starts and stops. inline technique

[Souldriver 64]

So one thing that has been plaguing my game is my starting and stopping during games.

For starts....no pun here.... I find that when I go to extend my leg and get that last push with my foot and toe my toe slips and I can't get the full stride. The only solution is to take a shorter stride but that inhibits my game. Is there something that I should practise on or make.sure I'm doing with my technique to prevent that slipping?

When i go to stop it's not smooth and my skates kind of skip, kind of like a throwing a stone across the top of a pond. It makes it so it takes longer for me to stop and if I try to turn out of it can be delayed bc it may be in a "skip." I can't compare it to my ice stops as I havnt played ice in a long while.

Background: I'm 5'7" 250lbs. Mission ac2 skates (hi-lo set up) rink rat 78a outside wheels. Orange addictions in the middle.

[CommodoreColt 19]

I've also focused really hard on stops and starts in my inline game. I'm not an elite competetive player by any means but I consider myself a very strong skater and can chime in on some things that have helped me.

Unfortunately, like a lot of things in the inline game the biggest factor I can identify in stopping is the consideration of wheel hardness and surface type. That all too familiar grip/control/speed/slide tradeoff is brutal for stopping in particular because you have to give up a lot of ground in control and grip in order to get a good, controlled stop. I've sort of dialied it in for myself personally at the roll-on (very sticky) I play at, but I'm about 110 lbs lighter than you are and my setup would probably be of little help to you. For my roll-on surface, I've been going with sort-of-hard (78a or yellow Gripper) wheels in the middle with softer ones on the outside. You probably have a lot more options if you play on sportcourt because you can take advantage of dual pour wheels.

The biggest non-technical or equipment related breakthrough I had with good stopping was forcing myself to bend the knees a lot more than you typically see in the inline game. A lot of players are very stood up in their skating and I naturally skated that way for a long time. I forced myself to really try to "sit down" in my stride and discovered that allowed me to stop without the wheels chattering on the floor. My skating became a little more like an ice hockey style of game. I know it sounds like a tired platitude, but try really over-emphasizing the bent knees sit-down position when you practice to get a feel for the stop mechanics. It's very, very tiring and not a typical inline hockey stance but I think a deep knee bend is just the reality of skating this way.

I also really went out of my way to push off with crossover strides, one foot over the other, when starting in the oposite direction after a stop. I think one of the realities of inline skating is that the stride is just very inefficient and short on starts no matter how you do it. The only way I could get acceptable acceleration after a stop was to try copying the crossover starts I've seen in ice hockey powerskating videos. On ice it's done with the toes, but on inlines you've got to put all four wheels on the floor. This makes it extremely tiring but I think I can get to a level of fitness, strength and leg quickness that will allow me to do this more than once a shift without getting just absolutely f-ing gassed.

What kind of surface are you playing on?

[Souldriver 64]

sport court, a very dust, sometimes slipper sportcourt. forgot to mention that.

Ill try just using the whole foot to push and not toeing out as i seem to be loosing a lot like that as the end of my stride just disappears.

[Vet88 673]

For a one footed inline stop it's your technique. I was in a similar position to you a while ago, I played on tiled and urethane surfaces and my stops really juddered on the urethane. I used to swap wheels around every time I changed surfaces but that's a real pita. As you get better you learn how to fold your stopping knee and ankle inward, this changes the angle of the wheels to the surface and the direction of your force thru them ie you get more slip. As you control the angle of your knee and ankle, you can then stop on any surface regardless of what wheels you have on. Note - soft wheels still get destroyed on nasty surfaces like urethane. You are also more upright and balanced, your leg isn't extended straight out to the side so you can change direction, spin, turn etc as you wish rather than having to come to a stop, pull your leg in and then move.

For 2 footed ice like power stops, it's just practice, I have found nothing else that can teach someone this except practicing on ice so that you get the general idea of the body motion and position. However I do find that ice stops meddle with my 2 footed inline stops, it takes a few minutes to get the grip right on an inline court and this often means my first few 2 footed stops aren't pretty until I adjust.

[kovalchuk71 212]

How much do you weigh? If you are "skipping" as you say, then the wheels might be too soft (Like a hollow that is too deep in ice)

[Souldriver 64]

250lbs. My wheels are outside rink rat hot shots 78a, inside labeda addictions the harder orange (forgot their hardness) supposed to have a harder outside durometer as well. I could trade the addictions for all 78a hot shots as I called rink rat themselves and they said that wheel should be good and the higher end splits too gummy bc they flex more. I would think if I go outside wheel durometer it would be too much and I would really slip on push offs.

[Wicked3Aussie 68]

I made a post about this not to long ago.
Hardware helps but its all technique.

The problem is with a lot of hockey guys all the focus is on hockey skills.
See it everywhere here.
Not saying focusing on your game is bad what i'm getting at is it's like seeing a guy thats ripped from the waist up but then you look down and realise he skimps on leg day.

I personally do weekly quads based learn to skate classes, mostly because I want to skate but the practice does wonders for your balance and drills that perfect basic things like starts, stops, keeping legs parrellel in turns, sharper turns.....etc
I highly recommend it if you can get to a class like that.

Best start I use is the T start, get in position, crouch down with weight on back leg then push up(not forward) with your back leg to maximise power.
Might not work for you but there's heaps of others you can try to see what works best.

I had a crappy night last friday on a painted concrete floor, decided to swap from my newish World Cups to my original RPD soft Addictions to maximise grip.
The wheels are barely showing any where and I had grip but my drop in speed was ridiculous, went back the next night with the harder World Cups & was on the pace all night.

[Souldriver 64]

I'll YouTube t starts to see what those are about.

[Souldriver 64]

I'll YouTube t starts to see what those are about.

Saw a couple of good vids but im a little skeptical as how well they will work with me especially since I've been having toe slippage.

[Wicked3Aussie 68]

Saw a couple of good vids but im a little skeptical as how well they will work with me especially since I've been having toe slippage.

I used to do the side by side start but have found on the flat chassis the T start is easier.

It sounds like worn wheels that would cause that sort of slippage but it could also be your balance and where your putting your weight.

Can you take a video of this by any chance?

It could also help you personally identify any problems that you didnt realise you were doing.

Helped me fix my problem of skating with my legs to far apart. lol

[Souldriver 64]

Can't really video, wish I could. I also have a hi-lo setup not a straight 80. Not sure if that's what you meant by flat chassis or.you just mean all the wheels are in a row unlike a curved ice blade.

Heels are pretty new and like I said I called rink rat (their wheels are best for me) and asked their head guy personally what would be best.

The only thing I can think of is with all my weight only on the front it's forced to grip. I'll def try it, I have nothing to loose but im a little skeptical.

[sjs0433 15]

I have a pair of ice boots converted to roller and I'm using the same Hi-Lo chassis on the current mission skates. Compared to the first pair of conversion skates I did I found these new ones feel much better with the boot mounted more over the toes. If you look from a side profile I have a lot more wheel off the back of the skate than I do the front. I've been incredibly happy with how this feels. I had always previously felt like I had a little too much weight over my rear wheels and not enough up front. Not sure this is something you can fix but maybe something you could keep in mind?

Despite the trend and how most people say you should run mixed durometer wheels I still prefer my front two wheels to be softer than my rear two wheels. I don't like the hard inside/soft outside setup as much.

[default user 3]

Try pushing off with your balls of your feet. I notice I slip when I dig my toes in when I'm pushing off, or even putting a softer wheel(s) up front may give you more grip when pushing off.