A Must Read:

The sort of skating I wish to teach you is free skating. That is, skating in an open flat area, preferably to music. Of course, I truly believe in skating for endurance on hilly roads to build up stamina and muscle tone. But as far as learning to skate...mastering the skills associated with great skating, and having a tremendous amount of fun while being creative you can't beat open freestyle skating.

My Philosophy of skating consists of several important observations I have made over the last 15 years of skating. I am convinced that you will become an excellent skater if you learn according to these ideas. After you get really awesome you can expand on your skating and find your own equilibrium but for now really pay attention to these ideas.

IDEAS AND CONCEPTS OF SKATING

• Skating means skating in curves or arcs. Remember that a straight line is nothing more than an arc with a very large radius. So I will emphasize skating in curves. This is even more true when you skate backwards. Think of ice skaters. They hardly ever skate in a straight line and it's not just because they would run out of rink. The power is in the arc.
• I cannot emphasize more the need to be ambidextrous. If you are just now learning how to skate you can and you will become ambidextrous. My gymnastics teacher, Mike Ambrogio, used to tell his adult class (just like skating I started to learn gymnastics as an adult) that when you're equally bad at doing something and before you allow your brain to develop a predjudice for one side, it's much easier to learn how to do things on both sides.. YOU WILL SERIOUSLY RUE THE DAY IF YOU DON'T PRACTICE EVERYTHING BOTH WAYS. It is crazy what happens when you do practice both ways. At first you will think I can't even do this on my strong side how the heck am I going to do it on my weak side? But humor me. Humor Bob and give it a try. Believe it or not you will figure out how to do it. You will actually become equally proficient at both sides and may even come to accept the idea that handedness is in fact not genetic. You will find that somethings are easier at first from the left side, others the right. But all skills can be learned both ways.
  If you have already been skating for awhile and not practicing your weak side it will be more difficult to achieve this goal but only because you won't have the faith that you can do it. Believe me you can do it. It's not in your legs it's in your mind and you must train your brain. As Quartril said to Arnold Schwarzenager in Total Recall, "Open your mind...open your mind...open your mind."
• I don't think you really need an instructor unless you are a great skater attempting to do really difficult tricks. I'm not against instructors but unfortunately there are a lot of bad ones out there and this is one reason I have created this web page. I want to tell you all the secrets. Avoid instructors who analyze every stroke you take and every body position you make. Skating is a "feel it out" process and the way you develop the feel is to skate, skate, and skate some more. It takes a lot of practice to get good. I have come to believe that the idea of natural ability is highly overrated. I don't deny that some people do have natural talent but trust me on this, skating skills come as a result of hard work and practice not some natural talent. Skaters are generally very happy to share with you anything you want to know. So talk to a skater and ask him/her for advice.
• Every skill, and I mean every stinking skill, is acquired through practicing that particular skill. I skated for two years wondering when I would start to skate backwards. I just sort of figured at some point I would start doing it the same way one goes from walking to running. But unfortunately skating just doesn't work that way. If you want to learn how to skate backwards you must practice skating backwards.
• Be prepared to fall. If you can't handle falling I would honestly say you might want to try another sport. Falling on blacktop or concrete (and that's where you skate so that's where you'll fall) hurts. You can wear all sorts of safety equipment but if you choose not to wear all the pads you will get an assortment of rasberries, strawberries and other assorted bruises and bangs. And the worst of all is that a little pebble or a small twig usually results in a nasty fall. I will discuss falling later.
  
• Music is important and I am not one of those kinds of people who goes disco dancing or listens to his Walkman under normal circumstances but when I skate I must have my tunes. In fact, if I leave the house on skates without my MP3 player I must go back and get it. Otherwise I can't skate.
• Simply put if you can't skate backwards and feel comfortable doing so you can't really skate. I know a few skaters who have been skating for years and if you looked at them you might think hey, that person is a pretty good skater. They look very confident and free. But then you realize they can't skate backwards. I used to be that person. Now I skate backwards more than forwards. Why? There's more power in the backwards motion and believe it or not it's easier once you get the hang of it.
• Learning how to skate is very similar to learning how to play an instrument or learning how to speak another language. Your goal is to become fluent, be able to create, feel comfortable, and really enjoy the experience. As you learn new skills you will feel that your ability has entered a new level. Every few months you will feel like you've just gone up a notch. You'll notice that you're falling less often. Sometimes you will even be able to save yourself from falling (oh, the first time that happens you feel so good). But like learning the guitar it can be difficult to get over the hump. You will.
• Don't let anyone hold your hand when your skating. It's a really bad thing to do. You are on your own.
• When you're starting out go and find a very flat place that has a perfect surface. No need to be burdened with the added frustration of dealing with pot holes and pebbles on the black top.