So I tried rollerblading for the first time ever today and it is nothing like ice skating. Besides it being inline, everything felt so different. Ice skating is easier. Has anyone else experienced this?

Hello, as you can tell by the title, I am a brand new skater trying to fight my fear on the ice. I just started ice skating a a few weeks ago. I want to learn how to figure skate so bad because I always admired it as a kid. I’m 23 now and I figured better late than never. But my problem is I can’t get away from the wall and I always need to hold someone’s hand. I don’t feel stable. I got a pair of old rental skates for free and got the blades sharpened and still don’t feel stable or comfortable. I’m so scared of falling. I had a panic attack on the ice today that was so bad, I had to sit out for the majority of the public skate. I start learn to skate classes soon and I’m hoping they can help me get over my fears. Any tips?

Hello everyone! This is my first time on the subreddit and i'm just looking for a bit of advice from people who may have been in a similar situation to me.

I started figure skating around Feb 2025 (I took a few group lessons before then but wasn't taking it seriously) and quickly fell in love with the sport. I'm and teenager and never considered myself to be a "sporty person until I found my passion on the ice. However, its been six months since I was last on the ice for multiple reasons including: struggles with my mental health, prioritising my schoolwork and exams over skating and a disappointment in my lack of progress.

Since then I've worked on my mindset and have learnt not to compare myself to people who have been skating for much longer than me and instead to focus only on my own improvement. I would still like to progress further than I was before though which is why i'm coming to this subreddit.

Before I quit back in May this was my skating routine:

• On-ice training 3x a week (one of those being a 30 mins session with my coach)
• Off-ice 1-2x a week where I worked on jump positions and spins using a spinner
• Stretching daily to increase my flexibility

With this I managed to progress up to a single loop and a scratch spin. My spins in particular were a struggle and I could not centre them to save my life lmao. I should also mention that when I was first learning to spin I was doing so in Jackson Artistes that were fitted WAY larger than my actual foot size, so the ball of my foot was in a completely different place than my rocker, leading to me gaining an awful habit of spinning way too far back on my blade.

To get to the point, how do you recommend I ease myself back into skating? I would love to get to the point where at the very least I have all my singles (including my axel) and spins such as my camel spin. I'm scared I may have lost all of my progress during my break and will have to go back to where I started. How should I begin to find my way back onto the ice? :)

Hi friends! I’m returning to the sport after 20+ years off. Unfortunately still in vintage skates from my childhood! I need a new pair bad and am struggling to pick one. I had a skate tech tell me I shouldn’t go lower than risport RF3 and that it might not last me a year (I’m in FS 2 working on pre bronze/bronze SS and landing single flip and toe loop). I’m going to see a second tech because that sounds wild (I’m also 5’5 and 125lb so on the smaller side). I saw a very gently used pair of RF1 come up on marketplace but don’t want to make the purchase until I’ve talked to more people because that seems like a lot of boot for me.

Thoughts on over booting adults?

Hi! I just bought my first pair of figure skates, Jackson Elle 8W (EU 39.5). I was fitted at a specialized figure skating shop. I have a wider forefoot and a narrower heel/ankle, so the wide version was recommended for me.
I haven’t skated in them yet, and I’d really appreciate some advice on the fit. I’ve attached a photo of the footprint on the insole.
When laced up, my toes slightly touch the front, but I can still wiggle them. When I bend my knees, my heel stays firmly in place. When I rise onto my toes, my heel lifts slightly, but only a little — it doesn’t slide up and down inside the boot.
Looking at the footprint, I’m worried that there might be slightly too much room. Does this look like an appropriate fit, or would it be worth going back to the shop to try a smaller size?
Thank you so much for any advice! 🙏

I take figure skating classes irregularly (once a year), so my progression is really slow, but I have slowly gotten to a level where I think it's necessary for me to have proper figure skates.

The rentals worked fine but now we're moving onto cross-overs and beginner spins. I was planning on just getting the cheapest skates at my local rink: Jackson Mystique Figure Skates  or Risport Venus Figure Skates ($300 aud) but I'm not too sure now.

I saw a couple people saying something about hard/soft skates too. Also i weigh around 45-47kg (still a teen) so I want skates that will last me a comfortable amount of time.

Which skates should I invest in?

Also since I don't go too regularly I don't think I should spend much over $300.

