Equipment: Skates for 8 year old

[Krickard]

My 8 year old son is taking a class to learn how to ice skate. We currently rent skates for $3 weekly (sometimes more when we public skate) that are Bauer Supreme S160's.

He loves skating and clearly wants to keep going. Should I be buying him some good skates to help him with learning when he will probably grow out of them in 6 months?

I just learned how to skate this year so I'm just now learning about skating equipment myself.

Kevin

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[TheBluePenguin]

My 8 year old son is taking a class to learn how to ice skate. We currently rent skates for $3 weekly (sometimes more when we public skate) that are Bauer Supreme S160's.

He loves skating and clearly wants to keep going. Should I be buying him some good skates to help him with learning when he will probably grow out of them in 6 months?

I just learned how to skate this year so I'm just now learning about skating equipment myself.

Kevin

I personally do not recommend buying expensive skates until either he stops growing so fast OR he is a really good player where the difference will matter....

I have three boys playing and we still go to Play-It-Again for skates and most of the their equipment. IMO a good stick with a good flex/kick will be more important than skates if he is just learning. My oldest is a Peewee(12u) and is a B level player and I do not think it matters what type of skates he uses. He is a really tall skinny type of a kid.

I coach a learn to play program and I would say the one situation where have better skates might make a difference is if you or your kid is on the heavier side. I am around 230-255 depending on much I decide to watch my diet. I HAVE to use good skates, my fat but will rip through cheap skates, I notice a few of my LtP kids how are bigger, the cheapest skates will not hold the weight.

 

[Krickard]

I personally do not recommend buying expensive skates until either he stops growing so fast OR he is a really good player where the difference will matter....

I have three boys playing and we still go to Play-It-Again for skates and most of the their equipment. IMO a good stick with a good flex/kick will be more important than skates if he is just learning. My oldest is a Peewee(12u) and is a B level player and I do not think it matters what type of skates he uses. He is a really tall skinny type of a kid.

I coach a learn to play program and I would say the one situation where have better skates might make a difference is if you or your kid is on the heavier side. I am around 230-255 depending on much I decide to watch my diet. I HAVE to use good skates, my fat but will rip through cheap skates, I notice a few of my LtP kids how are bigger, the cheapest skates will not hold the weight.

That's fantastic information, thank you so much. I also have a Play-It-Again near me, maybe I'll go there first.

Your last statement brings me to a new question. I am also a bigger guy (about 280) and my feet are always killing me after about 10 minutes of skating. I wouldn't mind paying for a little more comfort for myself. What skates do you use?

 

[TheBluePenguin]

That's fantastic information, thank you so much. I also have a Play-It-Again near me, maybe I'll go there first.

Your last statement brings me to a new question. I am also a bigger guy (about 280) and my feet are always killing me after about 10 minutes of skating. I wouldn't mind paying for a little more comfort for myself. What skates do you use?

I use a pair of Reebok 11K, Reebok doesn't make skates anymore and then when those wear out I will move in a pair of CCMs, For the majority of my life Bauer skates where always way to narrow, where as CCM and Reebok skates where always wider and fit my feet so much better. I would check to make sure that is not your problem. That being said Bauer now makes a wider option for skates but I have not tried them yet. Being a heavy player like me you are going to need a strong pair of skates that can hold when catch your edges when turning. I am not a equipment expert like a lot of guys on this forum. I have a wide gap between playing in highschool and a couple years ago when my son started Learn To Play 3 years ago at 9yo

P.S. I have never skated in Grafs but my cousin swears by them.

I would go to play it again for your son and try on as many skates as you can, find the ones that feel the best and them shop for sales, I would guess Black Friday will have some deals coming up for you

 

[Filthy Dangles]

RE: Feet hurt. Apart from the E/EE Wide options, the actual skate depending on which line it belongs to within Bauer, will also fit differently. Same for CCM. If you're gonna be on the ice regularly, you should probably get your foot measured to find the most practical fit to tailor the best skate for you.

Also, you mentioned you're a heavier set guy, the boot on entry level skates are not very stiff at all and a guy with a lot of weight will more easily collapse the structure of boot and put more pressure on your feet, you might need a stiffer skate/boot to support that weight.

 

[Krickard]

I use a pair of Reebok 11K, Reebok doesn't make skates anymore and then when those wear out I will move in a pair of CCMs, For the majority of my life Bauer skates where always way to narrow, where as CCM and Reebok skates where always wider and fit my feet so much better. I would check to make sure that is not your problem. That being said Bauer now makes a wider option for skates but I have not tried them yet. Being a heavy player like me you are going to need a strong pair of skates that can hold when catch your edges when turning. I am not a equipment expert like a lot of guys on this forum. I have a wide gap between playing in highschool and a couple years ago when my son started Learn To Play 3 years ago at 9yo

P.S. I have never skated in Grafs but my cousin swears by them.

I would go to play it again for your son and try on as many skates as you can, find the ones that feel the best and them shop for sales, I would guess Black Friday will have some deals coming up for you

Even though the Reebok skates aren't made anymore, that gives me a good baseline for what I should look for.

