Learning to ice skate by using an ambulatory care walker as a teaching and safety support.
This is mostly about the skating use of the walker and using it to learn ice skating. What am I talking about? You are most likely all too familiar with the four legged, aluminum, light weight, support walker which gets used by disabled people who need more support than just a cane.
No need to purchase a new walker, as used walkers can easily be found at garage sales, second hand stores, or up in the attic, etc.
To convert an ambulatory care walker into a high-performance, ice skating - learning machine is indeed very, very simple. The necessary item is almost always just a four-pack of 1 1/8" diameter VINYL crutch tips or cups. Vinyl will slide speedily and easily across an ice rink, while a similar rubber crutch tip does not work nearly as well as vinyl. So, vinyl slides on ice, while RUBBER does not work so good. Something about the difference between vinyl and rubber makes a big difference as to how good it will slide across an ice rink. The way-to-go is VINYL! A four-pack of 1 1/8" vinyl furniture tips in either black or white costs $1.79 at Heath's Hardware in Center Harbor.
So, remove from the walker the two wheels, or two caster-wheels, and the two large white RUBBER tips and replace with four VINYL sliding crutch tips. Either black or white vinyl will work well, it makes no difference!
Your 'learn to ice-skate,' high performance walker is now ready for the ice! So's, let's get out there and go for it! Apparently, the great majority of adult and child ice-skaters who show up at the PSU general skating sessions are not very good ice-skaters, and sometimes there's only five people or less, out on that great big ice rink. Ice-skating is not so easy to learn, but using a walker makes it much easier and safer for both children and adults.
Suggestion: A bicycle helmet is perfect for ice skating SAFETY and highly RECOMMENDED!
The Etcetera Shoppe in Meredith, next to Dunkin Donuts, has about 100 different pair of ice skates, figure and hockey, for sale at various reduced prices around $30. And, Plymouth Ski & Sports on Main St in Plymouth has a great selection starting at about $70 and up to $125.
What a walker does is give the ice skater excellent support and much increased safety from falling. It will definately speed up your skate learning skill level, plus it is fun to use. There is absolutely no reason why even an intermediate or advanced skater could not use one for self-improvement exercise practice. Even a hockey player could easily benefit from practicing with a walker as a support aid for doing tight circles, stops & starts, figure eights, and high-speed skating, reversals, and skate-backwards practice. If you want to be a good hockey player, then you want to be a good ice skater!
Learning to ice skate is a great use for grandpa's old walker!
