Blades

[Kim to the Max]

My blades are hot pink. And by hot pink, I mean HOT pink. I love them and they are exactly what I wanted. However, with skating being as conservative and traditional as it is, I am slightly worried about testing with them - particularly moves (failed yet again yesterday) or eventually dance. One worry is the reaction of the judges and second is, what if my dress clashes with my blades (coach wants a red dress for the next time I test moves). I like my pink blades and I have actually been landing my axel on my toe pick in them, so I am torn. I could a) replace the blades on the new boots and store the pink ones for a day when I am just coaching and not skating b) buy new blades for old skates and have the boots rebuilt over the summer and be able to wear them as needed for moves/dance and reserve the pink blades for freestyle or c) buy new blades and put the pink ones on my (rebuilt) boots and use them for coaching.

Maybe it is just a bit of buyers remorse, but what do you all think?

[FigureSpins]

(D) Buy foiled self-adhesive tape and apply over the pink sides of the blades.
      Voila!  Silver blades, temporarily.

It's usually used to seal heating/air conditioning duct seams, so you can pick it up at a hardware store or home center.





Sorry about the re-test.  We had a mixed-bag of passes/retests this weekend, too.

[hopskipjump]

I think enough people are wearing colored blades I wouldn't worry about offending a judge by wearing colored blades.  I would be aware though that they will be more noticeable just from a watching point of view.

[JSM]

Sorry to hear about your test, Kim!  A coach at my rink had to take her senior moves test I think 4 or 5 times before she passed, and she said she took junior moves 7 times!  You'll get there.

I don't have advice about the blades, though... I love the way colored blades look but I'm too chicken to get them for myself.  Mostly because of the matching the skating dress issue!

[Sk8tmum]

I am Canadian (first disclaimer) and our region is conservative (second disclaimer). I have heard multiple negative comments about coloured blades from judges and evaluators - that they are distracting primarily, and too trendy/flashy and gimmicky. If you were testing here, I would try to cover them up with something, or hope that you get a trendy judge!

I do know that when I see them, especially the very vibrant ones, my eyes are hypnotically drawn to the blades ... I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing for Moves tests?

[Skittl1321]

I'm sorry to hear you didn't pass your test.

I honestly can't imagine it was your blades that caused it though.  (Though the idea that it drew attention to your blades which may have highlighted faults might make sense.)  You're an adult right?  If you were a kid, I could see a judge telling your coach that you shouldn't wear those blades at regionals or something, but I don't see them retrying a test because they don't want to see the blades in that level...

I've worn colored blades for ages (though not the hot pink- they weren't available yet when I got paramounts, and now I'm in Ultima's) and I've never had anyone say anything.  I've never seen highly competitive kids in them, but they are very common in the lower ranks.  Even in low level synchro -both USFS and ISI, though more common in ISI.

If you are worrying about costuming clashing, then colored blades might not be a good idea.  But otherwise, as an adult, you probably skate for yourself- wear the pretty blades!

[CaraSkates]

I am in the South Atlantic region and out of the 5 rinks closest, I know of two coaches with colored blades and NO skaters. Part of me wonders if that is because our sharpener (who is fabulous) doesn't have the equipment to sharpen them. He's the kind of guy people drive hours for. My coach has light pink blades and they are not noticeable but another coach has gold blades and they are frequently commented on (negatively) by parents and skaters. It's a pretty conservative section of the SA region (even though you are allowed to test in pants, I have never seen anymore do it in my 7 years of skating/testing). We did just have a skater test and pass an international dance in grey suede boots (silver blades). I don't think judges around here would fail you because of the colored blades but I think it would certainly draw more attention to your feet.

Can you get a pair of the same profile blades in a silver and swap temporarily?

[icefrog]

Everyone I know in Ultima Matrix blades has them in silver. I wanted them in blue and the rink kids where all like  you can't do that judges will hate them! You will get scored lower at competitions! Judges here comment on what ever they please for a test, and I would not like to get a bias from a judge who hates trends. I would cover them in tape if that works.

[sarahspins]

I don't really think that the color of your blades make a huge difference... did you speak with the judges after your test to see how they felt about it?  My blades are very green, and it hasn't been suggested to me that it will be a problem - I am always getting comments from kids when I am teaching saying how much they love them, and even quite a few coaches have told me they like them a lot too.  There are several kids with very bright blades too, so I'm not the only one.

My thoughts are this.. you're older (I think we're the same age) and I think because you're not a super petite little 12 year old you're going to be judged to a slightly different standard than some of the smaller kids testing these moves would be, and that's just an unfortunate reality of testing later in life... plus the senior moves are really hard.  I think if you can get feedback from the judges that will give you something to work on for next time, maybe you're closer to passing than you think.