Royales are a new school trick that has changed the
sport. From this trick come others like the unity grind,
the backslide, the soyle, the meow, the cowboy, and Im
sure many others. A Royale is a grind in which you are
grinding an object frontside like normal, but your trailing
(back) foot is grinding on the outside edge. To
accomplish this, you need to bring your back foot in, and
push your ankle over so that you are on the outside (and
hopefully touching the boot to the rail). Now that you
have the stance, lets describe how to do it.
First off, unless you want to learn this the slow way you
need to start off right- Try and land in the royale position.
When I started I landed frontside and would go over to a
royale, and believe me it was no fun trying to relearn it!
So skate up to the rail (flat for the purpose of this tutorial)
like
you
are
going
to
do
a
normal
frontside.
When
you
jump
up
to
land
on
the surface, try and imagine your back foot under you as
if you were going to do a soul grind. But since you arent
going to do a soul grind, turn it normal!! You should have
the same crouched stance as a soul, and most of the
weight should be on the back foot like a soul. You need
to make sure that you are sliding between the middle
two wheels on both skates (duh!), but the back skate
should be sliding on the outside of the frame and the
boot. Ie- you have 2 points of contact with the bar. You
grind it out and hop off like normal..
BUT, there are 2 main problems when doing them.
Balance and balance..
Before you go and try doing it on a
rail, just stand in place in your skates
and try to assume the royale position.
Its tricky because you reaaalllly have
to bend that ankle out so that the
boot touches. Some people will
unbuckle their boot to make it easier,
but its really not necessary. Crank
over the foot as much as possible,
then bend your knees as if you were
going to take a dump (heh). Both
together should make it possible to
get down to the boot. So now you
should be squatting down and have
your ankle bent over so that both the
boot and frame of your skate is
touching. Good. But now comes the
hard part- foot position. Since you
dont want your feet to wash out from
under you when you grind, you need
to keep the royale foot no further
under you than your shoulder. You
may be tempted to bring it in closer,
but DONT DO IT! Okie, so you are
grinding with most of your weight on
your back foot. But wait, whats to
keep your feet from washing out?!
Well to offset the balance of your
back foot in close, you will need to
lean forwards slightly.
Now I guess you are ready to actually
try it. Just remember to try and land
in the royale position, and keep the
weight distrobution much like a soul
grind. Keep your ankles and knees
bent down so that you are crouching,
and it'll easier to grind. Since you are
good enough to be thinking about
this, you should be able to do it. Its
not much harder than a frontside!
As you get comfortable with royales,
doing a backslide is a natural
extension. Since your back foot is
under you, most of your weight is on
that foot. Just like in a soul grind, its
not too much trouble to pick up that
front foot once you have the stance
down. So after you have it down,
practice your royales and lift up your
foot a bit off of the rail/curb. Its not too
hard, so try and lift it up a foot. thats
a bit tougher. Now try and land with
your foot a bit off of the rail. Thats a
backslide! A few weeks of good
practice is typical when learning this,
so dont stress if you cant get it down!
Good luck!
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