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_r.s.s.inline FAQ: Techniques - Slalom_
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TECHNIQUES - SLALOM
Last modified: Wednesday, 04-Sep-96 13:02:06 EDT
A Web page devoted to slalom skating was announced in October 1995.
It's called cones+wheels: the inline skating slalom page and can be
found at:
http://www.skatecity.com/C+W/
_________________________________________________________________
From: Jim Aites (jim@hpsmpk.lvld.hp.com)
Date: Unknown
The movement known as a 'slalom' is normally applied to the art of
dodging in and around a series of obstacles. Being pulled by a
ski-boat or weaving thru the poles on a ski slope are two well known
examples. This discussion will try to address some of the joys and
techniques used when effecting this move on in-line skates.
There is both a natural 'swing' and a physical 'compression' that come
into play while doing a slalom. The 'swing' is durn near natural, but
by understanding and making proper use of the 'compression' it is
possible to use this technique to slow your speed, maintain, or even
increase it.
_Note_: Although the slalom can be accomplished in a stylish manner by
almost any skater, the ability to use the technique to slow down
should _not_ be considered a replacement for any of the more standard
braking methods. Also, I believe that serious slaloming is well within
the scope of the intermediate skater. Although novice skaters have
more important things to learn before slaloming...like stopping...I
feel that is is something that any skater can/should do.
Before trying to address the mode used to change your speed, let's
talk about the simplicity of the move while coasting or going down a
very slight grade.
_Basics:_
The slalom movement is based on the transfer of weight during a
continuous series of serpentine turns. This linking of alternating
turns can be a slow-and-easy movement, or it can be as fast as skiing
a tight mogul field.
Although there is a 'classic' position for doing a slalom (crouched
with knees and feet together), it may be done with feet in an open
placement or even in the water-skiing (one foot in front) position.
The most important thing to keep in mind is your ability to handle
your steering and speed.
Generally speaking, a couple of standard down-hill skiing suggestions
come to mind. The most reasonable of these is the idea of keeping your
shoulders and head facing straight down the hill (or direction of
travel). Your upper body _can_ provide added stability and leverage to
manage the slalom movement itself. Giving yourself this extra
stability will help a lot in avoiding an 'over-rotation' which happens
when you just ride the turn, and then try to go the other way...only
to find that your momentum wants to carry you around even further!
_Steering:_
I mention this first because it is _critical_ that you be able to
steer your skates without lifting them. As a point in fact, you will
not be able to do a free swinging one-footed slalom without mastering
this type of steering in one form or another. The following is a basic
practice move suitable for anyone, including novices.
One-footed slalom: (suggested method - author)
One of the simplest moves and most important ideas in skating (imho)
is the ability to do small slalom movements while on one foot.
Steering with one foot is _basic_ for doing stable cross-overs,
free-style, surviving a one-footed recovery, or...doing slaloms.
While moving at a slow glide on one foot, simply shift your weight
comfortably onto your heel. _Hey_, easy there! Just lift your toes a
bit. No need to try heel-walking yet! Now, simply use your body and/or
free leg to help point your toes in the direction you want to go.
Weave.
Note: I know I said one-footed, but I meant either foot. Practice
_both_! This is _easy_, my 7 year old does it. She found that she
needed to practice it to help her do controlled T-stops.
The basics of slaloming hinge on your ability to steer in some manner
similar to this. PLEASE TAKE NOTE!
_Safety thought:_
The 'feet side-by-side' stance used often in slaloming is probably one
of the more dangerous (from a front-to-back balance perspective)
things about it. The one-foot forward water-skiing stance makes a
great deal of sense when moving between smooth/rough pavement. In
either event, beware sand and water! It is also suggested that your
first attempts at slowing while going downhill be done on a _wide_
road with _no_ traffic. (nice grassy shoulders next to the road might
be a good idea as well) If you find yourself picking up speed instead
of slowing down, just continue a turn till you are coasting back up
the hill.
_Changing speeds:_ (This is where it gets interesting.)
