STEADY: In-line skating teacher Stephen Fisher talks safety with a beginners' class at West Toronto Collegiate. (Francis Crescia/Vaughan Today)
Most parents would love to see their kids looking less like banged-up roller derby participants on their in-line skates.
That’s why instructors and public health officials are promoting a lead-by-example philosophy when strapping the little ones into urban blades this summer.
“My attitude is the kids want to imitate what their parents do, that’s just the way kids are,” says certified in-line skate instructor Stephen Fisher. “I make a big deal out of making sure the parents are always wearing a helmet and hopefully pads also.
“They don’t necessarily want to but if parents don’t, the kids won’t want to either.”
The padding helps prevent injuries that commonly afflict wrists and forearms.
According to the Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting and Prevention Program, fractures represent 47.6 percent of all in-line skating injuries, of which 45.2 percent are to the forearm and 22.8 percent are to the wrists.
Less common but far worse injuries include those to the head and elbows, Fisher said.
“If your feet shoot forward, your head could snap back,” he said. “Also when you fall that way, your elbows tend to absorb an awful lot of momentum.
“Based on my experience, most of the serious injuries are in the elbow. People don’t like wearing elbow pads, but I think it’s more important.”
Sergeant Chris Irvine-Leitch of York Regional Police Community Services said all it takes is a little common sense when it comes to in-line skating.
She suggested parents strap their kids into proper-fitting helmets, wrist protectors, and knee and elbow pads.
Only utilizing residential streets or park paths, using a buddy system and skating during the day are also good rules to follow, Irvine-Leitch said.
Proper lessons also go a long way, too.
Fisher has kids and parents sit in a circle and compare blading with ice-skating in his beginner courses.
“There’s wind, stone, hills, and they start to discover it’s not exactly the same,” he said. “There are all these things that aren’t in a hockey rink.”
With an emphasis on safety, having fun can often be forgotten.
“Kids are amazingly resilient,” Fisher said. “They can be just horrible the first day, they can just be spaghetti, they can’t stand up at all.
“And then within a week or two they are just flying along.”
With safety taken care of, Fisher said there’s one last item parents need to be aware of right from the onset: buying quality in-line skates.
He admitted parents have issues with dropping $100 or more for blades, but in the long run, if they go to a sports store over a department store, quality will be evident.
“They can buy (kids’ skates) so they’re extendable, so even if they’re going to spend $130 or whatever, it might last for a couple of seasons,” Fisher said. “But if they get a $39 pair at Canadian Tire, they won’t work at all, they don’t roll.
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