Sharpen your skates. And then trust your edges.

In rec hockey, I don't think we put enough value on having properly sharpened skates. Maybe we justify it by thinking, "I'm not in the NHL so why bother? They're sharp enough." I just got my skates sharpened before starting power skating lessons, because I had promised myself that if I got one thing out of this session, it would be to improve my power turns and crossovers on my weak side.


I was not willing to really push myself doing power turns with dull skates. To do a proper power turn, you need to use the correct edges on both skates. The edges you need are those inside the turn - that is, if you are turning right, your right outside edge and left inside edge, and vice versa. You also need to keep your knees bent, really sit your butt down. 

But I basically have a huge mistrust of my outside edges. It scares me to shift to an outside edge and start turning seemingly uncontrollably. So up until last weekend I was using only one foot to take all the weight in the turn. I knew it was wrong, I just couldn't make myself dig the other edge in. But having sworn to master these turns, and knowing I had freshly sharpened skates on, really helped. I fell down a few times but I just kept at it, consciously leaning into the turn, putting weight on the correct edges. All that goes completely against my cautious skating nature. I successfully made the turn enough times that I know what the feeling is that I'm aiming for, and that I can do it.

Anyway, I also realized that my (often dull) skates had been holding me back. I had been correct in not trusting my edges before - my skates were dull! With dull skates and aggressive moves, your skate is very likely to slip sideways and you lurch into some unexpected position. You may recover your balance, or you may fall.

Now that I've had this revelation, I'm noticing other people who seem to suffer from the side effects of dull skates. I see skilled skaters who unexpectedly lose their grip and fall. I don't think it's because they're pushing the envelope; they often fall under very banal circumstances. I think their skates are dull, and they don't realize how much the dull skates are hampering their game.

So, the next time you have unexpected (and possibly undignified) results when doing routine moves, maybe you should sharpen your skates. And then trust your edges.