Roller skating for beginners

Wear socks. Rinks such as Overlook require them with rental skates. Rental sizes may not match your shoe size: Riedell says roller skate sizes often run one size smaller than street shoes. A good fit, in Riedell's words, has the heel sitting firmly in the cup with little lift and the toes close to the front without curling.

Lace or buckle the skates snugly. The AAOS advises kicking your heel into the back of the boot before fastening and making sure the heel does not move up and down once you are skating.

If you bring your own skates, expect an inspection. Overlook requires working toe or heel stops made of light-colored rubber, rink-safe hardware with no exposed screws, and clean wheels suited to the floor, and it asks skaters not to wear skates outdoors on the way in. Oaks Park in Portland, Oregon, welcomes personal skates subject to inspection.

The AAOS lists a properly fitted helmet, wrist guards, and elbow and knee pads as essential protective equipment for in-line skaters, and Riedell gives the same four items for children starting on quads. The AAOS says wrist guards help support the wrist and reduce the chance of breaking a bone in a fall, while knee and elbow pads reduce cuts and scrapes.

For the helmet, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission says a CPSC-compliant bicycle helmet can be worn for recreational roller and in-line skating; aggressive or trick skating calls for a skateboard-type helmet certified to ASTM F1492 or Snell N-94. The AAOS fit checklist: worn flat on the head, low on the forehead, side straps forming a V around each ear, and a buckle tight enough that only two fingers fit under the chin strap.

Riedell's beginner advice works for adults as well as children: stand up slowly and find your balance before moving, start with small steps, and look forward rather than down at your feet. Its how-to-stop guide adds that leaning too far back throws off your balance and makes stopping harder.

Keep the steps small until they feel steady, and give it time. Riedell says practicing 20 to 30 minutes at a time, a few days a week, can bring noticeable progress within a couple of weeks.

Quad skates stop with a rubber toe stop at the front of each skate. Riedell's simplest beginner stop is the toe-stop drag: shift your weight onto one foot, let the other move slightly behind you, lower its toe stop until it makes gradual contact, and apply light, even pressure so the drag slows you down. Riedell's advice for kids is to start using the toe stop right away, pressing gradually while shifting weight slightly forward.

Two stops come next. The plow stop starts with your feet just outside shoulder width and the toes turned in toward each other; sink into a squat and press outward through the skates. The T-stop means gliding on one foot and lightly dragging the other behind it at an angle, forming a T.

Inline rentals stop with a heel brake instead. Rollerblade sells four brake options and says the brake can go on whichever skate you prefer, left or right.

Falls are part of learning; Riedell calls them inevitable for children starting out. The AAOS gives four rules for falling on skates: if you are losing your balance, crouch down so you have less distance to fall; try to land on the fleshy parts of your body; try to roll as you fall so your hands, wrists and arms do not absorb all the force; and relax instead of staying stiff.

Then get up and out of the traffic lane. Rinks ask skaters not to stop or stand on the skating floor; the Overlook rules say plainly that it creates a safety hazard.

Every rink posts its own list, and Overlook notes that staff can change its rules at any time for safety. These come from the posted rules at Overlook, Oaks Park or both: