In freeskating, your stance determines which foot leads your movement and how your body aligns relative to your direction of travel. Because freeskates are completely unattached, mastering balance and stance orientation is the foundation for all carving and trick progression.
Every rider has a natural default stance, usually determined by which foot feels most stable guiding the lead skate.
Regular: Riding with your left foot forward (chest facing to the right side of the direction of travel).
Goofy: Riding with your right foot forward (chest facing to the left side of the direction of travel).
Switch: Riding in the exact opposite of your natural default position (e.g., a natural Regular rider guiding with their right foot forward).
It is strongly recommended to practice both your default stance and your Switch stance simultaneously while learning the absolute basics.
Because freeskating relies heavily on fine motor control in independent legs, building asymmetric muscle memory early on makes learning switch significantly harder later.
These stances are covered in almost all long form beginner tutorials, usually on Youtube by JMK Ride.
For a more detailed look at how pumping with both stances works check out Pumping