Urgent help!!! Buying first ice skates

[GaLexie]

Hello,

I am urgently looking for some advice on buying my first pair of skates. I'm 17 years old and have been skating on rental skates (Jackson Mystiques) for a year now. I recently went to a fitter near me, and they fitted me into Risport RF3 pro boots (rated for doubles and triples) which they say are the best for me. However, i'm not sure about this because a few of my coaches have said that they are too stiff for me and would make my skating worse.

I am an intermediate level skater. Some of the current skills that I am working on are:

- waltz, toe loop and salchow single jumps

- forward scratch spins

- drags

- backwards crossovers

- forward cross rolls

- three turns and Mohawks

I am quite a heavy skater at 72kg, but I am also tall at 175cm, and I happen to have a lot of raw quad muscles which makes my skating quite powerful. I currently skate 3-4 hours a week, I am taking skate school and adult classes. I do not intend to go into competition, at most I think I would only get at far as an axel and maybe a few doubles but I'm not sure.

Part of my problem is that I have been looking at other skates such as: Risport electra light and Edea overture. However, my fitter said that because of my build I would break these skates within a year but my coaches said that I wouldn't.

I am desperately trying to get some good advice on buying skates and what stiffness is right for me, so that I do not make a costly mistake and end up buying the wrong boots for my level.

Would be great if someone could give me some boot recommendations.

thanks

GaLexie

 

[Sibelius]

Hello,

I've posted a link below to a recent thread about jumping way up in stiffness.

There are a few ways you can approach this, go with the fitters recommendation and get the boots that are best for you long term (you may or may not struggle a bit with break in), or if you don't mind spending the money go ahead and get the lower level boots now (with a fitters recommendation) and be prepared for buying another pair very soon. The choice of "lower level boot" however must be suitable for your size and skills or you could do serious damage to your ankles. Those Mystiques are in no way suitable for you. I don't know enough about Risport boots to advise whether the Electra is or not, there are others here more knowledgeable about that line, but I would suspect that they would agree it wouldn't be the best choice for you.

As I posted in the linked thread, you will eventually get used to whatever is on your feet, it may just take a long adjustment and some padding, heat molding, punch outs and lacing techniques. I would encourage you to have your coach talk to the fitter and compare notes about your skating technique and fit and see if they can come to an agreement on what's best for you. Our first coach was very wary about too stiff boots, but that was when my skater was just starting out as a 7 year old. Our current coaches leave the boot choice to us and our fitter. She can speak for herself now and the last couple of rounds she demanded a stiffer boot because she didn't feel stable enough, so we even went against the very conservative fitters recommendation!

Jumping way up in stiffness

 

[Kat12]

I like the idea of having your coach(es) and fitter talk. It's hard to say whether you should listen to the people who watch you skate and know your skating style and abilities, or the person who we assume is the expert on various boots. Maybe if they could discuss it amongst themselves and compare notes/explain their position to each other-- one is an expert on skates, and one is an expert on you-- they could come to a consensus on what's best.

 

[MCsAngel2]

Your fitter is much more correct than your coach is. Both the Electra and the Overture are too unsupportive of someone of your weight. The general recommendations for specific boots relating to skill level is based on the average skater being a 110 pound girl. If you weigh more than that you have to level up appropriately. I'm guessing your coaches' familiarity with specific boots comes with working with younger and lighter skaters and are not thinking about the impact of the weight difference.

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

Your fitter is correct and chose the correct boots for you and your circumstances and weight/height etc.
Listen to them. Also, get a good intermediate blades, MK Pro or JW Coro Ace.

Good luck!

 

[GaLexie]

Thanks for all the advice this has really helped me to make a decision, and I actually ended up buying the Risport Rf 3 pro boots and I absolutely love them.

Again thanks for all the advice.