Tie Ice Skates

Tying ice skates correctly is important for being able to support the ankle in the skates as well as making sure the energy and motion your body puts into skating is directed toward the blade and the ice and not lost within the boot. Take the time to tie your skates correctly to improve your performance and keep your ankles snug.

Steps

Tightening Your Laces

  1. Position yourself to lace your skate. Seated in a chair, with your skate on a mat, press your foot firmly into a loosened skate. Take hold of both laces, one in each hand, and extend your leg enough so that you can rest your weight on the heel of the boot with your toes pointed slightly upward.
  2. Tighten the laced portion of the boot. Loop your first two fingers through the lace at next to the hole one either side. Grab the laces firmly. Push down with the ball of your foot while pulling up on the laces.
    • Start with the laces closest to the toe of the boot.
    • You should be able to fit your finger between the lace and the boot once it is tightened.
  3. Take up the slack. Once you reach the middle of the boot, the slack in the lace may start pulling the loose ends of the laces out of the holes in the top of the boot. Move to the top laced hole of the boot and pull the laces through from there to keep the top of the laces from being pulled out of the holes.
    • Once you have taken up the slack, return to tightening the boot until your reach the top.

Lacing the Ankle

  1. Lace the remaining top portion of the boot. The top few holes of the boot are likely not laced at this point. Once you have tightened the laces up to this section, follow the same pattern as the rest of the laces to complete lacing the boot to the top. Cross one lace over the other and through the hole on the other side.
  2. Loop around the hooks. Some skates have hooks at the top. Cross the laces as you would if you were lacing through holes, then draw the laces either from the top of the hooks down, or the bottom of the hooks up. Either direction will work. From there, draw the laces together in front of the skate to begin your knot.[1]
  3. Tighten around the ankle with a lacing trick. If you do not have hooks at the top of your skates and would like to make the ankle even more snug, try this trick. Instead of crossing your laces to the the top holes, take the laces directly up to the next hole on the same side. Feed the lace from the outside in through the top hole, creating a loop on each side. Now cross the laces and put them through the loops you just created on the opposite sides and pull to tighten. The space and leverage created by the loops will allow you to pull the laces tighter.[2]

Tying the Knot

  1. Cross the laces twice. Just like you would tie a shoe, cross one lace over the other and wrap it under and back out to the side. This time, though, repeat that process a second time before pulling the laces to the side tighten the knot.
    • Crossing the laces twice will lock the knot in place and keep it from sliding even if the bow comes undone.
  2. Tighten the knot. Pull up on the laces while rocking the toes of your skate forward. This will create a space between your crossed laces and the top of the skate. Pull the laces firmly to the side to get rid of the space, so the crossed lace are lying directly across the top of the skate.
    • Repeat this move several times until you cannot create the space under the crossed laces.
  3. Take care of excess laces. You don't want to have any laces touching the ice or loops in your bow which are too big. These could cause the lace to end up between the skate and the ice and cause a tripping hazard. Wrap the remainder of the laces around the boot. Take the laces around the back of the top of the boot and pull them back to the front. Do this as many times as necessary until you are left with only enough length to tie a double knot and bow in the laces.[3]
    • If you don't have too much excess lace, you can also tie a double bow to take care of the extra lace.
  4. Tie a bow in the last of the laces. Like tying a shoe, make a loop in one lace, then loop the other under and over the loop. This time, repeat this looping process to create a double loop for your knot. Finish the bow by pulling that lace through the two loops to create the other loop of the bow.[3]



Tips

  • When tying skates, make sure they are very snug. You don't want your feet to be pinched and in pain, but you want excellent ankle support.
  • If you would like, hook the loops of your double bow over the top eyelets, and then tuck in the other part of the bow into your skate. This makes your skates look tidier.
  • Tie your skates before taking your hard guards off, this will ensure that your blades are not worn down until you are on the ice.
  • Be careful with the blades because they are sharp.
  • Make sure to pull the laces tight near the ankle so you will not break anything if you fall.

Warnings

  • Be careful whilst on the ice that your lace does not come untied. If it does, skate to the nearest edge, hold onto the side, and tuck in your lace. Then skate to the nearest exit and come off the ice to tie your skate.
  • Do not pull your laces too hard. They can snap.

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ http://www.usfsa.org/content/How%20to%20lace%20skates.pdf
  2. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEDw1I4XwQI
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtrsO-nJoWc

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