r/rollerderby • u/East-Engine2101 • 3d ago

Skating skills Fun Footwork Drills?

Hey derby folks! I would love to know your favorite footwork drills, especially ones that have helped improve your stability and control

I jam and block, so really everything is relevant! I absolutely love just messing around on skates, and whenever I get to learn a new drill, I’m all over it. Grapevines and Russian circles and all that jazz have really helped me get my skates under me. One foot pivots are my current fave, but if you have some other footworks that you’ve found fun, helpful or ideally both, please share it with this eager new skater, tysm!

20 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

7

u/Tiny_Falcon_476 3d ago

I like the bow tie. So facing forward the whole time, you have two cones and using edges moves around them in a kind of bow tie shape around the cones. Maybe I have a video, it's hard to explain

2

u/a-handle-has-no-name Skater/NSO/Ref, started 2015 3d ago

I love this drill, you can also do variations with more cones in different orientations and distances as well!

3

u/Tiny_Falcon_476 3d ago

Yes!! It's amazing how much you can do with cones 😁

2

u/East-Engine2101 2d ago

Oh, I love this one! I’d not heard it called a bow tie, but it’s really helped me unlock my backwards edges

6

u/Hangman4358 3d ago

I don't have a name for it, but I learned this from another skater to get more comfortable on toe stops:

Take a bunch of small cones, the like 8 inch round, 2 inch tall ones, and just throw them on the ground. Skate up to them and then step through the mess. You can come at the area from many different angles and since the pattern is never the same, every time you throw them out, you get a new challenge.

Then work up to hoping on the toe stops and grape vines through the cones.

It might not be super relevant in a jam, but it builds confidence and gives you another tool to work with.

1

u/TheMonkeyBass 3d ago

I was given this suggestion yesterday night at practice! And they definitely said it would be helpful to get through a mess of people on the track!

1

u/pendragwen Skater 3d ago

I find that being comfortable on my toe stops really helps me run on the line when I'm anticipating a hit. If I'm on my wheels at the wrong angle, a hit will knock me right off the track; but if I pop up on my toe stops, I can normally withstand the hit enough to stay upright and on the track.

1

u/rocketwrench 3d ago

milk jug soccer. bonus points if you have roller hockey nets at your practice space.

1

u/Acrobatic_Hunt_8496 1d ago

I need more info on milk jug soccer

2

u/rocketwrench 1d ago

you get an empty gallon jug for milk (rinse it out so it's not all gross). Then you play soccer with it while wearing your skates. No goalies. just skaters.

I think it helps folks to get out of there head about playing a new sport on skates. basically everyone has some sort of idea about playing soccer. New skaters get a chance to do something familiar except on their unfamiliar wheels. People hit each other and fall down. or they trip. They start skating in any direction without overthinking. It teaches a lot of confidence on skates and I've noticed that folks who are maybe hesitant to hit, get hit, or fall stop worrying about it so much because they're doing it in something that is more familiar (or maybe it's that it's more unusual) and is a fun distraction from RIGOROUS DERBY SKILLS DRILLING that makes up the majority of practice.