Investigation
For the Investigation part of this CAS project I took what I learned from my own roller skating experience and applied it to teaching my cousin. I looked at videos and many different techniques that would allow me to teach my cousin the best I could, especially because at this point I had only been roller skating for about 6 months. I was prepared to teach myself certain skills and see my own failures and see what I did wrong, and what I learned was it had a lot to do with foot position, leg placement, and leg strength, as well as properly shifting body weight.
I found a list of different exercises we would do in order to help her and myself better control our shift in weight, however before I even began teaching her I made sure that I was well versed in what she wanted to learn.
Preparation
I prepared by looking up different videos that would help her understand best learn the things she wanted to learn. She needed to be patient, so a month in advance we planned when she would start learning and then during that month I prepared and prepared, feeding my own interests as well, and learnt as much about functional movements as possible.
I looked up many intermediate skills that she would need if she wanted to become better and the most important functional movements were:
- Spinning
- Manuals
- Adjusting trucks for Accessibility
- Squats on Roller Skates
- One leg lifts
- Navigating Ramps
Action
Once I started teaching my cousin the basics of roller skating in 2021, she asked I could teach her again, and so in early 2022 I decided to teach her for a month. The month went by pretty fast but I'd try to teach her every day for an hour. Not only was it a good workout for me but it was also a good learning experience for her as she was a quick learner after I taught her the basics.
In my building there is a 6th floor with pavement and tiles, and also ramps that helped me learn when I was just starting. The only tough thing to overcome was the wind as sometimes it would be extremely strong, but it proved to be great practice for her and her balance.
All these are things that I learned once I got more well versed in roller skating and are essential if you want to improve. She learned pretty quick and within the month she got half of the essentials, however still needed improvement on the others, so I ended up teaching her for slightly longer until she got all of these. She specifically asked to learn how to do a spin and the first thing I started with was leg flexibility, which wasn't too hard since she is a gymnast. Her biggest obstacle was strength and knowing which angles to move and lean, basically the shifting of her bodyweight.
I lucked out with her being a fast learner and I think it was good for me that I was able to teach her in a way she understood because fortunately I do know how she learns and how to communicate with her.
Reflection
I took away many different things from this project like, how to teach an 8 year old kid, how to be safe, and how to be patient. At first patience was a struggle, however when she began picking the tricks up I felt proud of her and as if I accomplished something I never have before. I think that's what kept me going because at one point I began to regret teaching her, but when I began seeing her progress I wanted to continue.
The best thing I remember was seeing her face when she did her first full spin, it wasn't perfect, but she did a full spin with a good final stance and we both screamed in excitement, and because roller skating was a recent skill for me I remembered how excited I was when I completed my first spin.
Demonstration
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