How to Skate Backward on In-Line Skates | Rollerblading

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Learning how to skate backwards, known as riding "fakey," is an important skill to master if you eventually want to graduate to rollerblading tricks. Competitive rollerblader Tim Phang shows you how in this video.
Hi, I'm Tim Phang. I'm 23 years old. I've been skating for about 12 years. I'm from Arlington, Virginia which is right outside of Washington, D.C. I'm now sponsored by Universal Skate Design, and I'm going to be talking to you about rollerblading. Rolling backwards is one of the things you're gonna want to learn early in skating. A soon as you've mastered skating forwards, turning, and slowing down, you'll want to learn how to skate backwards. Skating backwards is also known as riding "fakey". So, to learn how to skate backwards, what you're gonna want to do is start out rolling forwards with a little bit of speed, and then step or jump 180 degrees, so then you're rolling backwards. When you're rolling backwards, it's really important that you keep your balance, so bend your knees. Also, most people, when they are rolling backwards, like to keep one foot in front of the other, so if you're comfortable with your right foot forward, then place your right foot just a little bit in front of your left, and then with your right foot forward, you're gonna want to look over your left shoulder, keeping an eye on where you're going, and if you like to have your left foot forward, you probably be better served looking over your left shoulder. That's going to go a long way in keeping your balance, and also helping you be able to see what's approaching you, or what you're approaching. Once you're comfortable just rolling backwards, you can apply that technique to tricks, such as the half cab or the zero spin. You can also spin from fakeys, so fakey 360s or fakey 540s. Going backward is going to feel weird at first, but you should stick with it, and eventually you can do things like crossovers, and you can check your speed, using what's called "T-Stop". So, if you're rolling backwards and you need to go a little bit slower, and right foot is forward, you can drag that right foot a little bit, and that's going to help you slow down.