Beginner’s ‘Crash’ Course Schedule

Booking in advance essential as places are limited to 8 per course. Please book early in hot months as courses fill quickly.

Time: 10.00- 1.00 Prompt.
Meeting place: Serpentine Road Hyde Park Corner end by the kiosk.
Cost: £50 bookable in advance here.

SUMMER INLINE SKATING LESSON SCHEDULE

Saturday 26th July (Booking now)

Sunday 10th August (Booking now)

Saturday 23rd August (Booking now)

Saturday 6th September

Saturday 20th September

As a brand new beginner Rollerblader these are the skills you will learn in our private Rollerblade lessons & group Rollerblade courses:

Skating forward: Well this bit is obvious. We do insist on a lovely technique though.

Stopping using your heel brake: Say No the that nettle bush! We’ll get you leaving a line of flames where the brake scrapes the tarmac. No gold star until you can stop down hills and in a perfect straight line though.

Turning around: When you’re really slow we learn A-frame turns but be warned you will look like a penguin. Don’t worry we move on to faster parallel turns as soon as we can.

Lemons & half lemons. Toe-rolls. Scoots: Don’t panic! These are just silly names for some very useful exercises that will dramatically improve your balance and technique required for confident inline skating.

Backwards skating: Oh yes, it’s really easy and at this stage it’s nice and slow.

Your skating lesson questions.

How do I book my inline skating lessons and group course?

Phone us on: 07917 400 200, email or book online. The information is on our booking page.
Group inline skaing courses must be booked in advance so we can control numbers and avoid no-shows.

What do I need to bring to my Rollerblading lessons or course?

Rollerblades, obviously! We teach on ‘inline’ skates which have four wheels in a row and a heel-brake. We do not teach on ‘Rollerskates’ or ‘quadskates’ which have four wheels at the corners and a toe stopper.

Rollerblade hire around Hyde Park.

We can provide limited free Rollerblade hire for children if ordered at time of booking.

Adult Rollerblades can be hired from ‘Club Blue Room‘ at Marble Arch. or ‘Slick Willies‘ on Gloucester Road. Both within walking distance from Hyde Park. Skate hire costs abou £10 per day with a cash or creditcard deposit.

Here’s some good advice for buying Rollerblades.

Protective padding: Wrist-guards, knee-pads are mandatory. Helmet and elbows recommended. These will come with hired Rollerblades so don’t worry.

A bottle of water. London is always hot and sunny so hydration is important.

A sense of humour. You may fall over and loose your cool. Falling usually hurts your dignity more than your bones! The first thing we teach you is how to fall over and get up again.

Do you teach children to Rollerblade too?

Oh yes! and it’s lots of fun too with plenty of games to make them forget just how much they’re learning.
Look at our Children’s Rollerblade lessons section.

Children can learn to Rollerblade as early a six years old. Children must have good rollerblades with a heel-brake, protective padding on wrists, elbows and knees plus a cycle helmet. A bottle of water is a good idea too.

Some cheap children’s Rollerblades bought in toy shops or catalogue shops are completely useless and will only hurt your childs feet. We can’t teach children in skates of such low quality. We recommend you spend a minimum of £50 for children’s Rollerblades or take advantage of our free Rollerblade hire for children.

What times do you teach?

We work like galley slaves from dawn till dusk, week days and weekends. Please book in advance for weekends and summer group Rollerblade courses as they get booked up.

Where do we meet?

We are based in London and teach Rollerblade lessons on: Serpentine Road (Nearest tube Hyde Park Corner) Kensington Gardens (Nearest tube Kensington High St) Albert Memorial (Nearest tube Gloucester Road) All these venues are in Hyde Park.

What if it looks like rain?

We will ask for a mobile number when you book your Rollerblading lesson and will call at least an hour before to confirm. Rollerblade lessons will generally go ahead unless it it wet on the ground.

How many Rollerblade lessons will I need?

Well it all depends on lots of things. Some people get it quickly and some people don’t. Some people just want to come out and have slow paced fun on a Sunday afternoon and some people want to do a street-skate as soon as possible. On average it takes about and hour and a half of instruction to get to grips with moving forward with a bit of speed, stopping tentatively and turning corners slowly. That is enough for some people. On average after four or five lessons you will have a good level of ability, a dramatic rise is confidence and your speed and technique will have really improved. Just as with learning a musical instrument or there is always something left to learn but that’s the fun! The most important thing to remember is that skating is fun, it is not a work deadline!

Do I need to practice between my Rollerblade lessons?

YES YES YES!!! That way you can say to your instructor, ” Been there, done that! now teach me something else.”

Will I fall?

The first thing you do with a SkatesCool instructor when you are an absolute beginner Rollerblader is fall over on the grass. It lets you know that falling is ok and that the pads work! As you get better you will fall less frequently. Even SkatesCool Instructors fall over occasionally.

Am I too old to Rollerblade?

No. Rollerblading actually reduces your age.
Alan Paxford skates, fast! and he’s old. Read his article here.

N.B. Please be at least 15 minutes early for your Rollerblading lesson so you can get your blades and pads on before your instructor rolls up to teach you. We will have another Rollerblading lesson booked after yours and need to be on time. You may not gat a full hour if you are late. Please try to phone us if you are unavoidably detained and we can make a plan B.