Cost of Ice Skates? | Which Skates To Buy? || Coach Michelle Hong

Hi everyone! Welcome back to my channel. This is Coach Michelle Hong. I'm in the car right now because I'm actually headed to the Oakland Ice Center to get my new boots fitted and I'm super excited because I'm going to partner with Rydell and Jackson this year to try out some of their new skates and I can share all my insight with you when I am able to review them and all that great stuff. In this particular video, I'm going to actually take you through the process of getting custom skates and then I'm also going to show you some stock boot options. So I'm going to particularly compare the stock boots and the custom boots and share with you which one is the right fit for you based off of your level, based off of your feet shape, based off of any of the issues that you might come across when you're skating. And I had an experience growing up where I had both. So I was able to try stock boots and I was able to try custom boots. So in this video, I'm going to go into more detail on what is the right fit for you to help you on your skating journey. So if you're interested in more boot-related content, make sure to like this video and don't forget to subscribe for more videos to come. So let's get into it and let's head to the Oakland Ice Center. Okay, so now we're at the Oakland Ice Center and I'm going to get my boots fitted. Basically, my foot is going to be traced and Brad, who's my skate tech, he's going help me out. He's going to trace my foot, measure all the different areas that are required for skates to be custom fitted. And I'm so excited because I'm going to be partnering with Rydell and Jackson this year. I'm going to be able to share some reviews with you on all the different types of skates that they have or what works for me because I know a lot of you are interested in that information. So let's go into the details of how to get my feet measured for custom skates. So how much do custom boots cost? Well, custom boots, the ones that I've tried on, which are SB Terry, Cling Bile, and now I'm going to be able to also try Rydell and Jackson, they range from $600 all the way to $1,000 depending all about all the custom features that you add on. So this is the sheet that Brad is going to use to measure out all the different parts of my feet, such as ball of my feet, the instep, the heel, the ankle, and all that great stuff to make sure that I have a boot that fits my specific needs, such as having bunions and having flat feet and corns. So you can imagine how it might be really, really scary to think about a boot costing up to $1,000. And mind you, I did not even mention the blade yet. So how much does a blade cost? Well, blades start at $100 and they can go all the way up to $500 to $600, which is pretty wild because then the total amount for the boot can add up close to $2,000. And if that's scaring you and you're a skater who really wants to get involved with skating, but you think that it's too expensive, well, make sure that you stay till the end of the video so you can find out skates that can help you on your budget. But as you can see here, let's dive a little bit deeper onto why the custom boot might be good for you. So a custom boot might be good for you for multiple reasons. Again, if you have feet issues like myself, I grew up with Achilles tendonitis. I had flat feet and I actually skated in other people's skates before I actually dived into custom skates. So I was using hand-me-down skates and that was completely fine up until I was really working on my double axles and my triple jumps. So I needed to have my own skates that can really help me excel my performance. So if you're curious, if you need custom skates, know that you can go all the way up to your doubles and your triples with stock boots. So what we're looking at is we're looking at her foot compared to a regular, normal, thick, thin, different heel types. So what do I have? You definitely have the heel that's in the middle. Your heel does stick out a little bit. So we'll go with that. Medium heel, nothing crazy. We got the flat. Let's put your feet flat. I want to see how flat you are. Mine's like super flat. Yeah, you're pretty flat. I don't even think you have any space on this. I don't have any arches ever. Yeah, so you're way at the other end. And shape of foot, kind of normal. Normal, maybe thick. Or is there wide, kind of wide feet? I think the thick is the wide. Okay. So we'll go with that. I think that's mostly because of how flat your foot is. Yeah, exactly. Kind of spreads out. And then I have that bunion on the side. Yeah, so that's about it. So how much are stock boots? So stock boots can range from $70 all the way up to $800. And it really depends on what company you use and the different level skate that you select from each company. But I'm going to really start out with the beginner stock boots that come with the blade. So Rydell and Jackson have these awesome skates for beginners that you can get straight from your pro shop. Say hi, Jazz. Huh? Say hi. Hi. So my friend Jazz is trying out her first pair of skates. So she is trying out the Rydells and it's really cute because they actually have some color at the top and some sparkles. So that really gets first timers really involved with the as well. Then she's also trying on the Jackson boot that is a lot more comfortable for her, especially since she likes the feeling of a really strong tongue. So with that being said, how much do these boot cost? So the first pair of Rydells cost about $80. And then these ones that she's trying on right now are around $180. So you can definitely try out all these different types of skates to see what your feet needs are. And people are constantly wondering, you know, do I need to spend a lot of money to be able to skate? And do I need to have the best boot when I first start out? And the answer is no, you can be utilizing $200 boots and you could go up to various levels in the sport. You can still learn the axle in these skates. I've been able to take skaters from the beginner level all the way to working on their double jumps in skates that are $200. And I did so myself. So it's really important to recognize that the cost of the boot should not be limiting you. But if you think about it, if you have specific feet needs, you cannot ignore them This is the expert, the guru skate tech at the Oakland Ice Center. Helping me with my fitting for Rydell and Jackson. Thank you, Brad. Appreciate it very much. We'll see you soon. Okay, bye. Hi, I'm back in the car and I hope that you enjoyed this video. I think it's so interesting to kind of hear the details on why it's important to get a custom boot or why you can still stick with the stock boot if you don't have specific feet related issues or if your stock boots are supporting your current goals. So I think it's really important to kind of have this information and I think it's pretty rare for the figure skating world to kind of share this and you don't really know unless you have a figure skating coach or a personal professional coach that is supporting you along your journey. So if you are struggling in any other way, please let me know in the comment section below what other questions you want me to answer and I am here for you. I love you all so much and I hope that you enjoyed this video. I'll see you in my next one. Bye.