Maybe unambitious adult beginners use hockey skates?

[Query]

A local figure skating director wants figure skating LTS students to use figure skates because she says Snowplow Sam and USFSA Basic Skills 1-4 levels are too easy in hockey skates: students can roll more fully through hockey blades, and there is no toe pick. She says that when hockey skate users get to scratch spins and jumps starting in Basic 5, they have to relearn technique.

If she is right, maybe it would make more sense for unambitious recreational skaters to start and stay with hockey skates.

I think beginners fall in hockey skates because there is no toe pick or tail. They fall in figure skates because there is a toe pick. Not sure which is worse at first.

Perhaps it is easier to lace hockey skates tight, because the laces are wider and are more likely to be waxed. Plus, cheap hockey skates are stiffer than cheap figure skates, so tight lacing may be less important...

[Clarice]

I like beginners who are having trouble with balance to use figure skates rather than hockey skates.  The blades are a little flatter and easier to balance on, and they can use the toe picks to aid in getting up after they fall.  If they can balance on hockey skates, I don't care whether they use them.  People who begin in hockey skates generally don't stick around to Basic 5 anyway.  They're not interested in spins or jumps, and move over to instructional hockey as soon as they can.  Where I am, most of the kids switch over around Basic 3.

[sampaguita]

I had a difficult time with hockey skates when I was just a beginner. The blades were too thin for me!

[davincisop]

...correct me if I'm wrong but I was under the impression kids should start in figure skates because they are flatter and allow for the child to find their balance easier. Then they can switch to hockey.

We always recommend figure skates for our snowplows that are having trouble skating on hockey skates, just until they get used to the ice if they are determined to skate in hockey skates. Same goes with adults. I've seen so many that can't stand in hockey skates because they lock their knees and can't find the balance.

[FigureSpins]

...correct me if I'm wrong but I was under the impression kids should start in figure skates because they are flatter and allow for the child to find their balance easier. Then they can switch to hockey.

Absolutely correct.  Figure skate blades are longer and flatter, especially at the tail, than hockey skates.  The design helps beginners learn to balance side-to-side more easily than hockey skates that require mastering front-to-back balancing at the same time.  If the skater can balance in the hockey skates without splatting every five seconds, that's fine.

Putting beginners in hockey skates just delays their learning how to skate if they don't have good balance and body control.  Putting an adult beginning in hockey skates is a recipe for head injury.

Once a figure skater has the skills to push correctly and glide on either foot for a short distance, then they can try hockey skates.  It is a training exercise that some power instructors use with figure skaters because removing the toepick and the back of the heel forces the skater to push properly with the inside edge and glide in the middle of the blade rather than leaning on the heel.

[Query]

I wonder if the hockey crowd would see it the same way.

[blue111moon]

I've taught tots for decades and, for my observation, some kids who start in hockey skates pick up the balance concept very quickly.  The ones who don't, however, get very frustrated with the repeated falling, cry and often quit.  The kids who start in figure skates (even the awful rental the rink has) manage to stay on their feet more right from the start and thus have more time to get over their fear of falling and get to like the feeling of skating.  To me, putting a Never-been-on-skates-before kid in hockey skates from the start makes learning to skate harder and discourages them faster. 

The adults I've taught her started in hockey skates had a much more difficult time with balance and stopping than the ones in figure skates.

I have also observed that hockey skates are harder to lace up tighly than figure skates.  I assumed it was because hockey skates have fewer holes and the fatter laces give more room.  The lower cut of the boot also makes for more flex which in a beginner makes for less support.  The last adult male beginner I taught switched from brand-new hockey skates to battered used figure skates and told me that was amazed how much easier the skills were in figure skates.

[Skittl1321]

I wonder if the hockey crowd would see it the same way.

Our hockey LTS (pre-team) asks that skaters can already stand up on their own if they fall down.  If the kids can't- they send them to figure skating LTS, because the blade facilitates learning to stand up much easier. As soon as they can do that (no requirement of moving, just being able to stand back up) they are back into hockey skates.

Many kids can learn to stand up and to skate in hockey skates, but for some it is very very frustrating.  Most adults have the motor skills that it may have a lot of falls, but they can figure it out.  There are some tots who just cannot start in hockey skates, they don't have the muscle strength or patience yet.

From five years of teaching beginning adults and toddlers (I don't have much experience teaching beginning kids) the ones who learn in figure skates have a less frustrating time of it.  Even if the ultimate goal is to move to hockey skates.