What to Bring to Your First Skate Lesson

Short answer: shoes, water, and yourself. Everything else is provided. But a few details make the first hour meaningfully better.

Bring these

• Flat-soled, closed-toe shoes. Vans, Converse, any skate shoe. Not running shoes — the thick heel rolls your ankle off the board.
• A litre of water. At altitude you'll need more than you think.
• Sunscreen, already applied. Colorado UV on open concrete is no joke.
• Long trousers if you're nervous. They save skin on the first few slides.
• Anything you already own — your own board, helmet or pads if you have them.

We provide

• A board sized to the rider.
• A sanitised helmet.
• Wrist, knee and elbow pads.
• A coach who has taught hundreds of first lessons and has seen every version of nervous.

Leave at home

Loose jewellery, headphones, hoodies with long drawstrings, and any expectation that you'll land a trick on day one. Session one is pushing, turning and stopping. That's the whole goal and it's plenty.

Arrive ten minutes early

Gear fitting takes a few minutes and starting rushed is a bad way to start nervous. Parking notes and an exact meeting point photo go out with your booking confirmation.

Written by Evan

Head coach at Rocky Mountain Shred School. Thirty years on a board and more than 1,200 students coached across the Denver metro.