My childrens' skate adventures...

[Casey]

Five of my children first skated in late December for a holiday outing. Within a month, they all had used skates from various sources and were skating regularly. Within a month they started LTS classes 3x/week, and a 2-3 months after that switched fully to private lessons, once four of them had passed all the Basic levels. It's now been a solid six months, and quite the adventure trying to juggle all the expenses and trying to balance cost with value/need. Here's a current update:

Oldest son (11):

• Started in used Reidell boots with MK Professional Freestyle blades, old and badly sharpening-damaged. Used these for a few months but caused pain and he outgrew them. But used these through the Lutz.
• Moved to SP-Teri split-width boots with "new" old stock Gold Seal blades - discovered more recently that one is bent which surely happened before purchase somehow. These worked better but did not accommodate his very high arches well - more pain. But working for consistent axels and an occasional double.
• Moved to barely-used custom Klingbeil boots (scored for $10 consignment!) which he found comfortable, using the same Gold Seal blades. Did some of his best skating ever on day one with these. Coach says the mounting that I did is optimal.
• New Aura Sky 50 boots ordered, along with Phoenix Gold blades. The plan was to order Jackson Supremes - unfortunately not available for boys in his size so we were going to order a girl's set and have it painted black. We had already considered Edea and Risport options which were less comfortable. The Jacksons were not perfect but a Bauer insole seemed like it would help. But when we returned he saw they had Auras also and opted to try one on a half size off and found them very comfortable. So we decided to order a set of those in the proper size. Decided to go with the lightest possible blade to match the light boots to explore that extreme end of the spectrum.
• Planning to complete pre-preliminary tests this summer and enter first competition at pre-preliminary level in September.

Oldest daughter (9):

• Started in used Risport Electra Lites with Coronation Ace blades in good condition. Used these until about a month ago without issue. They were getting a bit tight so we switched.
• Switched to used Jackson Supremes with Matrix Elite blades. The boots well-worn, but still very solid/stiff. The blade runners look like new. She struggled with spins when switching to these, but is a good spinner and has recovered well. These are pretty good skates but ultimately have too many compromises - a lot of wear on the boots, the blades a little too short for the boots, and a bit too large of a size for her anyways.
• New Jackson Premiere boots ordered, and she'll inherit the oldest boy's Gold Seals. The bend in the blade doesn't seem to have held him back so we'll see how it goes for her... Coaches prefer Edea but we don't...
• Consistent Lutzes, working on Axel but can't get the rotation fast enough yet. Planning to complete pre-preliminary tests this summer and enter first competition this September also.

2nd-oldest son (7):

• Started in used Reidell boots with Reidell Capri blades. Used these boots until recently.
• Inherited the oldest's MK Professional Freestyle blades when he upgraded, as despite the wear on these they were better than the Capris.
• Moved to SP-Teri boots very recently, currently using the Professional Freestyle blades still, but will switch to the Matrix Elite blades since they are the right size and in very good shape.
• Can also land Axels, though not as consistent or stable as the older siblings. Planning to compete at whatever level he's at this September.

3rd-oldest son (6):

• Started in used Reidell boots with Capri blades. Still using these but not for long...very well worn at this point...
• Moving to SP-Teri boots as soon as new blades (new old stock Four Aces) are delivered.
• Smaller and not as capable as his older siblings, but doing exceptionally well for his age. Planning to compete at whatever level he's at this September.

2nd-oldest daughter (5):

• Started in used Risport Venus boots with MK Flight blades. Still using with no plans to change in the foreseeable future.
• Had only completed Basic 4 by the time her older siblings had passed Freestyle 1, but enjoys skating and doing great for her age. Planning for even her to compete for fun this September.

 

[Casey]

Update and questions:

The oldest two have passed pre-preliminary moves tests with honors and their coach wants them to take preliminary moves next month. Our oldest son has been skating in the Aura boots for a couple weeks now and they've worked out really well. We further enhanced the fit by switching out the stock insoles with Bauer Fit C insoles as his arches are very high. He was able to land nice double salchows on day one with the new skates, which seems crazy to me as that's one of the hardest jumps he can manage currently; and didn't have any observable uncomfortable break-in period with the new boots. The boots are genuinely providing more comfort for him. Despite having the same profile and stanchion height as traditional Gold Seals, the Phoenix Golds are not tapered or side-honed, and the part that touches the ice is wider overall, so a shallower ROH sharpening is needed than with traditional blades and I'm sure the feel is somewhat different.

We also cancelled the order for Jacksons for our 9yo daughter and purchased a pair of Auras for her instead, as she tried a pair on and found she preferred the fit too. We ended up buying Jackson Matrix Novas for her as they had the right size in stock and we thought it would be an interesting experiment - the heel pad on the Auras is very small so unforgiving to different blade lengths. I did not realize until after the purchase that the Novas are discontinued, but adapting to something different will be a future concern. The oldest boy's traditional Gold Seals went to the 2nd-oldest son instead, and the Matrix Elites are no longer in use. The 7yo is happily now using the SP-Teri boots and Four Aces blades. The Novas have worked out better than the Elites (as anticipated), but not sure they're working any better than the Coronation Aces she had before them.

I consider both of the new lightweight blades an experiment and am not attached to them at all. As these boots and blades are on the extreme opposite end of the spectrum from what I personally have any experience with, I'm really not sure what to think. The children like them and seem to be doing well on them, but I really question how much difference equipment weight really matters. Our coaches think it matters which is why they recommend Edea boots (and Gold Seal Revolution blades (they were not aware of the Phoenix blades before seeing ours)), but I personally feel that the rocker, pick design, stanchion height, and mounting alignment of the blade are all more important. It's not a fair comparison because the rockers are a lot different, but I personally don't like the Paramount blades I have with the "Pattern 99-like" profile after being accustomed to traditional blades with a more pronounced spin rocker. Not sure how much of this is due to the profile vs. increased rigidity of the blades.

We decided to try these lightweight blades because pairing heavier traditional blades with the lightest boots on the market seemed ironic, but maybe it's fine and even preferable. I'm holding my own preconceived notions and opinions in question, because what actually works for them best is what matters. Otherwise we'd never have ended up purchasing Aura boots. But at the same time, kids don't have as accurate of discernment as adults and are more influenced by what they think looks cool or has nice-sounding marketing. So I'd like to hear some other input - how much does equipment weight really matter? What about blade rigidity, taper, etc., if anyone's experimented with the "same" profile on traditional vs. lighterweight models? The shop where we purchased the Auras really prefers to sell Edea boots and Jackson blades, claiming it's what they have the most success with, but I have a suspicion it may be more about where they have the highest profit margin.