Abc - italiano

1 - Let’s walk together in this learning experience with the aim of assisting the coach’s work. The simplicity of the exercises that I present accelerates the athlete’s learning and raises his self-awareness on what to do and how to do it. The exercises comply with the execution of all the in-line skating fundamentals with scientific preciseness. They identify correct execution in every aspect to achieve “real technique”.

Even if these two exercises are very simple, the teaching results successful, with verbal action (explanation during the execution), with sense action (press-touch or contact with body parts), with kinaesthetic action (feed-back received by the athlete during exercise).

STRAIGHT-AWAY RUNNING

3 - Transferring body weight (“running on railroad tracks”)
Aim: to make the athlete aware of the shifting of the hips from one side to another while variating the angle of the knee. The body weight must be transferred on a frontal plane in order to have the best push in the straight-away.
Execution: start with skates set wider than the hip-bone and knees bended (points B advanced to cover points A). Transfer body weight from left to right and vice versa trying to line up the four points of the leg supporting the weight (with bended knee), the other leg (with extended knee) must obviously not support weight. The skates must be always kept parallel, “strictly” at the same distance and on the same line (depth = 0).
Common mistakes: the body weight is transferred with a movement that is non parallel to the ground, the skates are not lined up on a frontal plane, and there are continuous modifications of the distance between the skates.
N.B.: in the next exercise the athlete, besides having to execute the exercise correctly, will have a new difficulty: to shift his weight at every pylon (space-time and rhythm coordinative skill development).

Exercise A: roll while leaning with your hand on the top, with a fellow skater pushing.
Aim: to keep the acquired correct posture on the legs and to keep correct body axis inclination.
Execution: see the general indications on roll-on (aim).
Common mistakes: the lower parts of the legs are not bended, the outer leg is extended.

first statically and type dynamically. The body axis inclination associated with a reduced radius of the curve and a low speed produces the right feelings for pushing and for the correct path with the skates on ground (the athlete is made aware of the right pushing).
Note well: Do not believe it is easy to keep the position presented in the following pictures, even while standing still.

Exercise B: roll while holding a cane over the knees.
Aim: to reduce “the depth” between the two skates, to keep the hip-bone and the shoulders parallel to the curve radius.
Execution: see the general indications on rolling (aim).
Common mistakes: the weight is placed only on the outside leg, the outside leg moves backwards and thus the cane is rotates towards the outside of the curve.

Exercise C: roll while holding a cane behind the knees.
Aim: to reduce “the depth” between the two skates, to keep the hip-bone and the shoulders parallel to the curve radius.
Execution: see the general indications on rolling (aim).
Common mistakes: the weight is placed only on the outside leg, the outside leg moves backwards and thus the cane rotates towards the outside of the curve.

7 - Rolling (static decelerating phase)
Aim: to roll with parallel skates as wide as the hip-bone, to get a good body axis inclination without interruptions on the line, to line up the 4 points on the right and on the left of the body, to line up points A-B-D (lateral view), to equally distribute the body weight over the two skates, to have the same knee bending, to keep the internal skate ahead no more than one wheel; to keep shoulders and hip-bone (iliac spines) parallel to the curve radius.
Execution: try to create different situations changing speed and curve radius; respect all the executions specified in the aim.
Common mistakes: to roll with skates too close to each other, to not line up the points on the frontal and on the lateral planes, to unload the weight on the outside skate, to advance the internal skate too much, to turn shoulders and hip-bone towards the inside of the curve.

8 - Crossover (propulsive dynamic phase)
Aim: to obtain a “continuity” in alternating left and right leg pushes’; to create a “synchronized action” between the leg landing and the other leg ending the push; to stay longer on the internal leg at the curve; “to land” with the right foot lining up the 4 points on the right side, with the left foot lining up the 4 points on the left side, “eliminate” rolling on in order to keep the running speed homogeneous.
Execution: obtain a complete extension-push of the right leg (see picture) before landing on the left leg, control body inclination without variations.
Execution: obtain a left leg complete extension-push (see picture) before landing on the right leg, control the body inclination without variations.

2 - TEACHING: SKILL AND ENJOYMENT
Two exercises presented in the previous chapter are shown in the pictures:
a) Basic position and weight distribution
b) Single skate in straight-away (searching for the “triangle” configuration), with the variation of raising the skate from the ground.

4 - Offset slalom pylon push (skates touching the ground)
Aim: (1) to help the athlete increase body axis inclination starting with skates close to one another, (2) to use a lateral push also in a curve, (3) to search for the correct body axis inclination in the straight-away pushing phases, to learn better the double push and the “progressive dynamic rolling” (distance tests).[foto 2a e 2b]
Execution: bend body with united skates when at pylon level, then push with the leg far from the pylon, increase the speed and body inclination (practical advise: lean towards the pylon and then push).

the end of the pushing phase.

5 - Transfer of body weight and fast pace (propedeutic for speed tests)
The exercise is the same already presented: “the windshield wiper”.
Aim: to create transfer of body weight as result of legs’ extension-push, to adjust the execution pace in function of the pylon’s distance.
Execution: use a straight line on the track. Increase the speed and when at first pylon level stay only on one leg with the weight distributed on all

wheels (landing). Begin the lateral extension-push to start the hip-bone transfer; at the end of the push the following landing must be on the opposite side of the line (to make a “triangle”). The correct push never permits to “cut” the line on the ground.

Common mistakes: atterrare quando la gamba di spinta non è ancora completamente estesa, atterrare nella stessa parte della gamba di spinta, questo errore porta a “tagliare” la linea.

ATTENTION: The hip-bone position during the curve is fundamental for a correct execution of the rolling and the crossover step (in the picture the coach indicates the point C, the left iliac spine, to the athlete; this point must be kept compressed towards the inner part of the curve).

ATTENTION: you must land on the right leg after the complete extension-push of the left leg.
Common mistakes:
The most common mistake and the worst one for the pushing efficiency is to land the right leg when the left push is not yet complete. A further mistake is to land lining up points A and B (right side) with points C and D (left side).

9 - To transfer these “made simple” technical exercises to real situations (training and racing).
At this point the athletes have the basic information of how understand the techniques. In this itinerary of our learning we presented the in-line skating technical biomechanical and mechanical concepts (first article),

we illustrated position and awareness exercises (second article), we demonstrated the propedeutic exercises in order to acquire and to control fundamentals (this third article). The exercises for the start will be presented in the fourth article. The coach can now transfer his knowledge, according to the pupil’s group and to the target he wants to reach, to each of his pupils in real training and racing situations.
ATTENTION: if during these new situations the technical model changes or is not reproduced exactly as it is during the technical exercises, the learning will not be well assimilated, and future teaching schedules must still provide “a wide space” for technical lessons.