Skating backwards on roller skates

[adcap 0]

Hi!

I'm a reasonable ice skater (but getting better every time) and so to improve my skills I started skating with some old inline skates in my street every day ... I noticed that it is somehow extremly difficult for me to skate backwards on the asphalt. Are there any tricks or so to skate backwards on inline skates? I'm doing it just like I would on ice.

[Datsyukiandeek 0]

Skating on ice and roller are two different things. Personally if I wasn't playing roller hockey and I was playing ice full time I wouldn't "practice" in roller blades. If anything its just going to hurt your skating.

[sdcopp 1]

Skating on ice and roller are two different things. Personally if I wasn't playing roller hockey and I was playing ice full time I wouldn't "practice" in roller blades. If anything its just going to hurt your skating.

again, this is a fallacy.

Joe and Brian Mullen grew up in Hell's Kitchen, New York with no ice. They both played on playgrounds and tennis courts wearing the old school quad roller skates. Yet through determination they both made it on to the collegiate squads of Boston College and the University of Wisconsin. Joe went on to play 17 seasons in the NHL and won 3 Stanley Cups, participated in 3 all star games, scored 40 or more goals in seven seasons and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2000. He retired as the highest scoring US born player ever with 502 goals and 561 assists. Brian played 11 seasons and participated in one All Star game and won the Lester Patrick Award for service to American hockey. What if they'd believed some joker who told them that roller skates were ruining their stride?

pretty sure that if you can skate, you can skate, period. I'm not trying to be a jerk here, but every form of skating has it's nuances that are different. If you spend enough time just skating on something you'll be fine. Granted going from quads to inlines to ice, etc will need a little adjustment time to refresh all the subtle differences, but in the end it's all the same basic philosophy of pushing from center, snapping the toe, returning to center, lather-rinse-repeat.

adcap, if you're really worried about the feel, you could try the Sprung chassis on an old ice boot, as that's supposed to be the closest to ice and may feel most familiar and comfortable. I have yet to get mine mounted, so I can't speak to how accurate that is.

[Alias81 0]

The switch over for most people I know is VERY minimal, maybe once in a while someone will go head over heals trying to "ice stop" in roller but thats about it, it's also good for general muscle building of the legs if your new to skating.

[sk8 0]

One of the things that helped me tremendously when skating backwards was switching from a traditional rollerblade skate to a hockey inline skate. The later does not have the brake and is balanced more like an ice hockey skate. The clunky brake was a real pain when skating backwards. Of course you will have to adjust to stopping differently since you will have no brake. It is extremely difficult to hockey stop in them. I just make c cuts and it seems to work well.

[adcap 0]

adcap, if you're really worried about the feel, you could try the Sprung chassis on an old ice boot, as that's supposed to be the closest to ice and may feel most familiar and comfortable. I have yet to get mine mounted, so I can't speak to how accurate that is.

Sprung Chassis? I could try mounting the chassis of my old ice skates onto the skates if I'm able to to this ...

thanks for the answers and because ice time is rare here I will continue to train in my inline skates and maybe start playing pick-up roller hockey.

[sdcopp 1]

adcap, if you're really worried about the feel, you could try the Sprung chassis on an old ice boot, as that's supposed to be the closest to ice and may feel most familiar and comfortable. I have yet to get mine mounted, so I can't speak to how accurate that is.

Sprung Chassis? I could try mounting the chassis of my old ice skates onto the skates if I'm able to to this ...

thanks for the answers and because ice time is rare here I will continue to train in my inline skates and maybe start playing pick-up roller hockey.

you'd just have to remove the ice runner from a pair of skates and mount the Sprung inline chassis to the ice boot. Here's a link to Sprung's site with pics of conversion onto ice boots:

http://www.sprung-inline.com/skaters/main.php?g2_itemId=35

worth a look at least if you're going to play alot of inline and want the closest feel to ice. Keith is quick to ship them out too, and may still have stock left for the closeout model offer on the main page of the site.

[adcap 0]

cool, they look nice. Definately a look worth.

But if I'm going to be serious at roller hockey it is may be better to get completely new skates since the chasis of my old ice skates are not the best (low-end xD)

[sdcopp 1]

cool, they look nice. Definately a look worth.

But if I'm going to be serious at roller hockey it is may be better to get completely new skates since the chasis of my old ice skates are not the best (low-end xD)

all you need is a good boot, though I agree that if you're going to play more you might want a new pair.. Many sites are blowing out ice skate stock cheap, so you could order some closeout ice and mount some Sprungs to them. Custom setups like that do tend to run a bit more than new mid to upper level inlines do, but if you don't want to run with out of the box inlines then finding deals and making the pair will be a good bet.

[adcap 0]

ok, thanks. I will overthink the whole situation in spring -.- till spring my old pair should work out quite well I think ...

[adcap 0]

Just if someone wants to know: I have mailed Sprung and they sent me an answer saying that the new sale will begin this weekend.