In the process of 'carving' a turn (with both feet), you will find
that there is a point of compression. Adding pressure before the
furthest swing of each turn will increase (or help maintain) your
speed. Letting yourself 'give' just after the point will slow you
down. (if this reminds you of changing speeds while on a child's swing
then you might have the idea ;')
When going down a hill, simply doing a slalom is _not_ a sure way to
slow you down. It will probably keep you from going as fast as a
straight run, but that doesn't mean that you won't pick up enough
speed to lose control. Making your turns wider or 'deeper' will help
shed more speed because you are spending more time going diagonal or
crossing than heading down the fall-line. It is important that you
find the give-point (after compression) and learn to take full
advantage of it.
While practicing your slaloms, you may be tempted to try 'shreading'
some of your speed during each turn by unweighting the outside foot
and then shoving your heel outward with a bit of extra force. This can
help in slowing, but it is awkward and dangerous in execution. There
is a tendency for the heel to 'catch'. Fair warning!
Other pseudo-slalom moves:
* Linked cross-overs with a slalom type one-footed glide.
* Outside leans...use the opposing foot. (counter-intuitive...looks
great!)
* Catch the give-point of the compression, and use it for a 'spring'
type action. Care to try 'popping' a 360' in the middle of a hill?
_Just for fun:_
After you've proven to yourself that you can maintain or increase your
speed by pumping a slalom, try heading _up_ a narrow sidewalk. Amaze
your friends or passing motorists.
_________________________________________________________________
From pbrown@math.berkeley.edu
Date: Sat Sep 4 19:47:25 1993
I have a few comments to add. My skating is currently cross-training
for veldrome racing (bicycles), but I also have experience racing
slalom and GS.
One of the things that you leave out is the necessity of keeping one's
weight forward. That is, imho, the main use of poles in skiing. The
pole shouldn't be planted next to you; it needs to be planted _in
front_ of you. To maintain control in a slalom and use the "swing"
properly, your weight needs to be forward. My suggestion for practice
is skating by carving turns with alternate feet. The more you flex
your boot, the more your rear wheels drag, and the more speed you lose
on each turn.
To practice pole planting, sit in a chair. Sit forward a little, and
move your feet back some, keeping your feet flat on the floor. Now,
reach out with your hand and lean forward. See how that feels? Now try
it on skis at 50 mph...
_________________________________________________________________
From: Hank Hughes (thigpen@ccs.neu.edu)
Date: Unknown
Jim Aites (jim@hpsmpk.lvld.hp.com) wrote:
Note: I know I said one-footed, but I meant either foot. Practice
_both_! This is _easy_, my 7 year old does it. She found that she
needed to practice it to help her do controlled T-stops.
The basics of slaloming hinge on your ability to steer in some
manner similar to this. PLEASE TAKE NOTE!
Very _true_ ... but
Another approach may be too shift the weight forward (onto the ball of
your foot). Start on a patch of grass/carpet with your feet in a
v-stance. Then lunge like a classic fencing champion by mimicking a
stroke, but keep the weight on the balls of your feet. You're more
nimble with the weight on the balls of your feet. Then lift the
trailing leg slowly.
_Concentrating on the final stance:_
With a lot of flex into the tongue of boot and knee, try to drop a
perpendicular from behind the support leg's knee down to the space
between the 1st & 2nd wheel. Basically, if you look down you should
_not_ be able to see your foot because your knee is in the way. To
balance, press on your outside toes to turn in, or press on your
inside `BIG' toe to turn out
_In motion:_
To steer, point your knee into the direction you wish to turn. This
rolls your ankle & center edge into the appropriate inide/outside
edge. Now you can grind through turns (& hear the whoosh from breaking
traction).
_________________________________________________________________
From: Robert Schmunk (rbs@skatecity.com)
Written: November 28, 1994
Revised: October 20, 1995
Having become a regular at New York City's Central Park slalom course,
I guess I'm qualified to throw in some comments on the topic:
_The Course:_
The slalom course lies in the recreational lane of the Central Park
loop, between Tavern on the Green and the Sheep Meadow. Just skate in
the West 67th St. entrance to the park on a sunny weekend afternoon
and you can't miss it. Due to its location, the course has a good
slope and you don't have to get up much speed before you start down.
