Get your soakers on asap!
What an unprecedented and crazy time! This is the first time in Claire’s memory that skating has practically ground to a halt in WNY. There has always been a rink with ready ice, a coach to guide you, and a pair of skates to bring you joy and something to work towards. We know that skaters can feel incredibly lost within the span of just a couple days of no ice time, and any interruption to our normal routines can change how we feel in our skates. To help make sure you’re rink-ready as soon as facilities return to normal, we’d like to offer these tips to keep your skates ready for action!
Put Your Soakers On ASAP
If you occasionally store your skates in their plastic hard guards, TAKE THEM OFF IMMEDIATELY! Because we’re looking at an extended period of time without skating, any moisture that gets in the guards will be able to rust the blades. Storing your skates in their soakers is the first step to being sure they’re ready to go.
Keep Your Skates In A Controlled Climate
If you keep your skates in the trunk of your car, or your garage, or anywhere else where the temperature can fluctuate consider moving them to somewhere more stable. If the overnight temps drop to 25-30 degrees and then rise throughout the day to 50, that climate change can create condensation on the blades and lead to rusting if they aren’t in use. Temperature shifts also aren’t good for the fit of the boot in the long term. Consider placing them in an inner room or closet of your home away from windows and air ducts.
Lace Up Your Skates for 10-15 Minutes
Consistency is key in skating. It’s very rare that skaters will go more than a week or two without ice time unless there’s travel or injury involved in the decision. As a result of continuous practice, skaters’ feet are used to the fit of our skates. But if we’re off the ice and not consistently restricting them in our closely-fitted boots, our feet can change and shift so that the next time we go to skate, the fit feels different. This usually happens to skaters who go off to college, skaters who become parents, or skaters off the ice due to medical issues.
Consider getting out your skates and lacing them up, and just sitting in them will help. Keeping your feet in them is like training them to keep their shape and keep comfortable. Just a few minutes will be better than nothing, even if you do it twice per week.
Claire also has suggestions for some off-ice work you can do in your skates - with guards on, of course! See our video below!
Store Your Skates Properly
After having your skates out always make sure your skates are loosened in the laces, your blades are dry, and that your skates are somewhere they can get proper air flow so they can dry internally as well as on the blades. If they’re stored properly, you minimize the risk of moisture damage and blade rust.
We hope these tips help you stay connected with your skates and the ice as we wait for the pandemic to slow down and normal skating life to resume! Please consider following us on Facebook and Instagram for more tips and encouragement in this trying time, and also check out our COVID-19 page for our modified services so that we can continue to support skaters well after this is over.
The Skater’s Edge is Buffalo and Western New York’s one-stop figure skating store for new and used ice skates, competitive figure skates, and skate sharpening. The skate shop carries Riedell, Jackson, and Edea skates, as well as skating apparel and accessories. With technicians trained by a master sharpener of over 30 years, trust The Skater’s Edge with your next figure skate fitting, figure skate sharpening, hockey skate sharpening or hockey skate repair, as well as shaping your hockey blade radius or profiling.