How to shop for a skating boot?

When shopping for boots a lot of things can get confusing. There are many options out there and therefor I wanted to guide you through the process of shopping for boots. After reading this article you should be able to determine what boot is right for you.

1) What level of skating are you at right now?

It is obvious that before spending lots of money that you will need to determine your commitment to this sport. If you are an entry level skater that hasn't skated all that much and doesn't really know the sport yet, it's clear that you will not need the most expensive setup there is out there. A good entry boot will do just fine, you are probably shopping for a boot and frame costing you about $350. Yet be aware even as a beginner skater you need to be demanding. Do not accept a junk skate that is build sloppy and doesn't give you the support you need while skating. A beginner skater will need all the ankle support he/she can get since they do not have the same ankle strength pro's have. Therefor I call this the dangerous category! Make sure before buying a boot you can try on the boot and feel the boot. While trying on the boot make sure the boot is very tight around the ankles. Can I buy a boot for my kid that is slightly too big so he can keep it for a while and grow into it? Yes you can but I would suggest that you only buy a boot that is a little too big in length. As long as the ankle is tight in the boot you should be okay. If you can fit your thumb in between the boot and your ankle the boot is too big or not tight enough. Also remember to check if the boot is heat moldable. How strong should my boot be? Grab the boot in your two hands by the ankle area of the boot. Try to squeeze the boot together. If it is weak and you can push it together easily than imagine what is going to happen when you put the pressure of your whole body on it...not just your two hands! A boot that is too weak will make you fall in on your skates (knees will often touch each other since you do not have proper edge control).

2) How determinate are you to skate?

If you are only going to skate once to 3 times a week it is only obvious you do not need the most expensive boot out there. You will do just fine with a mid level boot that ranges anywhere from $375 to $495. I have seen too many kids that enter the sport and buy the most expensive skates out there. After a few months they call it quits and go play another sport. Imagine how those parents are going to advertise our sport as "expensive!" Advice someone to be careful with spending money when they begin skating. I understand vendors want to make money right now but that is not a good thing for our sport. Be true to yourself and advice people the right boot for the right situation. If a skater lasts in the sport he or she will come back to a vendor when you advised them correctly so you will make more sales over a period of time.

If you have been skating for well over 2 years and are skating 4-6 times a week you probably need to get a better boot ranging from $500 to $900. You will need a little more demanding boot since now you are advanced in skating.

If you are in this sport for more than 4 years and are very committed to your skating and your work out plan, you will need to upgrade in a big way. All too many times I see skaters work out and put all their energy in their training to see them fail because of equipment. If you put yourself through all of your workouts you really can't hold back on spending the right amount of $ on the right equipment. In this case we are talking about a boot ranging from $1000-1500. Remember you will get what you are spending!

3) How to start fitting a boot?

When first trying on a boot start with your regular shoe size. If you wear size 9 Nike's than try a size 9, it's as simple as that! Next thing you want to try and do is get up on the boot. Don't ever try on a skating boot in sitting position. Wiggle around in the boot and feel possible pressure points and tightness. Get into skating position and check your ankle. Remember the allowed space between the boot and ankle and check it. At this point the saying "customer is king" kicks in for a vendor. Let your customers try the boot or multiple boots if you can. Let them keep it on for a while if they want to. Let them move around in the boots and try the skating position. If you are standing behind the product you are selling this cannot be an issue. Use a carpet to avoid the mounting blocks to get damaged and make the boots look used.

Do not try on a boot when you arrive at a meet after you have been travelling for an extended period of time. Flying 2h + or driving 5h + will make your feet swell (pressure) so of course trying on a skating boot is not a good idea at that time.

Be aware of a boot with a lot of padding on the inside. This may look like a good idea in the beginning but really that is a way a boot maker is masking a weakness in the shell. Padding is soft and therefor will not last when you repeatedly skate on the boots. It will get pushed together and may even make you feel like your boots are getting loose and too big.

