FAQ's - Skating Skills

I am spending a lot of time on one exercise, do you have any tips for me?

Yes, I would go back to reinforce previous skills taught, as progression is just building up of skills, the key fundamentals of ice skating is like climbing a ladder is you miss a step out the next is harder to reach and strong fundamentals in any sport is essential

I haven’t been skating before, I am really scared, Can I overcome this?

We understand that ice skating can seem daunting and scary for some, so please be careful and maybe use the barrier or a skating aid for your 1st time as that may help you to get started

Sign onto your local rinks Skate UK programme where the key fundamentals of skating are taught in an active, safe, encouraging and, most importantly, fun learning environment.

Levels 1-3 (the Discovering phase) will give you all the basic skills needed to enjoy your skating experience.

I really like skating, how can I progress quicker?

Why don’t you try to go into your rink a more often to practice, user your free Skate UK App or approach a coach for additional lessons. In fact if you do all three of these you will defiantly progress quicker and don’t forget "Skate for Gold, Skate for Fun, Skate for Life"

Why am I better at backward skating than forward skating?

That is because when you skate backwards the weight on your blade is towards the front, your posture may help accentuate this as you may be leaning slightly forward, so when travelling forward try engaging your core and stand up really straight, this will help to guide the weight on your blade more towards the back to assist the blade to glide more freely and help with balancing

Don’t forget weight on blade is towards the back for forward skating and towards the front for backward skating and bodyweight/posture over blade is the key to success

I am finding snowploughs particularly hard, have you got any tips?

For a snowplough stop you need to be on the flat of the blade to allow the blades to slide across the ice more freely, most peoples feet drop inwards so the inside edges bite too much stopping the blades from sliding, overcome this and the snowplough will work

What do I do when I complete level 8?

You can carry on your ice journey onto the Star programmes which are discipline specific and split into Figure, Ice Dance, Pair skating and Synchronized Skating. These will give lots to continue with and grow your skating skills immensely

How long should it take me to complete a level?

Everyone is different so its difficult to say, don’t rush through as strong fundamentals are key to build upon for the next level