Learning the Half Lemon – Inline Freestyle Slalom Skating Basics

Learn the Half Lemon – The Half Lemon in Brief

The Half Lemon is a trick of inline freestyle slalom skating and is one of the most important basics of this sport.

In the Half Lemon, you skate with one inline skate in a serpentine pattern through the cones, while you skate parallel to the cones with the second skate.

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To help you find your way around:

1. What is the Half Lemon? – Freestyle slalom skating
2. Learn the Half Lemon – SkaMiDan Tutorial
1. Preparing the Half Lemon
2. The posture for the Half Lemon
3. The movement of the Half Lemon
4. The Half Lemon and our Cones
3. What equipment do we need for the Half Lemon?
4. We are now familiar with these terms; Should we be familiar
5. Further basics in inline freestyle slalom skating

1. What is the Half Lemon? – Freestyle slalom skating

The Half Lemon is an important basis in inline freestyle slalom skating. In German, the Half Lemon is often also called Half Lemon or Half Melon.

The half lemon is a trick where we keep both skates on the ground. With one of the two skates we skate in a serpentine pattern through the row of cones. With the other inline skate we skate parallel to the row of cones.

It is up to us which inline skate we use to make the serpentine lines and which we use to skate past the cones. We can use either our right leg or our left leg to skate through the row of cones.

The side, or leg or skate, that is easiest for us is our regular side. The side that is more difficult for us is what we call our "switch" side.

Ideally, we train both sides, our regular side and our switch side. Mastering both sides gives us an advantage for many other tricks.

Although the half lemon is one of the basics of slalom skating and looks very simple, this trick should not be underestimated. The half lemon has some subtleties and is an important prerequisite for getting started in freestyle skating.

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2. Learn the Half Lemon – SkaMiDan Tutorial

We wouldn't be SkaMiDan if we didn't make learning the Half Lemon as easy as possible for you. With the help of our detailed video tutorial, you can learn the Half Lemon step by step. You don't need any previous knowledge.

In addition to our free learning videos and tutorials for inline freestyle slalom skating, we also offer you the following additional options for learning inline skating:

• Book an inline freestyle slalom skating course of your choice with us or register with us for personal training, a couples course or a closed group course.
• Take a look at our list of tricks for inline freestyle slalom skating and find out what tricks there are and what level of difficulty they are classified into.
• In the introduction to our skate blogs about a particular trick, you will always find a short video or trick clip. Using our trick clips, you will learn to associate the name with a trick and vice versa. With the help of these short videos, you can also learn the respective trick autodidactically.
• Finally, we have provided you with detailed text-based instructions below, including photos and important tips and tricks to learn and perfect the Half Lemon.

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2.1 Preparation for the Half Lemon

When doing freestyle slalom skating, and therefore also the Half Lemon, we need not only our inline skates and protectors but also our cones or slalom cones. We form two rows with the cones, according to the freestyle slalom rules. The first row consists of 14 cones, each 120cm apart (we use green). The second row consists of 20 cones, each 80cm apart (we use orange).

Finally, we take a piece of chalk, e.g. crayon, and draw two parallel lines along our cone row. We draw one line to the left of our cone row and the other to the right of it. Both lines should be about 20cm away from the cone row.

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2.2 The posture for the Half Lemon

In order to master the Half Lemon and perform it safely, learning the correct posture and the associated starting position is essential. For the correct posture of the Half Lemon, we must observe and implement the following.

• We stand on a flat surface and push one skate a little further forward than the other, so that we assume a scissor position,
• We bend our knees deeply, or push our knees forward until they are above our toes (or further forward),
• We lean our shoulders slightly forward (not further forward than our knees),
• Our bottom or hips are always above our heels (not further back).

If we can implement the points mentioned above, we will then train the ability to keep our center of gravity under control and thus our balance. We practice this by standing in the body or starting position we have just learned and alternately placing the left foot and then the right foot forward.

While standing, we switch back and forth between the leading foot (left and right) until we can do it and master it without any further problems.

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2.3 The movement sequence of the Half Lemon

After we have dealt with the correct posture and the associated starting position, it is time to practice the movement sequence of the Half Lemon. We practice the movement sequence of the Half Lemon with the following steps:

• We go into our starting position,
• We turn one skate by 90° and stand with both heels together,
• We skate forward in a semicircle with the skate angled at 90°, so that afterwards our heels no longer point at 90° to each other, but our toes, and then back again. The semicircle we skate forward is the Half Lemon,
• We push off from behind with the inline skate turned by 90° and do a half lemon. The inline skate with which we do not do a semicircle always stays on the ground and points straight in the direction of travel.