4) What if I want to order online/by phone and cannot try them on before I buy them?

You can always start by tracing your feet on a piece of paper. Read out the measurements from heel to toe and send that to the dealer. This should give a dealer an idea of the correct size you need and you can start with fitting that one. Of course you will need to deal with someone that accepts returns. Keep in mind that you do not want to damage a new boot in case it doesn't fit so do not mount the boot or even worse go for a skate on them. This would damage the boot slightly indicating little marks on frames and boots so in case of a return the dealer cannot sell that boot as new anymore and therefor loses out.

5) How much should I spend?

Remember that shopping for a boot is like shopping for a car. Your are simply getting what you are paying for. If a deal sounds too good to be true it probably is! Question the dealer about the boots just like you would ask a car salesman about his cars. Ask about the materials the boot is made of, if it's heat modable and how. Ask if there have been any know issues with the boot, any malfunctions with any parts of the boot. You will not walk out of a dealership with a 500 horsepower car for a small price, same goes for a skate with all the bells and whistles. However driving that high powered car is amazing and so is skating in a great custom made boot! In the end it is really what you are looking for that matters.

6) Service?

When buying a boot pay attention to the service a dealer offers you. What will happen in case of a malfunction? Some boots are factory made and they cannot exclude malfunctions. The most important is how a dealer will deal with the problem. Ask if they take returns, what the warranty is etc..If a dealer waits two weeks to answer you that probably gives you an idea of the service you will get.

7) What Simmons or Schankel boot should I get?

Service is big for Simmons and Schankel. When you are buying a hand made Simmons boots you also buy the peace of mind that Simmons will take care of you after your purchase. The customer service is amazing. Same goes for Schankel boots. Check out the table to see what boot would be right for you.

Contact us at schankelusa@aol.com for more info!

South Africa

Hi everyone,
Time for another update on this blog. I've been away for a while busy skating really. I had the pleasure to be in South Africa for a month training coaches and skaters from all over the country. It's been an amazing experience I wanted to share with everyone.

I have been trying to help out the kids here since my first visit in March of 2010 by sending them a training program and any other advice I could give. It is really a pleasure to be able to pass on some of the knowledge I have been accumulating over the years I skated competitively. I also noticed that they were very receptive while I was giving them info so that made me want to go back to South Africa and teach them a lot more!

The first week I had about 30 skaters, all part of the South African National Team, skating together in Pretoria. Pretoria is the administrative capital of the country (yes they have 3 capitals; Capetown and Bloemfontein being the other two). We had 2 sessions a day with lots of technical info and skating exercises. Most of the sessions were planned to be 2 hours but ended up being 3 hours or more. That is how eager these skaters are to learn and improve. I expected to lose attention after 1h30 but that never happened. Every single skater kept listening and trying their best until the very end! It is really a coach's heaven if you know how to coach. It struck me that the skaters were picking up things very quickly without having to repeat myself too much.

I found out that most of the skaters are not living the easiest lives either. Some of them have their whole family to take care of before or after practice, all that while still going to school as well. That is probably why they are so dedicated: they sometimes need to walk for 30 minutes or more and catch rides in different taxis to get to practice so it is a given that when they make it to practice they want to put in a 100% effort and become better! None of the parents ever show up to support them either so it's really their own wish to be there. What a difference with our Western society where kids get dropped off at the door of the rink by their parents and later get picked up again, often not even willing to try and put in effort.

We also visited 3 other cities to help develop the coaching staff and skaters skills: Sabie, Port Elizabeth and Capetown were on that list. Sabie made me remember why I love skating that much. Wendy from South African Roller Sports has just started up a team there and they were just amazing! They skate on a very small tennis court going around and around! The little ones were just loving it, everyone was smiles and had fun! Nobody was complaining about the fact that they only had a small tennis court that was in bad condition to skate on! That reminded me about the basic idea behind skating: not winning races or competing but about just having fun and being without worries! They also didn't have enough skates to skate all at once so they had to create a shift taking turns! I hope they can get skates there soon so everyone can enjoy it! We had the pleasure to see a couple of kids of Sabie working with us in the last week of skating in Pretoria and I was amazed with the huge progress they made. They went from just barely rolling around to crossing over and skating much much better. If only they had the same means available to them as we do.

