but after speaking to the others, quickly realizing I wasn’t alone in this boat of inexperience. Embarrassingly I failed on the first task. Not only did I manage to put my wrist guards on the wrong way round (which would have probably caused me more damage than without them) but I had put my skates on before the knee pads! Great start! Luckily the professionalism of the instructors guided me past the first hurdle.
So, there I was padded up ready to rock! I looked round nervously, it was suddenly dawning on me that maybe I wasn’t cut out for this. The safety demonstrations were all well and good but even the assurance of two instructors for a small group was not steadying my jelly-fish legs.
What followed in the next two hours was either divine intervention, or what was more likely, very controlled professionalism from those skatefresh instructors. There I was skating up and down in utter disbelief that I may actually be able to do this. Soon the side rail was not an option as we were taught to stop, scissor and turn. Ok! Perhaps not as fluid as that for me but just as I was starting to think I wasn’t getting it, Asha or Quentin would come along and correct the fault and BAM! Skating was easier. I began to feel quietly confident, sure most people around me looked like they were way above me in standard and poise but this is an individual journey and just being able to skate, scissor and lemon (geeze, I love the terminology) was a great achievement for me.
Afterwards I felt like I had the most enjoyable workout of my life, beaming at my instructors in awe. Deliriously happy, who knows where this could lead to? The streets of Paris, LA beach, the world was my oyster! Maybe it’s best I wait till next Tuesday and attempt week two to find out?
Lesson 2
Well all the aspirations of last week didn’t quite materialise as I expected. I hadn’t even looked at my skates for a week. I could blame the English weather, which we all like to do, but probably laziness on my behalf is the most legitimate excuse. My expectations of blading through the streets of London came crashing down to earth as soon as I got back on my skates. Asha warned us all we’d feel shaky but assured us within 10 minutes of skating we would be back to the level that we had achieved at the end of last week. I felt dubious, as my legs returned to their jelly-like status.
However, sure enough after a skate around practising our stopping skills we were all back to standard. Actually the others looked way more professional! Not sure if they had been honest with me about their practising over the weekend.
This week there was a different instructor joining the team. This happens every week although Asha is there constantly throughout. I like this as it brings a new quality to the lesson, with each instructor comes a different style and experience which is beneficial to any standard of skater. Louisa was the instructor for this week that amazingly taught us to skate backwards. I know! Believe me I never thought this could be achieved after 2 lessons. Our other skills were developed, left and right parallel turns emergency stopping, lemons, left and right scissors, and learning to pick up speed! Actually, surprisingly a lot of the moves are easier if you have a bit of speed behind you.
At the end of the lesson I felt like I had had a proper work out. There were muscles in my legs I didn’t remember as existing, but I felt great. I had fallen over this week but I knew why and somehow that had given me more confidence. The reasoning behind what we are being taught is starting to fall into place. Never will I look at roads and pavements in the same lazy way again!
Lesson 3
Bank holiday flew past, as did all my good intentions of skating over the weekend.
I respect people who come rain, wind or snow and still persevere with their sport. I’m still at that stage where I need the sunshine to get me out there and probably less of a hangover!
So there I was in exactly the same position as last week feeling the same old wobbly legs and feeling like I couldn’t remember a thing. Skating felt weird, and my legs ached. ‘I must surely be used to this and these pains shouldn’t be starting at the beginning of the lesson!’
But it’s just like the instructors have said, this will happen for the first few months of skating. The first five/10 minutes will feel odd. Your body is using muscles that it isn’t used to using (even if you’re a top athlete), all sports uses different pressures on different muscles and joints and it naturally takes awhile for you and your body to get used to the new tensions. Sure enough, after 10 minutes I felt more strong and stable.
Again we had a new instructor aiding with Asha on the course. This week was the lovely Lee, not only do we have a variety of different people within our class but instructors too. That’s one thing I have noticed about skating and it’s beautiful, no matter what age, shape, size or level of fitness, anyone can skate. Just looking around at our group the diversity is prevalent, no ‘one type’, and that’s great in my opinion, much more interesting.
This week we worked on our previous learnt skills. Lemons no longer look like cucumbers. Scissors and parallel turns are becoming slicker and more natural to manoeuvre. Skating backwards seems less frightening than last week. Overall, we look more confident and relaxed on skates. The demonstrations from the instructors no longer look like mission impossible. It’s interesting to learn which part of the body helps you with each skill, sometimes all you need is a tiny alteration in the way you are standing or pushing which can make the biggest difference and suddenly skating doesn’t have to be that hard!
The second half of the lesson we left the security of the court. Skating outside with its different surfaces, people coming from all directions, and varying obstacles make it a lot harder than previously imagined. We start with a hill stop and then have a little skate around the block. It suddenly becomes apparent to me that there is a reason we have learnt all these weird and wonderful skills. Adapting them to the outside world is a lot easier than I imagined. Somehow being forced to use the skills because of the terrain was easier for me, than practising them one after the other on the court. But I understand the need for that now! It was great having a go skating outside as my main ambition is to eventually skate to work.
It’s lovely coming to this evening class on a Tuesday, I always feel tired before I arrive but I feel energised and healthy afterwards. Definitely going to the park this weekend!
