When it comes to buying a first pair of skates for their children, parents quite often take only two factors into account: price (understandably) and looks. The manufacturers of cheap skates know this and race down in terms of quality to offer lowest price possible while making a decent cut for themselves. Such skates are not true sports equipment, they are toys at best. Flashy designs serve to attract children’s attention, so they’ll convince parents they want these particular skates.
Not thinking about what are requirements to classify a pair of skates a good choice for children usually results in bad experience which puts young ones off and makes them give up on skating entirely.
So, what are characteristics of decent skates for children?
First of all, the boot should be adjustable – this way, they’ll last for more than one season, considering that children's feet grow fast.
Secondly, without a good level of ankle support and snug fit, kids will not be able to learn proper technique. If the boot bends in ankle area, this may even result in a serious injury. Another factor which is kind of connected to this is distance between foot and the ground – the lower the centre of gravity, the easier it gets to maintain a straight ankles position. In addition, it makes skates way easier to control.
Another very important factor is durability. Especially at the beginning of a journey with inline skating, kids fall a lot and gear needs to withstand it. On the other hand – children do not have the same level of strength in their legs as adults do, so skates must be lightweight enough. Thanks to it, young one won’t tire as fast and skating is going to be much more fun for them.
That’s enough of theory. You may ask – why are we mentioning all of these factors?
Meet Powerslide Stargaze skates
This introduction was necessary to allow you to better understand why we hold Powerslide Stargaze skates in such high regard. These are excellent skates and one of best selling models in our shop.
The easiest way to describe Stargaze is to call them a simplified version of Phuzion Universe skates. The most important differentiator is the boot base. Stargaze has been give a new part which contains integrated composite frame, while Phusion Universe use two-piece aluminium sheet frames attached to the base by screws.
The concept used in Stargaze is called “unibody” and makes skates noticeably lighter, even lower to the ground (bear in mind that Phuzion Universe were already very low), super responsive and offering very good energy transfer on push. The base (and rest of the plastic skate components) is made out of glass fibre reinforced plastic (GFRP) which makes it really rigid – there’s no chance that it would bend while skating. The skates were tested for users weighting up to 60 kg.
The upper shell of Stargaze is the same one as found in Universe skates. It’s sleek and shaped to lock the foot in place. Thanks to rigid, durable material it is made of, it protects the foot really well. The external cuff provide excellent support and anatomically shaped liner guarantees a high level of comfort.
Minimalistic design makes Stargaze one of the easiest to maintain skates on surface of the planet – the only screws you need to tighten from time to time are axles!
Powerslide Stargaze have our wholehearted recommendation – but not only ours. We sell a lot of these (one of the most popular skates for kids in our shop, bear in mind) and never had a case of customer complaining about them or having any major issues. In addition, our circle of friends among skating instructors in Poland have tested these skates thoroughly in their schools and can vouch for them having all necessary characteristics to allow children developing their skills with ease.
You can find Stargaze skates here
We also have a bundle of skates, helmet and protection pads at a very attractive price!