I will take my son to Play It Again this weekend and see what we can find.

Thanks again, this was all great information and just what I was looking for!

 

[tarheelhockey]

Honestly it's insane to buy high-end skates for a kid under 10... it makes absolutely NO difference in their performance and they grow out of them almost instantly. Some people just can't help throwing money down the toilet I guess.

Before going to Play-it-Again, I would suggest checking local ads like Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist. Often you will find people just trying to get rid of skates at any price, having never used them. It only takes a couple of minutes to check, and you may walk away with good-as-new skates for $5. My experience of Play-it-Again is that the equipment is often in shabby condition and while cheaper than brand-new, also kind of overpriced for its condition. I always check the local market first, then hockey-monkey and similar sites for sales, then P-I-A as a third option.

 

[Yukon Joe]

Have to agree on buying used skates given that we're talking about an 8 year old who is only learning how to skate.

Facebook Marketplace or Kijiji can also be a useful place to check out (I think Craigslist is the go-to classified site in the US, rather than Kijiji). It's a bit more of a pain because you can't just walk in to a store, but probably cheaper. That being said I doubt you get a pair of skates for $5.

 

[tarheelhockey]

That being said I doubt you get a pair of skates for $5.

It's all luck of timing and location.

Here's an active ad in my city, youth skates for $10. Catch it on the right day and you can find people willing to give away rather than throw them in the trash.

Kids hockey skates

 

[Krickard]

Thanks guys! I did a quick search on FB and I'm picking up some Bauer skates, a little older but basically new, tomorrow for $15 for my son. Can't beat that price!

 

[biturbo19]

Honestly it's insane to buy high-end skates for a kid under 10... it makes absolutely NO difference in their performance and they grow out of them almost instantly. Some people just can't help throwing money down the toilet I guess.

Before going to Play-it-Again, I would suggest checking local ads like Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist. Often you will find people just trying to get rid of skates at any price, having never used them. It only takes a couple of minutes to check, and you may walk away with good-as-new skates for $5. My experience of Play-it-Again is that the equipment is often in shabby condition and while cheaper than brand-new, also kind of overpriced for its condition. I always check the local market first, then hockey-monkey and similar sites for sales, then P-I-A as a third option.

I don't think it's that insane to spend a bit on skates that fit well for a kid, at all. Those are the foundational years where your kid is going to learn to skate. You don't want them developing weird habits because they're stuck with skates that don't fit properly.

It obviously sucks, because proper fitting skates can change every couple months with kids at times. But hopefully you get at least a season out of them. Kinda have to size them with a little bit of anticipation.

 

[tarheelhockey]

I don't think it's that insane to spend a bit on skates that fit well for a kid, at all. Those are the foundational years where your kid is going to learn to skate. You don't want them developing weird habits because they're stuck with skates that don't fit properly.

It obviously sucks, because proper fitting skates can change every couple months with kids at times. But hopefully you get at least a season out of them. Kinda have to size them with a little bit of anticipation.

Of course you want their skates to fit right, but that’s not connected to the price tag. Just don’t buy ill-fitting skates at any price.

 

[biturbo19]

That's fantastic information, thank you so much. I also have a Play-It-Again near me, maybe I'll go there first.

Your last statement brings me to a new question. I am also a bigger guy (about 280) and my feet are always killing me after about 10 minutes of skating. I wouldn't mind paying for a little more comfort for myself. What skates do you use?

Probably the thing that's going to make your feet hurt less after a while, is just training your feet to the rigors of ice skating though. There's really no such thing as a "comfy" ice skate imo. At least, not a hockey skate. For full authority over your edges, you kinda want it to be a little bit uncomfortable.

I mean, if you're just sticking your foot into a skate and it's immediately uncomfortable...obviously that's bad. But there is a point where even a perfectly comfy skate while just sitting there, should probably become a little bit uncomfortable at some point while using it. You're exerting (however much you weigh) pressures through one part of your foot at times. It's aggressive, and not always comfy.


To switch to a more relevant gear...the more you learn to comfortably use your edges, the easier it'll come to you, and the less it'll hurt your feet. But still...the stiffer the skate, the more it's going to "feel bad" if you're not used to it.

Could be that you have really wide feet and there are skates for that, or maybe you just have skates that aren't the right shape...like @FilthyDangles posted above But also as per that chart...what sort of foot shape do you have? It's *super* important to skates fitting well.

 

[biturbo19]

Of course you want their skates to fit right, but that’s not connected to the price tag. Just don’t buy ill-fitting skates at any price.

That seems...obvious. Like...don't buy skates that don't fit well.

 

[tarheelhockey]

That seems...obvious. Like...don't buy skates that don't fit well.

Then I don’t understand the point of your prior reply. There’s no correlation between fit and price, and children’s feet grow at such a pace that a good fit today is a bad fit tomorrow, so spending big money on skates is quite avoidable.