Roller Skating Update: Backwards Skating

I thought for this month’s roller skating update I would focus on a skill, which this time around is backwards skating. But first, in general I’m still getting more comfortable on skates. I’ve started practicing dribbles and I think I’m improving, but I think I need to take some of the bounce out of it and just get smoother in general. I need to learn to pivot to turn in the dribbles too. I need to practice heel toe manuals some more. I haven’t been practicing them much so I haven’t improved in those at all. In fact, I think they might look worse than when I first got them last month! Regression is real.

So for backwards skating. I put together a little compilation video of me doing backwards skating, backwards bubbles, etc. for Instagram Reels that will go up later today so be sure to check it out! I really enjoy looking back at my progress because I forget how far I’ve come. Personally I always feel like I’m not improving much or fast enough so it’s always good to actually watch videos I’ve made over time and see that I have actually improved.

I still can’t get the backwards c’s but I unlocked backwards s’s so my backwards skating in general seems to be getting a little smoother.

Back in April, after I had my bad fall and bruised my tailbone badly, I searched the internet for butt pillows for skating. I’d seen a few people on Instagram with cute/funny pads and I thought that would be perfect for me as I practice backwards skating so that I wouldn’t be so afraid to fall. A lot of the butt pads are shorts with pads built in and they seriously look like something from outer space or they look like shorts made out of tires with the treading and everything. I saw someone with a turtle pillow that straps around your butt on Instagram and searched Amazon for that. I found it and ordered it! It was supposed to take a few weeks to arrive and I got the notification that it shipped. Then a few days later I got a notification that the package was being sent back to the vendor because Amazon deemed it undeliverable. No idea why. But, Amazon said they would issue me a refund in the notification. Anyway, couldn’t find any other pillow/padding and so I just gave up. Besides, I was slowly improving on going backwards so I figured maybe I didn’t need it. Well, what do you know, in late May or early June the package was on my doorstep! So strange! And I checked Amazon and the order still said canceled/undeliverable. So weird. Anyway, I did take it out to the park over the weekend and tried to skate with it a little. It did make me feel less afraid that I’d fall, but it’s a bit heavy so I feel like it might screw me up in terms of balance. I was a little nervous that people at the park walking by and the teenage boys playing basketball across from me and the grown adult men playing basketball down the court from me would laugh but no one said anything! I told my friend about it and she said “anything looks normal nowadays” which is true haha.