So earlier today I was at the rink practicing for my next test, when I stepped off into the hockey box to grab my water and chat with my friend for a moment when Fatty Kerrigan is skating by. Now, anyone who goes ice skating knows that rental skates are usually pretty crappy, and ours still look fairly new, but are clearly broken in. Fatty Kerrigan is easily 250 pounds, most likely a tumblrina, wearing way too tight jeans, a way too tight shirt, and a long flowy vest, and was probably around 5 feet tall, give or take a couple inches. She's on rental figure skates, and the right one is just bowing majorly at the ankle, to the point that regardless of weight, I have to say something to her (because no one wants to see someone break an ankle on the ice, and I just witnessed a woman hit her head so hard she left a pool of blood on the ice where she was laying last week so....). I look at her and said "Hey, you're going to want to get your skates switched out for a different pair, your right skate is bowing in at the ankle and it's not helping you stay up straight." And my friend chimes in "Yeah, no one would have strong enough ankles to keep themselves up in that boot, and right now yours could lead to a broken ankle."
Fatty Kerrigan then proceeds to fall to the ground (how, I don't know, she barely shuffled forward), and then says "I can't get up. It's cold" to her friend with her and crawl to the wall. She then exclaims "See! It's not me afterall! It's the skates!"
Fatty Kerrigan never went to switch out her skates, rather, she continued to wear the broken ones that could have lead to a broken ankle (I don't care, I did my part) because it was an excuse for the fact she could barely stand up.
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[–] idontgetbacon ago
Use to live in Phili. First thing you did when you learned how to skate properly was buy a decent pair of skates off your friends/parent's friends. We had a little lake right by my school and on snow days would run home to get our skates and go out for a few hours.
I miss the ice. :(
[–] iammeandyouareme [S] 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
My very first true pair that didn't have plastic heels were $50 used skates from another skater at the rink. My mom wanted to make sure that I was going to stick with it before investing a lot into skates.
Then when I started jumping I think maybe 2 years later (?) my coach went to my mom and said "She needs new skates" and my mom said "How do you tell?" and coach proceeded to take one side of the ankle on my boot and easily bend it all the way down to the blade.
Even some of the regulars I see at the rink will skate in the rentals for MONTHS. It's only when they finally get their own skates that they really see improvement. It's not a cheap hobby, but it's definitely better to invest in the equipment because those rentals are just terrible.
[–] idontgetbacon ago
We lived in a small little neighborhood where everyone knew everyone. Clothes, skates, goalie pads... Everything was traded around the neighborhood.