Freestyle slalom moves and levels

Posted on by Bev

Freestyle slalom skating is interesting because it preserves some moves that have been lost in modern figure skating, like grapevines and the full range of pivots, and because it doesn’t try to be like ice skating. Instead, it takes advantage of the architecture of inline skates. It’s also still developing.

USA Roller Sports has set up a series of levels, or “grades,” in freestyle slalom skating. These parallel the tests figure skaters have worked at for over a century: passing one gives you a feeling of accomplishment and concrete evidence of your skating skill.

The slalom tests are structured like the ISI freestyle tests in figure skating: first you do each maneuver in isolation, then you skate a program (1:45-2:00 minutes) to music of your choosing that incorporates at least six of the tricks. General skating skills and transitions are considered in the program.

Here are the USARS freestyle slalom test requirements, with links to video tutorials. I’ve given preference to English-language tutorials. I am not affiliated with any of these videos or USARS. The tests are copied from the USARS site, and I found the videos by searching YouTube.

Grade I

Grade II

Grade III

Grade IV

Grade V

Grade VI

Grade VII

Grade VIII

There are many brief videos of tricks on the World Slalom Skaters Association YouTube Channel.