When it comes to roller skating, there are a lot of styles that you can learn. You’ve got your easy going recreational rolling, stylish rhythm skating and roller dance, technical artistic, rough and tumble roller derby, fast and furious speed skating, and aggressive park and street. Within these broad categories you can delve even deeper into the niche worlds of roller skating and see that these styles can look a bit different all around the world.
A lot of people starting their life on roller skates these days have seen a clip online of a particular skate style, pointed their finger, and have said “I want to do that!”. And yes, you can learn how to do that! Whatever gets you into roller skating is good in our books. You can devote your time on skates to honing your skills for that particular discipline, but we think there’s something to be said for being a bit skate-curious and having a go at some of the other styles roller skating has to offer. They might not all be for you, and that’s okay, but each of these disciplines can teach you something.
Recreational rolling – Shows you that hobbies can, and should, be for fun! You get a solid skating foundational base and a boost in wellbeing.
Rhythm skating and roller dance – So many rhythm skaters make this style look easy, it’s anything but. Roller dance is very technical with its weight shifts, balance, control, rotations, sequences, choreography, style and rhythm. It feels so good when you enter that flow state!
Artistic – Precision, grace and strength combined! Artistic skating is a bit more particular than other skate styles and for good reason, it takes a lot of discipline to make those edge heavy and complex skills look effortless. It makes for a strong body and strong mind.
Roller Derby – Fast reflexes, strategy and being able to anticipate the moves of your opponents. It’s one of the best ways to learn how to be a team player on wheels. Sure, you gotta learn how to take a hit, but it’s not as rough as it used to be and there’s loads of community surrounding the sport.
Speed Skating – It might just look like it’s all about fanging it, but speed skating requires a lot of control. When you’re flying around the track or rink at those speeds you need to be in the zone to stay on your wheels, manoeuvre around others and stop on a dime.
Park and Street – It looks hardcore and it can be a high risk hobby if you want it to be, but you can also be a park or street skater with a more cruisey approach. Yes, it takes strength, stamina and skill but most of all this style of skating will teach you the power of perseverance and resilience.
Whilst each of these skate disciplines may seem distinct, there are a lot of commonalities to be found across them.
Foundational skills – Consistent across the board is having a solid foundational skill base. Having your foundations on lock and refreshing them periodically is essential to progressing not only in one of these disciplines but puts you in great stead to explore other skating styles safely.
Creativity – All kinds of skating need a bit of creativity and problem solving to be able to weave skills together. Branching out to other styles can help build your skill repertoire, break that plateau feeling and get you feeling those skate vibes in new ways.
Mind / body connection – As is the case anytime you lace up, you need to be in the moment. Tune out the noise and get that brain and body working together to make some magic.
Practice makes progress – We’ve all seen those memes doing the rounds of how much work it takes to be mid or mediocre at a hobby you love. Well, roller skating is exactly that. It’s not an instant learn and those that put in what time they can to learn and drill their skills, love it. Please remember, there’s nothing wrong with being mediocre, skating is about joy and all of our skate goals look different.
This is exactly why we made the RollerFit program the way it is! Our classes draw on all these skate styles using the experience and knowledge of our wonderful coaches, each one with their own skating background and story. The program is packed with a variety of skills, not only because we want to be the launching pad from which our skaters can find the skate disciplines they are passionate about and want to explore further, but also because being a multidisciplinary skater in any capacity makes you a more well rounded skater.
You don’t have to try them all! And you can be a master of none! Don’t forget that roller skating is about having fun, creativity, getting in tune with your body and mind and being part of the community. If you want to start dipping your toe in to other styles, we’ll see you in class 😊
