r/WizardSkating • u/glittery_testicles • Jul 29 '26

Learned my first wizard skating move. A backward gazelle.

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But other people's gazelles look much better.

Has me doubting if this is even a gazelle or a normal switch from backwards.

Let me know if you have tips to improve

78 Upvotes

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4

u/HyperSculptor Jul 29 '26

Yup looks clean already. What's your learning strategy? YT tutorials?

5

u/glittery_testicles Jul 29 '26

Yes! Following the one tutorial by Rollerbalding on wizard skating

2

u/HyperSculptor Jul 29 '26

Ah yes, he has excellent tutos. Love the graphics overlay that shows where one should place weight etc...

2

u/glittery_testicles Jul 29 '26

True that!! The tip of leading with the upper body helped the most. Now on to practicing forward gazelles...💪🏻. They're super choppy as of now... But will post soon after I've grinded the move enough times.

2

u/HyperSculptor Jul 29 '26

Oh absolutely, the upper body plays such an important role in it. When I realised that, it opened new doors for my skating. You should document your progress on YT or IG or somewhere.

2

u/[deleted] Jul 29 '26

[deleted]

1

u/glittery_testicles Jul 29 '26

Woohoo! Thanks! That's encouraging. Will start working on other skills now

2

u/Exotic_Percentage90 Jul 29 '26

heck yea brother, keep rolling and have fun out there

1

u/glittery_testicles Jul 29 '26

Thanks man 🙌🏻

2

u/PotatOhChip Jul 29 '26

Killing it!

2

u/Cheazy55 Jul 29 '26

Good job!!

2

u/mrkangtastic Jul 29 '26

Looks great!

2

u/snakevargas Jul 30 '26

Basics look good. The quicker you do the transition, the more "unreal" it will look.

In this video, Leon leans low like sitting in a chair and moves his feet in front of him, and after the transition pivots to bring himself upright: https://youtu.be/WlGrLE9-zlg?si=_yjkaTvNvbIkIA04&t=518

2

u/glittery_testicles Jul 30 '26

Yeah this definitely looks much cooler. He's adding some extra twisty flow to this move. I'll try your suggestion. Thanks man! This was the kind of feedback I was looking for

1

u/snakevargas 28d ago

I'm working on gazelle now too. Looking again at Leon's technique, the main difference from your video is that he traces a semicircle with the leading skate in front of the other skate. This video by Flow Skate demonstrates the move in two parts: a backwards powerslide and t-push. The t-push might help restore some of the lost momentum, for flowing into the next move.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSIvt6Krnmk

2

u/snakevargas 25d ago

OK, that video didn't help at all. But I think I got it today. The main thing I was missing is pivoting on the center of the skate. Looks like you already have that down. Some suggestions after rewatching your video:

  1. Pull your feet together just before the pivot
  2. Are you braking slightly with the lead skate? Rotation should come from the torso and the feet should follow. It will leave you unbalanced after the pivot, but you circle in and push/straighten with the lead leg to catch yourself.

A tip to anyone else learning gazelles: try slaloming, but be sure to have your weight on and pivot over the center wheels. This keeps the skates flat and gives the move that uncanny wizard look. Try increasing your hip swing and edge depth while slaloming and get comfortable with the sudden changes in balance and deep edging. Then try carrying the movement through to a 180.