In Port Elizabeth we skated on a little loop around a local hospital near a township. The kids also had to share skates and sometimes take turns. They would also need a lot more skates and maybe a better location to train on. It's good to see that some of them are making the national team even with this little resources available; do they really want it or what?

Capetown was the last city we skated at before returning to Pretoria. The kids turned up in big numbers in Capetown, eager to learn and ready to improve. They had a little track right near the ocean with beautiful views. Capetown must be one of the most beautiful cities I have ever visited with a lot of colorful individuals.

During the last week we stayed in Pretoria skating with the local team. Some days they would have more than 100 skaters from beginners to very advanced skaters. We worked through about 5 sessions in 3 days. It was amazing to see their devotion and the effort they put in. What a great country for skating! A special thanks to everyone that worked with us and especially to Wendy. She is an amazing person that makes skating in South Africa and Africa as a continent possible by being determined and devoted with little resources!

Photo's by Wendy

2011

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE! ENJOY 2011

upcoming events

Hi everyone,
I am putting together my racing calender for 2011 (January-May). I am trying to find out some more racing all over Europe from April till May so please let me know if you know any good ones.
December 15th-January 14th: South Africa
January 15-16: 2nd Southwest Pacific Speed League meet in Grand Terrance, CA
February 3-6: Nationales Cali, Colombia
March 17-20: Nationales Bucaramanga, Colombia
April 15-17: Gross Gerau international, Germany
April 23-25: Trophee Trois Pistes, (Pibrac, Valence D'Agen and Gujan Mestras) France
April TBA: Geisingen WIC, Germany
May: Belgian National Championships Track and Road, Belgium

2010 Go Kart World Speed Skating Championships

Yes you read that well...Go Kart Championships...slipping and sliding, oil on the road and corners you wouldn't push the limit sitting on a little cart going 40mph...let alone skate a World Championship... It was absolutely ridiculous! In 13 years of going to worlds I have never seen a more dangerous course.

Going back to 6m wide roads was definitely a BIG STEP BACK and everyone is wondering WHO made that change??? The road was so narrow that there was barely any place to pass..the last corner topped it all off being smaller and tighter than most track corners...



This doesn't sound good enough for you yet? I skated on the road during the track championships and told plenty of people responsible for it that the road would have big issues with oil spots surfacing after the rain. I was told not to worry about it and that they would fix it....well guess what...on the morning of the 200m heats that were supposed to start at 9 am, they didn't start 'til 11...reason being? You guessed it: oil on the road....if that didn't do it they already had the next thing lined up for us: pylons on the road! They decided to mark the areas off where oil spots were on the road so you had to maneuver your way through it! Too bad if you had a faster start and needed to go wider than other skaters because you couldn't...everyone had to take the same line, small or big boys....



Don't get me wrong I didn't think the whole championship was a fiasco...the track portion was actually ran pretty well and punctual...when the weather permitted so. But who in the heck approved such a road course? If you watch the results of the championships you will see that the traditional road skaters didn't really do so well..


In the seniors men 200m TT the skaters that opened up before the last corner were 0.2 seconds faster than anyone but because they weren't used to tight corners they ended up 3rd and 6th all within 0.08....It's not being a bad loser but its about knowing what you will face when you train for something all year long...if you invest a whole year of your energy and money you may want to know what Worlds is going to present you with....



At least next year we know that Korea is going to take care of the skaters! Knowing Guarne has rain every single day the organization could have taken care of a good area for us to sit but the athletes area was like a couple of stables lined up drenched in water after the first day...barely any chairs to sit on and no light during the first night..I know Guarne took over the event from Venezuela but that shouldn't be an excuse to do everything half way...