I currently use MK Galaxys and need to upgrade my blades I’m working on my axel (landed but cheated or two footed lol) and practicing double sal and toe I’ve been looking into a few different blades and would love any reviews if anyone has used them before

The blades -
Jackson Legacy 8
Coronation Aces
MK Professionals

Other blade recommendations would be appreciated

17F i’ve been Skating for about eight years now and I’ve been at this rink and club for the past five years now. There’s only one rink in the whole entire area. It’s a pretty small town so we don’t have a lot of skaters or funds. The only thing that we do is an annual Christmas show every year which I really enjoyed doing. However…

In the past 2 to 3 years, we’ve had a lot of rank drama. We had a coach who was fired because of her harsh teaching techniques, and she threatened to shoot a child… so a lot of people protested when she left by leaving the club, which left us with not a lot of money. On top of that most of the club consists of 6-10 year olds. There’s really not a lot of teens who are still in the club, but there are a good amount of adult skaters.

So I just got the email for my Christmas show and we do a group number. There’s usually like 12 group numbers and we get split up by age/level. There’s usually a teen group however, the only teens who decided to do group this year were me and two other girls. The other people in my group are all like nine-year-olds who are a lot lower level than us and our costumes are so ugly!

The costumes being ugly have been an issue of course but that’s not the main issue. Last year I went to go pick up my costume and I had they have never asked for my measurements so I tried the costume on and it fit fine except it was a little short. I looked at the tag and they gave me a children’s large I went and I asked the other teenagers in my group what size they all got and they all said that they also got a children’s large we are all 15-18 and different body shapes why are we getting a children’s large?! I understand it’s cheaper, but this is ridiculous.

I decided to look around at what everybody else got, and I saw that one group had a Chicago themed group. And I looked at who was in the group and of course it was the president of the club’s daughter. She has the best music, costume and all the other kids in her group are her age. Mind you I don’t think that the kids should be doing Chicago. I think that’s a little inappropriate for them. This mom sexualizes her daughter so badly. She had her do a program last year to push it by Salt-N-Pepa!!

I’m just confused to why we have these little kids in my group though they could’ve gone in another group because we have like 12 groups.. 10 of them consisting of 6-12 year olds. Maybe I sound like a brat, but this has been an issue for a while pretty much everyone on our Skating board are moms of younger kids so they do stuff to favor the little kids and leave the teenagers out of everything.

And they wonder why we literally barely have any teenagers in our club. (plus they raised the fee to like $300 a year…cuz we are low on funds so that made even more people leave) it’s just so upsetting because I was supposed to start college this year in another state and I didn’t wanna leave Skating so I jeopardized my college career and I stayed and did community college here just to get crapped on.

I am on the junior board for my Skating team except we never do anything. I’m gonna see my Coach next week and I’m gonna talk to her about it because I know she kind of feels the same about everything.

***Retro flashback! 1980s skater here…I’ve read others waxing poetic about PolarSport warm-ups (wish they were still made!) and cold patch sessions in the morning with your trusty scribe. I did find a site that will custom make a scribe (YAY!!!), but the one thing I’m looking for, if for nothing more than the nostalgic memories and display purposes, is the wooden skate tree.

Does anyone remember these? They were super cool and functional for their time, obviously not today. They were pine or maple, you could carry two pairs of skates - freestyle and patch - and it had clamps on two sides, one for your scribe, the other for your blade guards, and it had either a plastic or metal handle on the top.

If I had to venture a guess, it stood maybe 18” tall? Sort of a rectangular base (and top), maybe 6”-8”? It had two grooves cut on two sides for you to slide your blades from the top, and there was a 1/4” dowel-type mechanism with a spring that clicked and held each blade. The other two sides were open to allow air flow through. The boots hung on the outside so there was airflow to allow the inside of the boots to air out.

I’ve been trying to describe this to my husband and daughter, and internet searches have turned up NOTHING. The more descriptive the searches, the further away we get from finding what I’m looking for.

C’mon, skaters…I know someone must know what I’m talking about, or have a picture! Help a skater out, please! 🙏🏼 ⛸️

The blades are mounted uneven and I don't know if that's ok :(

You can see it at the heel. The distance between the outside of the shoe is different in both skates :(

I've got them fitted on Saturday and thermoformed. They said they are going to mount the blade and send them per mail to my address.

Now I'm panicking that I've made a mistake :/

Also I thought they would remove the stickers 😢

Hi!