Slightly disconerting is that the slope is steepest in the middle of
the course, so that it feels like there's a "break" at about the ninth
cone. Depending on the trick, the slope sometimes means that you have
to "slalom faster" near the bottom of the course because the cones are
coming up at you much faster. The course also has a slight curve to
the right, which has been known to disturb visiting slalom skaters
from other towns.
The standard Central Park slalom course is a series of 27 cones,
spaced six feet apart. However, the number of cones has varied on
occasion; when the National Slalom Championship was held here in
October 1994, the course was 30 cones long. I've heard that in other
towns, slalom courses are sometimes only about 15 cones long, but my
guess is that future competitions will use closer to 30 because it
provides more opportunity for video-genic combination stunts.
When measuring off an area for a slalom course, don't forget approach
and exit areas. The Central Park normally has a 60-foot approach, with
skaters starting anywhere within that distance, but when pedestrian
traffic is light, it may be extended to 200 feet. Depending on how
fast you're moving and how hard you can brake, you will also need from
5 to 100 feet to stop.
Occasionally, when the expert skaters want to demonstrate how good
they are relative to those who are merely advanced (i.e., separate the
men from the boys), or if they want to compete against each other
without anybody else getting in the way, they will set up a course
with the cones spaced at smaller intervals. Most frequently the
distance is decreased to four feet, but lately there's been a lot of
experimenting with three-foot separation and an occasional attempt at
a vicious two-foot separation. We call such tight courses "technical
courses". A clean run through a 30-cone course with three-foot spacing
is just about the finest thing I've seen done on a pair of skates, and
provides great satisfaction if you can do it yourself.
The cone themselves are 8 or nine inches tall and made out of orange
plastic. The original square bases have been amputated. Cones of this
size are available in different hardnesses, but the harder kind is
best. Softer cones are less apt to fly away when you hit one, and they
often bend around your skate in what seems like a deliberate attempt
to induce a case of road rash on your exposed flesh. You can usually
get cones at sporting goods stores like Herman's, at around $2-$3 per
cone.
When the Central Park slalom course is not open, I've seen desperate
cone skaters rummage for pop cans, paper cups, or Gatorade bottles and
use them for cones, perhaps filling them with water to keep them from
blowing away. However, the height of regular cones can be
disconcerting if you've practiced a lot using pop cans, so if you're
serious about slalom skating, get some real cones.
_The Tricks:_
One nice thing about learning to slalom skate is that everybody's
interests diverge after the couple tricks, and if you stick at it for
awhile, you may be doing tricks that the pros (or at least the
supposed experts) have never learned. One woman I know devoted herself
to learning every conceivable variant of the forward criss-cross (see
below) and was doing things after six months that guys who have been
skating cones for four years couldn't do.
One last comment before introducing types of tricks: You'll likely be
wasting your time if you make your first attempt at many of these
tricks on a real slalom course. For example, if you can't maintain
your balance on one skate for ten seconds as you skate down a smooth
empty street, you're not going to be able to do a forward one-foot.
Even after having mastered most of the basic tricks below and a few
major variants, I usually practice new ones away from the cones, or on
a short course that only has six or eight cones.
Dividing into categories, there are:
* _Forwards tricks_
_Parallel:_
The first trick all slalom skaters learn, and you don't
need a set of cones to do so. Just place your feet next
to each other, with one leading by perhaps an inch or so,
and alternate which one is leading, thus introducing a
serpentine motion into the line of your path. The posture
for the rest of the body is very much like that used by
downhill skiers, and whenever a newbie me asks how to do
a parallel, the first thing I ask is "Do you ski?"
