Ice Skates
Ice skates are used to cross a body of ice, so you can play hockey, figure skate, or go ice fishing. The pair of skating shoes can be customized to your preferences, such as if you want a sharper or thinner blade for figure skating or playing hockey or other sports. Ice and figure skates are available in a range of sizes for women, men, and children.
What are the features of ice skates?- Toe picks: Toe picks are located at the front of the blade of figure skates. They allow a person who figure skates to do specialized turns such as a toe loop, back spin, or Lutz jump.
- Cowling: Cowling is a type of hardened plastic material that fits around the leather or synthetic leather of ice skates. The cowling is designed to reduce the impact of a hockey puck or another hard object that comes into contact with the boot when you are ice skating.
- Insulation in the boot: Insulation in the boot of the ice skates or figure skates helps to keep your feet warm. The insulation in the boot extends from the toe to the heel and up the leg. It may be made from wool, cotton, or synthetic materials such as polyester fleece.
- Select a size: Choose the same size of mens, womens, boys’ or girls’ ice skates or figure skates as you would choose a size of shoes. It is important to consider whether you will wear thick socks, thin socks, or girls tights inside of the skate. If you usually wear a girl’s size 4 in a pair of shoes or boots with athletic socks, but you plan to wear tights with the skates, you might feel comfortable in a girl’s size 3 1/2 or 4.
- Choose a boot style: Each brand of skate shoes has a slightly different style, such as designs on the sides of the figure skates. Most skates are white with a naturally silver-colored blade. Some brands offer colors other than white for the ice skates.
- Select a blade material: The blades of figure skates may be made of stainless steel or aluminum. Different pairs of white figure skates also have different levels of curvature for the blade.
Before skating, it is important to make sure that the ice skates are properly laced. Most figure skates and hockey skates have white laces made of cotton or nylon and are capped with plastic so the laces do not unravel or unwind.
To lace the skating footwear, thread the lace through the grommets closest to the toe. Pull to ensure that the length of the lace is equal on both sides. Weave the laces back and forth through every other hole on each side like you would for lacing sneakers. Put your foot into the skating footwear. Wrap the lace around the hooks, giving them a good tug after each wrap. Double knot and tie a tight bow before ice skating.