Lexi Bishop's legs are wobbling, her nose is scrunched and her hands are out like she's telling someone to stop.
"I'm scared," the 8-year-old from Cottonwood Heights squeals, taking mini-steps on her borrowed in-line skates. "I don't want to leave the grass!"
She stops in her tracks, looking more like she's learning how to high-wire act than in-line skate.
"I'm on my way," hollers BladeSchool instructor Shane Collard, weaving his way through 30 or so children on wheels at the Winner School.
Collard, a certified in-line skate instructor, gets to Bishop just as the beginning skater is about to fall. "We're OK," he assures her. "You're doing good."
He is as popular as John Stockton this sunny afternoon on Salt Lake's east side, as kids fight for his attention and approval while gliding around Winner's parking lot, looking like a bunch of miniature Robocops with all the protective gear clinging to them.
Collard is endorsed by Rollerblade to teach people of all ages and abilities to in-line skate as part of the company's grass-roots program to increase participation in the skating world. BladeSchools are helping the industry grow by giving an average of 100 lessons per week at 18 BladeSchools across the country. This year alone, the schools plan to put 200,000 people on in-line skates.
"This is the second year we've partnered with North America's top in-line skate schools, and the program has gotten bigger and better," said Bill Foy, brand manager for Rollerblade.
Collard gives private or group lessons through his company, In-Line Solutions, and has enough skating gear (in all sizes, mind you) to supply more than 100 people at once.
"That's what the two vans over there are for," he said, pointing over his shoulder. "On a day like this, I have to have every size available because kids are so fun and finicky — they have to have the exact, right size."
Each week for the next three months, Collard and his assistant, Karen Evans, will teach children at The Winner School the basics of in-line skating.
The first month, said Winner director Connie Saccomanno, the kids will learn skills. The second month, they'll be taught how to play hockey. And if they've progressed enough by the third month, she said hesitantly, like a worried mother, they'll learn how to speed skate.
"It's their summer vacation," Saccomanno said. "We're just trying to give them as much recreation as we can."
Tuesday was Collard's first lesson at The Winner School, so he spent the afternoon teaching kids how to put pads on, the safety of in-line skating and how to fall and get up properly.
"They have to realize they become a moving vehicle," Collard said. "Safety is always our top priority."
Not all of the children want to skate. Some are scared, and others have trouble getting into a comfortable groove, so Collard gives each of them a Rollerblade water bottle and encourages them to jump in whenever they want.
"I can't do this," says a frustrated boy as he tugs on his knee pad. (He doesn't want to give his name.)
"That's because you're trying to put your elbow pad on your knee," Collard says, laughing.
Nearby, Christopher Robbins, a 10-year-old Sandy resident, is skating frontward, backward and sideways. "Where's the half-pipe?" he yells.
"Looks like some don't need my training," Collard says.
But Lexi does.
Still timid, she has moved from the grass to a makeshift carpet. She's going back and forth now and eventually moves to the pavement.
"Having fun yet, Lexi?" an onlooker shouts as she skates by.
"Yep," she says, smiling ear to ear, arms still in front of her. "This is awesome."