As you can notice I am absolutely disgusted with the way things went so why come back? Well I love this beautiful sport and I am more than committed to it! It's my life and I doubt I will ever do anything else...I don't want to call it quits because of one bad championship either...this sport has so much more to offer but we need to sit together and talk about it all more and longer than one hour a year...and in many other languages not just Spanish...

I have to admit that the refs this year were doing a great job and that given the circumstances they did an excellent job keeping it all under control!


HOW TO FIX A FEW THINGS?

• Road courses need to get standardized just like tracks. We need to get a road layout that is the same all over the world. Look at athletics for example...those guys know what they are training for: a 400m oval...
• The last corner of a road course needs to be at least double the radius of a track corner.
• Athletes need to get taken care of and not just be pushed to the side sitting in ice cold/ super hot booths and having no accommodations what so ever.
• Venues need to be finished at least 3 months prior to the competition, being approved by a committee member AND an experienced skater!
• Venues need to be open for ANY nation that is willing to skate on the track/road prior to championships at least 30 days prior to the start of the competition.
• Anti doping control needs to get improved A LOT! Samples taken at a championship need to get shipped to another country to get analyzed (no internal job).
• Blood doping rules need to be put into place just like UCI for example. Hematocrite levels (under 50%) are a necessity in this modern sport.

WHAT ABOUT CHANGED RULES FOR NEXT YEAR?

• the change of junior's age is a good thing for our sport giving younger kids more time to mature in a natural way.
• the split up of the marathon away from the tradition championship is beyond me...the main reason behind it is that it was too expensive to have all those events in one championship?? So let me get this right...if we are having championships in Korea next year and a marathon championship somewhere else, doesn't that mean we have to get double the budget to travel to two places and so that would make it all a little more expensive?
• Earphones banned? Personally I never needed earphones and I can see a lot of skaters forgetting how to race their own race when they use earphones so I can support this proposal. Also it will eliminate some dirty team skating.
• Full drugs testing? FINALLY!

World Championships 2010 Guarne: 12h to go!

We re all ready to race! Everyone has been here for a while adjusting and now its GAME TIME.

Nothing new till tomorrow. I'll be racing the 300m TT heats in the morning and finals are scheduled at night.

Check out the Colombian newspaper today:

http://www.elmundo.com/sitio/noticia_detalle.php?idcuerpo=3&dscuerpo=Deportivo&idseccion=55&dsseccion=Primera%20Página&idnoticia=162848&imagen=&vl=1&r=primera_pagina.php&idedicion=1901

2010 World Championships Guarne, 5 days to go!

Hi everyone,

A quick update on the progress for the World Championships. We re on track to kick things off great. Our team's training has been great and the coaching staff with Jorge Botero and Pipe Botero has been very helpful. I am starting to feel pretty comfortable on the fast track and am now tackling the road course. It's definitely challenging! The last corner is a pretty tight one...normally not my favorite but I am adjusting and figuring things out for the 200m to take it with as much speed as I possibly can. The 500m is going to be an exiting race and possibly a pretty dirty one!

The traditional timing game has started now that most of the teams are here and are starting to lay down some fast laps. The truth is that this a psychological game where skaters pass times amongst each other to scare one another. The funny thing is that in the number of world championships I have been the guy with the fastest lap time rarely wins a race...so even a fast lap time doesn't guarantee anything! It's the guy that puts everything together that wins the races. Ofcourse the times taken are an indication of you being on or off pace but it shouldn't be nothing more.

On another note the Las Lomas Hotel is beyond expectations! I was a little afraid after hearing about Guarne being a little mountain town with nothing really here, but this hotel really proves that even in the middle of nowhere you can find great Colombian hospitality! I just wish they could control the weather as well! Temperatures are swinging between 40 and 95 day and night! Very easy to get sick ofcourse while skating so precautions are better taken!

Please check out some pics of us skating on the Guarne track and a pic of the Boteritos school in Medellin!