Some other tips: 1) Remember that ski instructors are
always reminding newbies to bend their knees. 2) Keep
your hands out but not up (i.e., below shoulder level)
and somewhat in front of your shoulders. Avoid waving
them around a lot, but use small adjustments like a
tightrope walker. And 3) on your first few tries,
concentrate on a clean skate all the way down the course
and don't worry about skipping a cone or three if it
makes you feel safer.
I also found that I got the smoothest parallel if my
knees were practically glued to each other. I jettisoned
my knee pads in order to attain this, but you'll have to
evaluate that safety decision for yourself.
_Monoline:_
Exactly what it sounds like. The skates form a straight
line, with the heel of one just ahead of the toe of the
other. This is a good next-step trick to learn after the
parallel.
A variant of the monoline which one frequently sees is
usually called a "telemark" due to its similarity to the
cross-country skiing posture. Basically, the trailing
foot is tilted so that only its toe wheel is touching the
ground. Usually the skater is crouched low to the ground,
often with one knee almost scraping asphalt.
_One-foot:_
One of the first tricks attempted though not always one
of the first mastered (some people just can't balance on
one foot through a 150-foot slalom), the one-foot brings
out the greatest variety in different approaches to doing
it, all of them valid. It's simply skating down the
course with only one foot on the ground, but the variety
comes in when each skater decides what to do with his
extra foot. Some hold it out to the side, some hold it
behind, some in front. Some use the extra foot like a
rudder, some kick like a Rockette, and some hold it like
a dead fish on its way to the garbage can.
Perhaps the coolest variant is the "flying eagle", in
which the extra foot is held behind you and you get down
in so low a crouch that its wheels may actually be above
your head. This can be an extremely fast maneuver, and if
you're of short, stocky build, you'll move like a bullet
and excite applause.
_Criss-cross:_
Using a scissoring motion of the legs, you cause your
skates to pass each cone on opposite sides, with your
legs crossed at every other cone. To do this, you'll
likely need to cock your hips so that one foot is always
ahead of the other and so that your skates don't bump as
you cross and uncross your legs. (Learning the forward
monoline is an excellent way of getting your hips in the
right location.) If your leading foot also has a brake
mounted on the heel, you'll need even more clearance.
Even though the criss-cross is one of the first few
tricks a slalom skater may learn, it seems to be one
which you _always_ have to pay a lot of attention to what
you're doing, because when your legs are crossed, there's
little room for recovery if something goes wrong. I've
banged up my left knee pretty badly from this.
_Cutbacks:_
This looks a bit like a criss-cross, but the crossing
maneuver involves lifting one skate entirely off the
ground and swinging it around behind the other before
putting it back down. Unlike a criss-cross, though, your
legs should be crossed at every cone.
* _Sideways tricks_
Getting your hips to turn out properly to do sideways maneuvers
requires differing levels of stress depending on your personal
anatomy. Some people can do this almost naturally; some can't do
it at all, no matter how hard they try. It took me a couple weeks
of practice and stretching to work up to a sidesurf; in the
meantime, I had a couple skate sessions which ended with my left
knee feeling wrenched because I was twisting it rather than my hip
joint. But just recently (Aug 1995), I had one of the best
speedskaters on the planet ask me for any tips I could give him on
sidesurfing because he'd been trying to learn it for months.
An exercise that helps is lying on the floor in a frog-like
position. Turn your hips out and bend your knees so that the soles
of your feet are up against each other. Now try moving your feet
inward (towards your body).
_Sidesurf:_
Think of this as a sideways monoline, with your trailing
skate oriented so that its toe is pointing from whence
you came. Because of the position that this puts your
body in, some people may call it a spread-eagle. However,
there is some room for variety, as some sidesurfers will
skate with their heels almost touching, and others will
hold them a couple feet apart; some skate standing almost
straight and others crouched down with derriere sticking
out.
A lot of sidesurfers use a pumping motion in their
leading arm to get their bodies to swing around the
cones, but with practice, you can turn a sidesurf into a
very graceful maneuver which requires only a little
movement by your leg muscles.
