This Silipos gel sleeve
isn't cheap. Rainbo Sports sells them for about $15. Why did I buy two of them? That's $30, Ice Mom!I know, I know. I just dropped about $200 in the pro shop and then I went back for more. If you don't know already, breaking in new figure skates is often a painful process. Ice Girl's coach has scars from breaking in skates. Ice Girl is a notorius wuss. She thinks a paper cut is fatal. Ice Girl wouldn't last long enough to make scars.
After about 45 minutes of skating with the new figure skates, Ice Girl was crying for her old ones. I hardened my heart and took her back to the pro shop. The man in the shop suggested either a blister pad (cheap foam: 50 cents) or this gel sleeve ($15).
I know you think I'm nuts, but I went with the sleeve. I didn't just pay $150 for new skates so my daughter would put them in her new Zuca bag
and hide them in the basement. No, no. She was going to sleep in those damn skates, I tell you.I bought one sleeve, put a Band-aid on her popped blister, and had Ice Girl put on the sleeve. She laced up her skates and didn't want to leave the ice for hours. I am not kidding you. She was very, very comfortable in the new skates with the gel sleeve.
I thought I could get away with just buying one sleeve, but her other foot became red and painful. Two sleeves, happy kid, skates breaking in nicely.
Overall rating: four out of four stars. In other words, I don't regret my purchase (expensive, yes) one bit. Expensive, yes, but very practical. My $150 investment in new skates hasn't been wasted and Ice Girl still loves to skate instead of dreading it.
3 comments:
This is probably the best accessory you can buy for figure skating! I don't know of a single skater who skates without them (or Bunga gel sleeves- a more expensive brand).
The gel sleeve is a great product. I love my Bunga Pads. The Bungas are sometimes more expensive, but the name brand stuff in this industry works the best. I had the silipos sleeve before and after a few months, they just fell apart. After trying to take them back to the pro shop, they recommended Bungas. For only 2 dollars more, I didn't care. The Bungas were wayyyyy better. I've been skating in them for almost a year now. And they still look better than any other thing I seen on the market.
I would simply die without my gel ankle sleeves... They're life savers, and the scars that I had before getting them are slowly fading into history.
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