If you have difficulty making a semicircle with one skate while the other skates roll straight in the direction of travel, pay close attention to your center of gravity.

With the Half Lemon, our main weight and therefore our body's center of gravity is on the skate, with which we do not ride in a semicircle.

We therefore need to shift our body onto our standing leg. The easiest way to do this is to ensure that our chin or head is above our standing leg. The center of gravity of our body should not be between our legs.

After the semicircle, when the toes point towards each other, we have to open our feet again, or turn our skates forward again. The best way to do this is to take our weight off the front wheels and shift it towards the heel.

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2.4 The Half Lemon and our Cones

The last step is to skate through the cones or cone rows with the Half Lemon, to continue practicing and perfecting the Half Lemon. To skate through the rows of cones with the Half Lemon, we practice the following steps:

• We start with the 120cm Cone Row,
• We skate the half lemons next to the cones. Our standing leg always stays on one of the previously drawn lines, e.g. on the line that is to the right of our cones. With the other skate we then skate past our cones on the left with half lemons. We perform the half lemons in such a way that we skate together between every second cone.
• We do exactly the same as before, only this time we skate together between each cone,
• We no longer skate the Half Lemons next to the cones, but in a serpentine line through the cones.

If you find it difficult to skate the serpentine lines or the half lemons through every cone, then only skate through every other cone. As soon as you manage it, skate the half lemon through every cone.

In the last step we take a look at the 80cm cone row. You will see that it is much more difficult to skate through the cones with the Half Lemon when they are only 80cm apart.

Skating through the 80cm row works exactly the same as we just learned with the 120cm row, but it requires more skill and a lot more concentration.

The closer the cones are to each other and the faster we skate, the more the cones blend into each other. That's why it's important to be able to control the half lemon and its speed.

To practice and further improve our Half Lemon, we proceed as follows:

• We skate the Half Lemon as slowly and controlled as possible,
• We start the Half Lemon without a run-up, i.e. directly from a standing position,
• We skate the arches of the Half Lemon as flat as possible (the faster we get),
• We skate the bends of the Half Lemon as steeply as possible (the better we can control the speed).

If you follow these steps, you will master the Half Lemon in no time.

Finally, we practice the Half Lemon with our switch side. The switch side is the side with which a trick is more difficult. For example, if you have always used your right leg as your standing leg, then use your left leg as your standing leg for the Half Lemon.

Control over one's own speed, as well as agility and mastery of the stronger as well as the switch side, characterize a good inline freestyle slalom skater.

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3. What equipment do we need for the Half Lemon?

The equipment we need to learn and practice the Half Lemon is quite manageable.

To properly train the Half Lemon in Slalom Skating we need the following:

• Inline skates (they don’t have to be special freestyle slalom inline skates),
• Cones (20 pieces).

We also recommend the following:

• Helmet, knee and wrist protectors,
• 54 cones in three different colors (for the simultaneous setup of all three official cone rows of Freestyle Slalom Skating),
• Chalk (for practicing with guidelines),
• A suitable skate tool (in case a screw or axle is loose).

Of course, you can also use other things that are helpful to you. For example, if you don't have any cones yet and don't want to get or buy any, you can use stones, coins, cups or similar instead.

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4. We are now familiar with these terms; Should we be familiar

The more intensively you deal with a topic , the more you learn about it. This also applies to sports and the technical terms used in it.

Therefore, we have provided you with a list of the most important terms that you should know about the Half Lemon, or that you will learn about the Half Lemon with the help of our tutorial:

• Freestyle Slalom Skates
  Inline skates that are specially designed and developed for slalom skating.
• cones
  The cones around and through which we skate.
• Cone Row
  The row of our cones.
• Regular
  The side, or the leg, foot, skate with which we can perform a trick more easily.
• Switch
  The side, or the leg, foot, skate with which we find a trick more difficult.

So we and you now know all the terms that are important for the Half Lemon and the associated level of difficulty.

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5. Further basics in inline freestyle slalom skating

If you want to learn more basics in freestyle skating or if you already know the Half Lemon, then take a look at our other tutorials on freestyle slalom skating.

Simply use our search function or filter our skate tutorials using the following terms:

• Sport: Inline Skating,
• Discipline: Freestyle,
• Difficulty level: e.g. basics or trick list,
• Trick category: Slalom.

We are sure that you will find many more exciting tutorials and tricks for yourself.

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