_Parallel sidesurf:_
Instead of the wheels all being in a line, the skates are
side-by-side but still pointing in opposite directions.
If your skates are right next to each other, it can be
very difficult to turn doing this trick, but if they're a
few inches apart, it's much easier. Your feet may keep
trying to drift apart into a regular sidesurf, so this
can be difficult hold.
_Independent:_
Again, skates are pointed in opposite directions, but a
scissoring motion is introduced so that the skates pass
the cones on opposite sides. I found the most difficult
part of doing an indy was getting my trailing skate to
come around, as my leg sometimes seemed to lock into one
position. (This may be a symptom that you're relying on
one foot to do too much of the work. Try to even it out.)
Getting low to the ground, almost sitting on the cones,
seems to help.
While the other sideways maneuvers can be done fairly
gracefully, the independent is almost always raw action.
If you really push it, you can actually accelerate quite
rapidly, so that an indy becomes one of the fastest
slalom tricks there is.
_Wave:_
Seemingly uses the same posture as the sidesurf and a
similar sort of zig-zag motion, but rather than follow a
single line, the skates are spaced fairly widely and pass
each cone on opposite sides, like an independent. Because
of the latter, it's also called the "out-of-phase
independent". It's certainly easier to do than describe.
* _Backwards tricks_
In order to see where he is going, a backwards skater can either
look over or under one of his shoulders. My choice was to twist my
shoulders so that they're oriented just about in a line with
cones, and I hold my leading hand (a) low so that I can look over
the shoulder and (b) out a bit so that I look towards it and see
the cones coming up rather than watch what my feet are doing.
_Monoline:_
Perhaps the simplest travelling backwards trick, and
possibly the one I've most frequently seen. When learning
this I found that it helps if the toe of the leading foot
and the heel of the trailing foot are not really close to
each other but are separated by six inches or so. This
allows some slight independence in the motion of the two
feet. After you've got the basic motion down, you can
bring your feet closer together and synchronize their
motion.
_Parallel:_
Many skaters who attempt this keep slipping into a
backwards monoline. I believe this is because of a
feeling that they are losing control as they speed up,
and a monoline is easier to do at such a time. One reason
for this statement is that I see more children than
adults attempt _and_ succeed at this trick, and
children's skates are notorious for having wheels that
don't spin very fast. Alternatively, maybe kids just
don't know the trick is "hard" and that they ought to
learn something else first.
_One-foot:_
Slaloming backwards on one foot is a real crowd pleaser
and also personally satisfying, so it's a good trick to
learn.
Like the forward one-foot, there is some variation in
what skaters do with the lifted foot, but not as much and
there is often a reason for the posture adopted. For
example, skaters who assume a backward one-foot by
approaching the course sideways often hold the lifted
foot so that it's wheels are perpendicular to the cones,
while those who approach skating backwards will hold it
so that the wheels are in a line with the cones. The
former style is useful when you are first learning the
trick because it allows you to move the entire lifted leg
(along with your leading arm) in a sawing motion that
shifts your weight so that you zig-zag around the cones.
On the other hand, holding the lifted foot in line with
the cones allows you to more easily put it back down the
same way so that you can continue skating backwards,
perhaps while doing a combination trick (see below).
_Criss-cross:_
Many practitioners feel this is easier to do than a
forward criss-cross because you have to cock your hips
anyway so that you can turn your head to see where you're
going. However, this presumes you know how to skate
backwards in the first place. I will admit, though, that
it seems safer to do a _fast_ backwards criss-cross than
a forwards one.
The leg motion in a backwards criss-cross is very similar
to that of a monoline, so if you're having trouble
learning one of them, try practicing the other. Odds are
that if you can master one, you can get the other fairly
quickly.
_Out-of-phase criss-cross (or backwards wave):_
Another hard-to-describe trick, like its cousin the wave.
It is similar to the backwards criss-cross because the
legs are crossed at every other cone, but unlike that
trick, it has a more zig-zag motion like the backward
monoline.
