Advanced skaters sometimes prefer to use the T-stop as a quick way to slow down. However, excessive use of this means of stopping can prematurely wear out the inside edges and the profile of your wheels. If this isn't a major concern for you, by all means use the T-stop when it's to your advantage to do so. The T-stop is applied by forming a T-shape with your skates.

Applying the T-Stop

To prepare to make a T-stop:

1. Stand in the ready position.
2. Move into a staggered stance.
3. Make three or four strides to pick up speed.
4. Keep your right skate out in front and facing straight ahead.
5. Lift your left skate about 3 inches off the pavement.

The skater's left skate has cleared the pavement and is positioned correctly for the next step, which involves a quick movement of the left skate to the outside. The skater needs to keep the right skate pointing straight ahead. He or she is now balancing over top of his or her right skate. This provides the lateral stability he or she needs. The hands are out in front and the head is up.

To make the T-stop:

1. Move your left skate about 1 foot back and out to your side. The left skate is now positioned properly for the next step which involves a quick, pivoting action.
2. Pivot your left skate in the air until it make a 90-degree angle with the heel of your right skate.
3. Place your left skate back on the surface about 6 to 12 inches straight behind you.
4. At the same time as your back skate touches the surface, tilt the inside edges of your back skate so they make a 15-degree angle with the pavement.
5. Drag all four wheels of your back skate to stop.

About this Inline Skating Technique
You have now formed a T-shape with your skates. The T-stop requires good balance and a proper posture throughout owing to the amount of weight and pressure you need to exert on the front skate. Notice the clearances that are specified in the above step. It's important that you don't clip the back of your right skate when you pivot your left skate behind your right skate.

In addition, you could also use the T-stop with your left skate out front and your right skate behind you. However, this is more difficult and cumbersome since your brake may get in the way when you attempt to pivot and place your right skate down on the pavement.

Summing Up
Use the above maneuver when you need to stop in a hurry because of a crowded trail or an obstacle in your path. Until next time, have a great season of inline skating!

Jim Safianuk

Jim Safianuk is an online writer who has written extensively about the sports of inline skating and downhill skiing. He draws his experience, ideas, and zest for both sports by being an avid, inline skater in the summer, and a certified ski instructor and racing coach in the winter.

In addition, Jim is currently the Inline Skating guide for the online magazine About.com where he's gained extensive experience as a writer and editor of inline skating articles, tips, how-tos, reviews, and quizzes.

He graduated from the Long Ridge Writers Group in 1999 with a Diploma in Article Writing and from George Brown College with a Certificate in Technical Communications in 2000. This provided the background he needed to write the prose contained in his articles, newsletters, and e-books, and the procedures found in his lessons, modules, and courses.

In 2002, Jim graduated from Centennial College with a Foundation Certificate in Web Programming, which set him up well for the development of his own web sites, feedback mechanisms such as forms, e-zines, and RSS feeds, and the delivery of information products.

Jim has recently published a new, web-based, training course for the 2004-2005 ski season entitled Skills of the Expert Skier. He decided to write the course because he wanted to fill a void that he feel exists in recreational skiing. There are coaches at the local, regional, and national levels who train adults to become slalom racers, mogul experts, and aerialists with an eye towards World Cup competitions. There are instructors at ski resorts, camps, and clubs who teach adults to be good parallel skiers on groomed trails. But what happens to the adult skiers who aspire to become experts on moguls, in trees, and down steeps? Who can they turn to for guidance?

He is convinced that the single, biggest factor is that these skiers know they need help, but can't find anyone to turn to for guidance, weekend to weekend, month to month, and year after year. But this is not there fault. A void exists. That's why he wrote Skills of the Expert Skier.