Skate Bag

Once you get your own skates, you need a skate bag. Anything will do (I'm using an old backpack), but the contents are the most important thing. You'll need:

- your skates (obviously)
- hard guards (when walking around the complex but not on the ice)
- soakers (after skating)
- towel (or chamois)
- screwdriver (for adjusting blade screws)

Optional extras:

- water bottle
- other clothing (like gloves or whatever)
- snacks

It's important to look after your blades or they'll rust from the constant exposure to ice and water. As soon as you get off the ice you put your hard guards on to walk over to wear your bag is kept. This will stop bits of dirt and grains of sand etc from chipping away your blade edges. When you are done for the session, remove your hard guards and wipe down your blades with the towel or chamois. Spend time making sure to really dry them off well, and also dry off the boot, paying attention to the bottom. After each skate is dry, put the soaker over the blade and put it in your bag. When you get home immediately take your skates out of your bag and remove the soakers; put your skates somewhere airy that they can dry, and really open up the tongue -- undo those laces! Get plenty of air into it so it doesn't start to grow it's own biological factory. Before you go to the rink next time, put the hard guards on, put your skates back in your bag and off you go. Note: if you are living in a cold climate (like Melbourne is at the moment), your skate towel may not dry completely even if left out on the line. If you have access to a tumble dryer (as I do), put the towel in there for a while to really dry it off. Nothing worse than trying to dry a blade with a wet towel!