_Cutback:_
Similar to the forward cutback, but the crossing motion
is done by lifting and swinging the skates around in
"front" of you, by which I mean the direction you came
from. The basic motion looks sort of like a series of
crossover turns, but you happen to be traveling
backwards.
* _Tilted-skate tricks_
This is an awkward name for a category of trick variants in which
at least one skate has been tilted so that only one of its wheels
is actually touching asphalt.
_Extended and double-extended tricks:_
The word "extended" simply means doing one of the usual
tricks with one skate (almost always the leading skate)
tilted so that only the heel wheel is touching the
ground. Most common are extended sideways tricks,
particularly the extended sidesurf.
Some of the extended maneuvers are surprisingly easy to
learn _if_ you have removed the brake(s) from your
skate(s); I was able to do a clean 27-cone extended
sidesurf on only my third attempt (of course, I'd known
how to do a regular sidesurf for three months by then).
With a "double-extended" sideways maneuver, both skates
are tilted so that only their heel wheels are on the
ground. A double-extended sidesurf is rarely seen done
with any speed, but crowds think it's cool because it
always looks difficult (it is to an extent; it took me a
couple months to build up my thigh/groin muscles so that
I could do it). I've seen people do a forward parallel
with only the two heel wheels on the ground, which I
presume also counts as a double-extended trick (note: in
order to maintain stability, their skates are usually
spaced more widely than in a simple parallel).
_One-toe-down tricks:_
The close cousin of the single-extended trick, just with
one skate tilted so that its toe wheel is down rather
than the heel wheel. The most frequent example is a
forward monoline with the trailing foot tilted, which if
done in a deep crouch is, as noted above, often called a
"telemark". Another example is the reverse of this, a
toe-down backward monoline, with the tilted skate leading
the way.
_Toe-and-toe tricks:_
The only tricks I've seen completed and/or seriously
attempted with only the two toe wheels touching asphalt
are a forward parallel and a forward criss-cross, and boy
do they look awkward. I've also seen a couple goofing
around with a toe-and-toe sidesurf, but they never make
it past the second cone. And there is one person I know
who might be working up to a toe-and-toe out-of-phase
forward criss-cross; it's hard to say because he looks
almost totally out-of-control.
_Heel-and-toe tricks:_
This time, one skate is on its heel wheel only and the
other is on toe wheel only. They can be done forwards,
backwards and sideways. A _very_ popular heel-and-toe
trick is the forward monoline, but it requires building
up some strength in the calf of the leading leg (I still
can't do it but know several folks who can). Other
heel-and-toe tricks I've seen are the forward crisscross
and the sidesurf, plus an unsuccessful (but amusing to
watch) backwards criss-cross.
_One-wheel-only_ tricks:
At the October 1994 slalom skating championship in
Central Park, a French skater went down the course with
only one (heel) wheel touching the ground. There's a
photo of him doing it in the February 1995 issue of
_Inline_ magazine. Control on such a trick is difficult,
to say the least, and what might have been a knock-out
competition trick was marred by the five or six cones
that got knocked aside.
* _Combinations:_
A combination trick is simply that, a combination of tricks done
in a sequence. How many different tricks you attempt to do in one
run depends on how long your cone course is, and how many cones
you do with each trick. (At the Central Park course, we usually
require at least four cones per trick for the trick to count.)
Very often combos are signature moves; one NYC skater is
well-known for a forward criss-cross down the top half of the
course, followed by a 180 leaping jump into a backwards
criss-cross.
Not all combos are that difficult (or impressive), though; e.g.,
it's fairly simple to slide from a sidesurf into an independent.
Better skaters may even disguise a bad slalom run by converting a
trick about to go awry into an easier trick. Heck, I've done this
in competition and the judges never realized it.
* _Alternating tricks:_
An alternating trick is much like a combination trick, except that
the transition between tricks is done once every cone or every two
cones _and_ the skater alternates between two particular tricks.
Perhaps the most common example is an alternating forward
criss-cross, in which you alternate which foot is in the lead.
