When it comes to buying skates for children, parents often become anxious about the cost. Some parents or each coaches will suggest buying very big skates for children, hoping they will last longer and save money.
The result is often destructive. Skates are sports equipment, the spin rocker of the blades, or for artistic skaters, the position of the front truck are carefully engineered to sit under the ball area of the skater’s feet to make elements easier to learn and perform. The length of blades/plates assumes the skater is wearing boots those are within the recommended size range. Eg. The recommended size range for ice boots is that boots should only be 1cm longer than the growing skater’s feet at max, from our experience it could go up to 1.5cm for roller skaters depending on their foot shape. When this guideline is not followed, we run into the problem of having the spin rocker or front truck under the skater’s toes instead of the ball area of the foot. This leads to a few very common issues:
- Inconsistent toe jumps.
- Inconsistent spins – spins that come and go randomly.
- Difficulty performing outside edges.
- Difficulty having nicely extended legs when skating – almost like wearing gumboots.
- Random foot pain caused by part of the foot not sitting in the right place relative to anatomically designed boots.
- Apart from foot and performance issues, there could be boot issues:
- Torn interior of the boots caused by foot rubbing inside.
- Incorrect breakdown of boots as the pressure point is off from how it’s intended to be.
- Did you know? When performance footwear breaks down prematurely, the supplier can immediately tell if incorrect size boots are used based on the breakdown pattern. This means the default boot warranty will not be valid.
We suggest always choosing the correct size for your growing little skater for the best performance on ice as well as value for money, as the recommended size will always give some room for growth to last the skater for at least a season.