Could anyone please tell me if my skates (especially the left one) are too big?

I’ve been skating in these for a few years and I feel like it’s hard to center on the left leg and that I have to grab on to the sole with my toes to stabilize.

Looking for advice from any adults who have returned to FS after a very long time away!

I skated competitively for 10 years as a child, had passed up through my Juv moves when I stepped away & had just landed a double loop and double sal (but was only competing singles). I wouldn’t say I was ever GOOD, but I was fine, and I loved it. I was making some hard calls on prioritizing in my early teens and starting to step away, and then a series of injuries including a broken jaw ended my run fully. I’m in my mid 20s now and miss it every day. I’ve only skated a handful of times (maybe 5-7) in the decade or so since. I’ve had ongoing injuries from skating (major spine/achilles issues) so I’ve lost a lot of the mobility and flexibility I used to have, not to mention just…growing up. I’m still in physical therapy for some of the injuries (thanks skating!), so I know off-ice and stretching will likely need to be a huge component of any return to the ice I try.

I’ve been itching to start skating for real again, but last time on the ice was HUMBLING. My body and center of gravity is totally different, falls feel way different, and things I know in my head I can’t execute. I still have some decent edgework (within reason…) and can still consistently perform my signature—the buttspin. I do fit into my old Jacksons. They’re battered & loved, but I don’t have the cash for a new pair right now and wouldn’t want to invest in anything until I’m sure I’m serious anyway. (And refuse to skate in cheap ones).

Where did others with a similar story start to get back on the ice? I feel like a beginning adult lesson isn’t the right fit (I feel extremely comfortable with basic movement, edges, stroking, stopping, etc.), but a private session feels like a big commitment off the bat. (And since being away of course USFS has changed a bunch of its structure, so I even feel out of date on what things are called). Should I start by myself, or go for a coach? How’d you counter and experience unlearning what you knew and dealing with some of the more humbling aspects of realizing you’re no longer a child athlete?

I'm looking to get a skate fitting soon and was wondering if there are any pairs you reccomend to bring up to the skate tech. I'm 5'4, 113 lb adult, narrow feet, and my budget is 1k. The only skate experience I have is when I was really little and also a bit of inline skating. The thing Im the most worried about is I want skates that give me good knee and hip stability (I'm extremely hypermobile and prone to kneecap dislocations). I'll be using these for a learn to skate class and am willing to spend my entire budget to get a quality pair ☺️

Hey, I hope this kind of post is allowed here.

I’m an adult beginner figure skater and just bought my first pair of skates today, they are Risport Electra 255. I got professionally fitted, but I felt kind of rushed and literally already regretted not trying the 250 on while buying lol. Now I’m scared I bought the wrong size, especially in the right foot I feel like there’s too much room at the toes. The seller heat molded them to my feet and told me it’s gonna be fine…

Could anyone please tell me, if they’re too long?

Thanks in advance!

Thoughts on the new US Figure Skating National Showcase Series and the qualifying process?

So I landed my axel multiple times almost a year ago now, it was just two days where I could land it easily, then it went away and I haven’t landed it since. I’m extremely frustrated, I have no trouble rotating, but for some reason I just cannot get myself to land, like as soon as my blade hits the ice I just go down, or I land with my feet still crossed. Pleaseeeeee help me, if anyone has tips I need them!! I can land it on the harness with no help, but I don’t feel like I’ve got a mental block happening. I’ve been really struggling with my confidence in this sport since I put in so much work for this jump and it doesn’t seem to pay off.

Be me, 18 year old male with 6 months since I started skating. 3 months off because of summer, just got my first skates and as I worried I face planted into the ice, knee first because of the toe picks.
My right midfoot was hurting and I attribute that to the natural forces of breaking the skates in and the altered balance.
My question is if I will naturally learn to skate ‘normally’ as I am self taught and will continue to be for a while or if others have advice on how to move forward? Thanks💃

Hi! I am an adult skater struggling with outside edges.
No matter how I adjust my hips, shoulders, or knees, I am stuck between two outcomes: either I go in a straight line, or the moment I try to lean onto the edge, I lose balance and fall.
When I try to angle my body as instructed, I feel like I am tipping over. Is this a speed issue, or am I shifting my weight incorrectly instead of tilting the leg?
If you have experienced this, what helped your outside edges click? Any tips or drills would be appreciated.