The next day, Kadijah met Trini at the park as planned.
“Hey, Trini! Thanks again for helping me train,” Kadijah said. “I really appreciate it.”
“I hope you’re ready to work today,” Trini replied. “We’ve got a lot to do. Do you want me to call you Kadijah or KC?”
“KC’s fine—all my friends call me that.”
Trini nodded and smiled. “KC it is.”
“Should I try to put my inline skates on so I can learn to stand up in them?” asked Kadijah.
Trini shook her head. “We’re not going to worry about putting on skates today.”
Kadijah was confused. “But how am I supposed to learn about speed skating if I don’t put on my skates?”
Trini smiled. “If you’re struggling to stand up in those skates, then that means that we need to work on your core strength first.”
“Core what?” Kadijah asked. She was picturing an apple.
Trini pointed to her stomach. “Your stomach is the core that helps you balance,” she explained. “If you strengthen your core, it will help you stay steady on the skates. We’ll work on your ankle strength too. You can’t skate without that.”
She walked Kadijah over to a set of exercise equipment and pointed toward a wooden disk that had springs underneath it.
“Hop up on that balance board. We’re going to see how well you can balance yourself,” Trini said.
“Here goes nothing,” Kadijah said. She put one foot on the balance board, then the other. The board began to shake. “It’s really wobbly!”
“It’s you who’s wobbly—not the board!” Trini joked. “Keep your feet hip-distance apart, near the edges of the board.”
The front of the balance board hit the ground, forcing Kadijah to hop off it and onto the ground. “At least this time I didn’t fall on my face,” she said, relieved to have landed on her feet.
“Maybe I should show you how to get on a balance board,” said Trini.
She stepped onto the middle of the board, shifted her feet so that they were close to the edges, and placed her arms out in front of her.
“When you get on the board, the goal is to keep your posture straight, keep your feet apart, and shift your weight so that the edges of the board never touch the ground until you get off,” Trini explained as she balanced easily on the board.
Kadijah was impressed. “Wow, you’ve been on the board for over a minute straight!”
Trini hopped off. “With practice, you’ll be able to do the same. Hop back on and let’s see how long you can stay on. Once you get good at standing on it, we’ll get you doing squats and side-to-side exercises on it.”
“Let’s do it!” said Kadijah.
After some time on the balance board and doing other exercises, Trini handed Kadijah a pair of regular roller skates. “Here, put these on.”
Kadijah took the skates from Trini and gave them a disappointed look. “Why do I need to put old roller skates on? I can’t speed skate in these.”
“You’re not ready to put on the inline skates just yet. Also, have you ever skated fast in regular roller skates?” asked Trini.
“Um, define fast,” said Kadijah sheepishly.
Trini laughed. “Okay, let’s just try it out for a bit and see how it goes.”
They skated around the paved areas of the park. Within a few minutes, Kadijah began to remember the feel of skating, and her confidence grew. The skates started to feel comfortable, like they were more an extension of her and not two slippery jellyfish strapped to her feet. She watched every move Trini made and tried to imitate her.
“How’s it feel?” Trini asked after a while.
“I feel pretty good! I haven’t thought once about falling or tripping. But I noticed that sometimes you stop not with your brake, but by doing some funky thing with your legs. What’s that move called?” Kadijah asked.
“Great question. It’s called a plow stop or v-stop. That’s when I spread my legs out wider than the width of my shoulders, and I turn my toes toward each other to slow down or stop,” Trini replied.
Kadijah nodded while she copied the move.
“But remember to brace yourself and try to keep your core balanced when you do a plow stop, or else your momentum as you slow down will cause you to fall forward,” warned Trini.
Kadijah nodded and patted her belly. “Core power!” she said.
“So now we’re going to pick up the pace with speed intervals,” Trini went on. “Since you’re more familiar with regular skates, you should feel steadier than on the inlines. For a bit we’ll skate at a regular pace, then we’re going to take off as fast as we can, and then we’ll slow down again.”
Kadijah nodded. “I’ll try my best to keep up!”
“Speed intervals will help you with your overall stamina. Stamina is one of the keys in speed skating,” Trini said.
“Stamina. Got it,” Kadijah said, eager to be a good student.
“Okay, let’s go!” said Trini.
The pair took off side by side on the paved park trail. For a couple of minutes they skated at a leisurely pace.
“Now, take off!” yelled Trini. She launched into a sprint, catching Kadijah off guard.
Wow, she’s really fast. I’m going to have to get focused if I want to keep up with her, Kadijah thought.
She dug her toes in and worked to catch up with Trini.
“You’ve got some wheels—you caught up with me pretty fast!” said Trini as they began to slow down again. “And that’s on those old skates!”
Kadijah was panting but smiling. “Just wait until I’m able to put on my inline skates. I’m going to blaze past everybody!”
Trini laughed. “I admire your confidence. Okay, get ready to take off again.… Go!”