| Your skates, while important, are not as | | | | skate, and when you have your outfit on, the |
| important as your boots. A pair of low figure | | | | edge of the skate that is nearest the inside |
| skates of the correct size and shape does not | | | | of your foot is called the "inside edge," and |
| have to be expensive or even moderately | | | | the edge nearest the outside is |
| expensive to be perfectly satisfactory for a | | | | correspondingly called the "outside edge." It |
| long while. I skated for several years and | | | | is well to memorize these terms, for the |
| learned all my fundamental figures on | | | | actual skating figures are named according to |
| ordinary five dollar figure skates, which | | | | which edge of the skate you use to trace |
| today would cost approximately ten dollars. | | | | them. |
| | | | |
| So that you will know for yourself whether | | | | To get back to the skates you are holding in |
| you are being sold the right blades, pick up | | | | your hands, grasp the blades firmly with the |
| the skates on the counter and examine them | | | | skates perfectly level and near together. You |
| carefully. Ask for a hockey skate and hold it | | | | will immediately notice that the shoe plate |
| in your left hand. Now ask for a figure skate | | | | of the hockey skate is higher than that of |
| and hold it in your right hand. The first | | | | the figure skate, and if you look more |
| thing you will notice is that the hockey | | | | closely, you will see that the two upright |
| skate has a plain pointed end in front, while | | | | pieces that join the toe plate and the heel |
| the figure skate has a series of "teeth," or | | | | plate to the blade (in other words, the |
| "picks." Hold the plate of the skates in your | | | | "stanchions") are much higher on the hockey |
| hands with the blades facing upward, and turn | | | | skate than on the figure skate. This is |
| the blades to the light. | | | | important. The higher your foot is from the |
| | | | ice, the harder it is to keep your ankle |
| You will notice that the hockey skate, in | | | | upright. It is much the same principle as |
| your left hand, has an absolutely straight | | | | stilt walking; the lower your center of |
| narrow blade - that is, the length of the | | | | gravity, naturally the easier it is to |
| blade is straight from heel to toe and the | | | | balance. |
| width of the blade is perfectly straight | | | | |
| across. Now look at the figure blade. You | | | | Therefore it stands to reason that it is |
| will notice that from heel to toe the blade | | | | easier to learn to skate on the low figure |
| is set on a slight curve. This is called the | | | | skates than on the high hockey skates. Even |
| "radius" of the skate, and most figure skates | | | | if you are not sure you ever want to try |
| today are set on a 7-foot radius. | | | | figures, even if you think you will be |
| | | | content to plain skate round and round the |
| Look at and feel the blade itself. You will | | | | village pond or city rink, you will find it |
| notice that there is a hollow ridge down the | | | | ever so much easier to learn to navigate over |
| center of the skate, leaving two higher edges | | | | the ice on figure skates. You can play |
| at each side of it. This hollow ridge is | | | | everything except top drawer hockey on figure |
| called the "concave" of the skate and is what | | | | skates, but you can never trace even the |
| is meant by the term "hollow-ground" as | | | | simplest figures correctly or dance an ice |
| applied to figure skates. The sides of the | | | | waltz on hockey skates. |
| hollow ridge are the so-called "edges" of the | | | | |