All About Skates Theory session
As part of our course we had a theory session called All About Skates. As I was hiring skates it proved very useful as I now know much more about inline skates than I ever imagined possible…..long frame = speed, short frame = manouverability (same for wheels). We learned the differences between different inline skates like recreational, hockey, speed and aggressive skates and the importance of rotating our wheels as they wear so as to get as much life out of them as possible. It was fascinating and I now know what to buy rather than being bewildered by the dazzling array of skates on display in the skate shops. However I have been labelled a skate ‘geek’ by my colleagues at work when I recounted all my new knowledge…..
Lesson 4
It was the last lesson of the course and it was pretty sad. There is something about those Tuesday nights that made me feel satisfied and good about myself. It wasn’t just about learning to skate which has been so great and rewarding in itself or that each of those Tuesday evening’s had been blessed with gorgeous weather. It was just the reassurance of getting out in the fresh air, being active and mixing with a whole diversity of lovely people. I’m one of those people who always has good intentions buthaving the added push of attending a course makes it a certain that I attend.
It was the last lesson of the course and it was pretty sad. There is something about those Tuesday nights that made me feel satisfied and good about myself. It wasn’t just about learning to skate which has been so great and rewarding in itself or that each of those Tuesday evening’s had been blessed with gorgeous weather. It was just the reassurance of getting out in the fresh air, being active and mixing with a whole diversity of lovely people. I’m one of those people who always has good intentions buthaving the added push of attending a course makes it a certain that Iattend. Finally this weekend my friend and I did get to the park and have a skate and it was excellent. Everyone was out and about and the initial fear of being in the open and feeling like a ‘gumbie’ was soon eliminated when we saw families of skaters, partners skating, or friends
laughing together and helping eachother out! The park was full of people enjoying themselves and doing there own thing and not really particularly paying attention to what you’re up to. I really enjoyed myself and found myself totally able to cope, it just felt natural, and being in the park on a warm summers day is beautiful, even more so if you can skate.
This week we had sweetie Phil as our extra instructor. It’s fantastic seeing how far we have all progressed in the few weeks we have been learning. I never imagined that I would be so comfortable with skating and actually attempting to do backwards transitions, crossovers and slalom turns on our last lesson. It made all the previous skills feel effortless! Not something
I imagined possible but over the moon that it was so. Something just seemed to click this lesson. Don’t get me wrong it is still a struggle to do tricks and look like those stylish instructors that lead us every week or the experts you see in the park. But, the ability to just free skate and know what you need to do to improve yourself plus understanding why you may go wrong is both calming and fulfilling.
I’m really looking forward to spreading my wings and trying out some other specialist classes. My aim is to skate the Wednesday night street skate (LondonSkate) and to get there quicker I’m going to attend Monday’s SkateFit classes to make my skating faster and more efficient (aparantly skating on rough roads is hard work). Then I will do an Intro to Street skating class one Wednesday and the following week I will be ready to join the masses and cruise the streets of London. I cant wait! My dream of skating to and from work is still on the horizon but getting closer all the time.
SkateFit (Mondays 7.00 – 8.30pm)
I’m still puzzled as to how long it has taken me to get back on the skates! It’s been over a month now and it was starting to get to that stage where I was making up excuses that were embarrassing even me. So along came a very sunny Monday and I thought this is as good a day as any to get back on those blades. The fact that it was a skate-fit class was a little disturbing for me, but as part of my reason for skating is in fact improving my level of fitness it seemed a pretty good class to do.
As usual I was so tired after a day of work and the mind was ticking over an appropriate excuse, but it was such a beautiful day I just had to get out there. I walked to the park and it was packed full of people, doing all kinds of things, ‘a hive of activity’. By the Serpentine Bridge there are so many skaters that hang out (its called ‘The Beach’), doing all sorts of crazy and wonderful tricks, or just chatting on the sidelines. I think watching them gave me the inspiration to put my skates on and skate over to the restaurant where our lesson was taking place. Wow, it felt weird, I was terrible, and someone even skated over to me and said ‘I’m glad I’m not the only learner here’! Where had all my skills gone too? I was back to being a proper ‘gumbie!, ‘the humiliation!
I wasn’t sure how this was going to work. I looked at my fellow class
members, they were all of a much higher standard, but I have to remember it’s my individual progress I’m interested in. Actually, the lesson was superb; all skills were relative to your own standard and there were easier and harder versions of the same exercise so that everyone had something challenging to do. It’s great going over skills intensely as not only are you giving your legs, arms, abs or whatever an individual work-out but it also improves your balance and co-ordination which results in a better looking skater. But wow, do you work out! I was using muscles I didn’t know I had, but they were sure making themselves known after the class!! It is a great feeling, the confidence was back, the energy levels rose, and the body worked-out. I actually skated out the park looking and feeling so much more relaxed in terms of gaining and maintaining speed; I could actually look all those ‘hotties’ in the eye as I skated by. I really felt great, absolutely knackered but fantastic for it! What a great class, beautiful setting (the park in the evening is stunning), lovely people and above all so good for your body and mind. In my experience, when your body feels tired your mind can relax!
Totally recommend skate fit. Next I’m planning I’m an Advanced Beginner skateschool class and then Into to Street Skating lesson. Wish me luck…
