The heel stop is a critical skill for all inline skaters to learn. You employ the brake at the rear of your right skate brake for this stop. Your body weight needs to be centered or even slightly on your back skate when you're just learning the heel stop. The keys are a straight back and bent knees.
Difficulty Level: 2
- Do a V-Walk to ready roll position with your breaking skate out in front.
- Once you feel stable, bend forward at the hips and knees.
- Extend your braking skate forward.
- Lift the toes up in the front of your braking skate.
- Exert pressure on the heel down, in the back of your braking skate, which forces you to apply the brake.
- You may find that you aren't slowing down enough or not getting enough toe and heel action for braking. This is very common with beginners. If this is happening to you, you need to get further down in the knees during step #2 when you bend forward at the hips and knees. You should actually feel it in your quads as you drop further down. When you can feel it in the quads, you'll get the necessary heel force on your brake to slow down.
- Remember to keep a straight back at all times.
- A Large, Flat, Open area.
- Safety equipment
- Inline skates
- Proper Weight Distribution
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