A Figure Skating Story

Talent

Hey so this chapter has a ton of detail about the process of buying a first pair of skates. Please please let me know if you like this much detail, or if it bored you a bit too much!! Thanks! :)

Sam told Lizzy to take off her shoes and sit on the bench. As Sam measured Lizzy's feet, Terry questioned about the skates.

"So, what exactly is the difference between rental skates and these?"

"Well, the biggest difference is the boot will give her much more support and stability, and the blades will be sharper and better quality."

"Oh okay."

"It's also important that the boot fits the shape of her foot. At her level, it doesn't have to be quite so exact, but its still much better than rental skates." Sam finished measuring Lizzy's feet, and stood up. "Alright, so Lizzy has a pretty narrow foot and a small arch, so I would recommend Riedells." Sam walked over to the Riedell skates and picked up one of the display boots. "I think the 121 RS skates with the Eclipse Volant blade would be best for her." Sam went on describing the the boots. Then she turned to Lizzy and asked, "What size are you sweetie?"

"Umm 13."

"13?"

"Ya."

"Okay!" Sam said with enthusiasm. She grabbed a size 13, but when she pulled it out of the box, Terry noticed there were no blades on them.

"Wait, so do you buy the blades separately?"

Sam nodded, "Ya, we make sure the boot fits her first, then we mount the blades on and adjust the placement of the blade if we need to." She tied the skates on Lizzy. "Alright, so they should be real snug. Do they feel okay?" Lizzy nodded. "Cool. Why don't you get up and walk around." Lizzy stood up and walked to the other end of the store and back. "How did that feel?"

"Good." Lizzy replied with a huge grin plastered onto her face.

"Go up on your toes, jump up and down for me?" Lizzy jumped around in circles. "Is your heel coming out, does anything hurt?" Lizzy shook her head. "Awesome." She started untying the skates and turned to Terry. "Sometimes you have to try 2, 3, 4 different ones before you find the right one. Once you've bought a few, you kind of know how you like it to feel and what brand works for you. But first time buyers can be pretty difficult to fit sometimes." Sam explained with a chuckle.

Terry smiled, and said, "So, much much would this cost?"

"After you add the blades in, about $160."

Terry raised her eyebrows in surprise. "$160? Dang, expensive."

Sam sighed and said, "Ya, skating is an expensive sport. And the higher level you are the more expensive it gets. Custom skates are over $1,000. I've seen way too many talented skaters have to quit because they couldn't afford it." Sam shook her head sadly. After a pause, she said, "I'm going to mount these for you, it'll take a few minutes, so you can browse the store, hang out."

Lizzy jumped up and ran over to a pink, fuzzy bag with a handle. "Mommy, look at this! Can I have it?"

Terry walked over to Lizzy and lifted the bag off of the shelf. She looked at the tag and read Kiss and Cry, and found the price-$45. "$45, I'm sorry, Liz, it's too expensive. We're not getting that."

"But why?"

"Because it's too expensive"

Sam heard the commotion and looked over, seeing Terry holding the Kiss and Cry bag. "Oh ya, those are very popular. The girls use it to carry their water, gaurds, music, and whatever else they want to bring onto the ice." She commented, still working on the skates. "I have to agree with you, though, expensive for what they are. But, you know what I always do? I make one out of duct tape."

Terry smiled, "Ah, smart! We'll have to try that, huh, Liz." She turned back to her daughter, but Lizzy was already distracted by something else. She picked up what looked something like a stuffed penguin, but it only had the head of the penguin. The rest of it was cresent shaped, and had a slit like something was supposed to go in it. They came in packs of two. Terry picked up a different one, this one was a lion, and the tag said Soakers. She turned back to Sam and asked, "What are these?" She held up the Soakers to show Sam.

Sam looked up to see before continuing her work and said, "Oh, those are soakers. You put them on your skates after you finish skating. It helps protect your blades from water and dirt. If water sits on them too long, they can rust. You'll probably need those for your new skates. They have plain, cheaper ones on the bottom shelf there, if you want." She looked up again to point at the shelf. "Not as fun though." She smiled and turned back to the skates.

Terry turned back to the shelves to check the price difference, while Lizzy sifted through them looking for another animal she wanted. The animal ones were $20 and the plain ones were $12. Then Lizzy exclaimed, "A seal, a seal, Mommy, look, it's a seal!" Terry looked down and said, "Oh, it's so cute!" Lizzy was now jumping in excitement, "Can I get it, pleeeeaaaase?" Terry sighed. Well, I geuss what's an extra $8 she thought. "Alright, ya we can get it." Lizzy squealed, "Yaaaay!" They continued to look around the pro shop, until Sam called out to them, "Alright, skates are mounted."

Terry led Lizzy back to the bench to try on the skates again. Once Sam finished tying them she said, "Okay, go ahead and get up and walk around bit." Lizzy walked to the other end of the store and back, like last time, while Sam watched. "Cool they look good and centered!" Sam untied the skates and carried them with her as she walked to the front of the proshop. "Now, on top of the soakers, you'll need hard gaurds, too." Sam explained as she led them to the selection of gaurds. "They cost about $35 all together. You buy each half guard separately because you can mix and match the colors. So, Lizzy, which colors do you want?"

Lizzy looked at the wide range of colors and said, "Ummm... pink and white."

"Oh great choice!" Sam measured, cut, and screw the springs into the gaurds, and put them on the table next to the skates. "So, every time after she skates, you need to dry the blades using a towel, then put the soakers on. Sometimes they get condensation even after you dry them, so I always set them down for a minute then give them one more wipe down before putting the soakers on. And a common mistake is people often only dry the bottom of the blade, but leave the part with the screws still wet, so you need to make sure everything is dry." Terry nodded, before Sam continued, "Now, when she wants to walk around in her skates, she should use the hard gaurds." She pointed to the gaurds on the table. "They protect the blade from dirt on the ground that can put nicks and scratches in it. But you never want to store them in the gaurds because it can trap moisture and rust the blades," Sam instructed.

Terry nodded, "Okay."

Sam hesitated and looked over at Lizzy, who was playing with the animal soakers. "Have you considered private lessons for her?"

"Oh, I didn't think she was at a high enough level for that."

"Well, she doesn't necessarily need her own coach at this level, the one on one coaching gets much more important higher up. But, I was really impressed by how quickly she picked things up. I think if she goes at her own pace with her own coach she will progress much faster than in the group lessons. The only drawback is private lessons are more expensive."

"How much?"

"Depends on the trainer. But if you go with private lessons, I would really like to coach her, and I charge $35 per half hour lesson."

Terry nodded. "I'll definitely look into it." She pulled out her credit card to pay for the skates, soakers, and gaurds.

"Great. I think she has some real talent, and I would really hate to see her get bored in the group lessons. If you decide to go with it, you can find my buissiness card up at the front desk."