Thus, your right foot crosses in front of the left, then you
uncross, and then your left crosses in front of your right, etc.
If done well, this is a subtle trick, and spectators may think
you're just doing a vanilla criss-cross unless they're paying very
close attention.
Other examples I've seen are an extended alternating forward
criss-cross (the skater alternated which of her feet was crossing
in front of the other, but whichever was in front got tilted
upwards as soon as it started swinging around to the front), an
alternating backward criss-cross, an alternating backward
monoline, and what I call the Swiss monoline (because of the
nationality of the first person I saw doing it), in which the
skater alternates between a forward and backward monoline.
* _"Unclassifiable" tricks:_
Some tricks just don't fall very easily into the classifications
above. One such that I've seen is the "half Remy", in which the
skater was basically spiraling down the slalom course, doing a
180-degree spin around each cone (this implies that a full Remy
involves a 360-degree spin around each cone!). I got dizzy just
watching, and the skater looked a little ill when he finished. In
any event, it wasn't really a forwards maneuver or a backwards
maneuver. I presume that there are other tricks that can't be
easily pigeon-holed.
* _Ballistics:_
A ballistic trick is simply one of the above tricks done at high
speed. At the Central Park course this is done by launching from
100-200 feet from the first cone rather than the usual 30-60. A
ballistic flying eagle really hauls, and a ballistic backwards
combo is guaranteed to blow spectators away. Just make sure that
you have spotters watching to be sure that nobody blunders into
the course during your approach (this is a common problem in
Central Park).
* _Grapevines:_
The term "grapevine" apparently has a number of different
definitions in the skating world. The one that is most frequently
used at the Central Park slalom course is any slalom maneuver
which is done traveling _uphill_.
Some sort of self propulsion is obviously necessary in order to
keep your speed from tapering off, so the most frequent maneuvers
I've seen done on a positive slop are the backwards criss-cross
and the independent. However, I've managed to do an uphill
sidesurf, and I've seen others do uphill one-foots and backwards
parallels. The backwards criss-cross and independent are useful
for impressing spectators because, if done right, you can build up
some serious speed when doing them.
A good way to practice grapevines is to set up a _flat_ slalom
course, but make sure that it's long enough that you're not just
coasting through on your initial momentum. If you can accelerate
through a flat slalom course, you're ready to try an uphill
course.
Also, equipment can play a large roll in a successful grapevine.
Clean bearings and larger wheels help, as do lighter skates. I've
found that a grapevine independent is _much_ easier in Aeroblades
than in Lightning TRSes.
* _Pairs:_
There's pairs figure skating, so why can't there be pairs slalom
skating? Basically, it just requires two people skating the course
together while holding one or both hands. A popular example is for
the leading skater to do a backwards criss-cross while the
trailing skater does a forward criss-cross (this is often done
when the leading skater is trying to learn how to do a backwards
criss-cross). Exceptionally cool, are pairs doing backwards
_combos_. Tres cool!
And lest you think that there's a limit of two skaters doing a
trick together, three of the best Central Park skaters will
occasionally do a ballistic independent together. And occasional
groups of four or more skaters will get together to attempt a mass
maneuver, but more often than not this results in cones strewn in
every direction.
There are presumably many more maneuvers, or variants on the above,
but the problem is that the names for them may also be regionalized
(e.g., I've discovered that what New Yorkers call a criss-cross,
Bostonians want to call a crossover). Even within one locale there may
be more than name, especially if a trick has a lot of variants (e.g.,
the flying eagle variant of the forward one-foot), and a name based on
a combination of the above terms may have a special, fancy name. For
example, I've heard a backwards monoline called a "rattlesnake" and a
double-extended wave (wow!) is a "tidal wave".
_________________________________________________________________
_-rec.sport.skating.inline FAQs maintained by Tony Chen
(adchen@skatefaq.com)_
_-"Techniques: Slalom" edited by Robert Schmunk (rbs@skatecity.com)_
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Last Update March 27 2014 @ 02:12 PM
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