Stopping: Sounds so Easy

Previously, before children, I skated all the time for exercise.  However that was on rollerblades.  If you have never skated, there is a fundamental difference (besides the obvious quad vs. row of wheels.)  In rollerblading you stop by tilting your toe up because the stop is located behind the wheels.   On quad skates instead there is a toe stop.  If you tilt your skate up on quad skates you are going to land on your ass.  HARD.  So it is fitting that one of the first things they teach you is toe stops.  Every instinct in my body told me to lean back to stop and this made me a very wobbly stopper.  But once I figured out not to lift my toe to stop and lift my heel instead, then toe stops where pretty easy to master.  Especially when compared to the T stop.

To a new skater the T stop is daunting and feels very unnatural.  However, as you watch the veteran skaters it also looks (& sounds) very cool.   I will try to explain so you have a visual of a T stop if you have never had the opportunity to try one.  Since I am a righty I will use my right foot for this. As you are skating you essentially lift your right skate and turn your toes out at a 45 to 90 degree angle and push against the floor to bring yourself to stop.  If done effectively you will succeed in not only stopping but also making an offensive and most enjoyable grinding sound from the wheels friction on the floor.  If not executed correctly -you will only succeed in having an unattractive flopping leg look as you skate.  Kind of like you’re shaking off a leg spasm and you may possibly fall or hit the wall since you do not actually stop.   And it does not make that lovely grinding noise and instead sounds more like a thu-wump, thu-wump as a flat tire makes.  All in all, not a cool derby look.  Our fresh meat trainer, Hipburn, makes it look cool when she drags her leg, comparing it to a Zombie dragging their rear leg.  In roller derby, zombies are cool. I, however, am absolutely terrified of zombies.  I will probably have nightmares from thinking about them now.  Alas I digress, as this blog post is about stopping and not about zombies. Maybe someday I will write a blog about zombies and my imaginative plans for thwarting them for you. 

I would like to say I master the t stop quickly but I don’t.  However I don’t fall at all so that is a big plus.  It is many classes before I successfully master the T stop and many months before I successfully complete one with my left foot.  The trick for me ends up being when someone tells me to lift my inside two wheels higher and push those down after the back two touch the floor.  I can’t recall who taught me that but it is my little “aha” moment.  Once I figure that out I am the t-stopping master.  Not really, but I can at least stop instead of looking like a floppy legged zombie.

-        Knock Out Nelly