Dry-Land Skater Warm-Up: Stance and Safe Falls

A warm-up without skates, with helmets and pads already on, to activate ankles, knees and hips and rehearse the basic skating stance. Students drill falling forward onto their pads until it becomes automatic, before they put skates on.

How to play

1. In pairs, check each other's gear: snug helmet (two fingers between chin and strap) and wrist guards, elbow pads and knee pads in place (2 min).
2. Mobility in a circle: ankle rolls, knee bends, side lunges and hip circles (2 min).
3. Basic stance on foot: feet hip-width apart, knees bent over the toes, weight centered and arms forward; hold 10 seconds, then do a duck walk (2 min).
4. Safe fall: first from a squat onto a mat, then from half height, drop onto the knee pads and slide forward onto the wrist guards and elbow pads (2 min).
5. Get up like a skater: one knee, one foot, the other foot, hands on knees; on the call "Fall!" repeat the whole sequence (2 min).

Rules

• Nobody does the fall drill without a helmet and all three pads secured.
• Always fall forward onto the pads, never backward or onto bare hands.
• Each student keeps 6 feet of open space around them during falls.
• Anyone with wrist or knee pain says so and does only the stance work.

Variations

Adaptations

• Wrist injury: skip the hand landing and practice only the fall to the knees.
• Hearing impairment: the "Fall!" signal is given by raising a red cone.
• Autism: gets the sequence on a picture card with all five steps and practices it alone first.

Learning goals

• Activate the joints that work hardest in skating.
• Make a safe fall onto the pads automatic.
• Internalize the basic stance before using skates.

Equipment for a class of 25

• helmets: 15
• knee pads: 15
• elbow pads: 15
• wrist guards: 15
• mats: 4

Teacher tip

If the school has no skates or pads, borrow them from a local skating club, the city recreation department or another school, or let students bring their own with a signed parent permission form. With 15 sets of pads, the other half does the mobility and stance work and practices falling when it is their turn to skate.

More activities like this

More warm-ups for High School