The idea for this post comes from one of our readers, who asked me to write on the subject of keeping a gold-medal-less child motivated to skate. I've taken a few days to think over this subject: one which filled my heart with sadness when I read said reader's post idea. Every child deserves to feel like a winner, but it's been hard putting myself in this mum's place, seeing as I don't have any children myself.

So do you spend a decent amount of time in the rink each week, watching your little one skate around to the music, progressing, preparing, and somehow s/he always seems to place off the box, or even win medals, but never the gold? Then this post is for you.

OK ladies, you need a dress (or your child does). No doubt you have a ton of requirements, depending on your own personal taste, your needs, your event, your location, etc.. There are so many sources for figure skating dresses that it can boggle the mind! But fear not! Here I will attempt to write a comprehensive blog post on all things dress-shopping. So let's start!

The idea for this post came to me as I sat here, on Sunday afternoon, aggravating my wrist tendinitis writing out some 50+ flash cards for my on-going university work. Yes that's right (or should that be write... hmmm) - I have given myself tendinitis through studying. Dedicated or dumb, I'll let you decide that one.

Hi there fellow skater-person! *waves*

Thanks for coming by today. I wanted to post a short note today to let you know that I recently opened a Facebook page for this blog. I don't get to write blog posts half as much as I would like due to a busy schedule, but the Facebook page is a great way to receive little updates, tid-bits about what's going on in skating, and just generally interact with other skaters, skating parents, and of course, moi!

So why not come on over and give it a "like"?

This post may seem somewhat basic to the seasoned skater or skating-person (coach, parents, siblings, fan, the list goes on!), but I hope it will be useful to beginners starting out, or people who simply want to know more about figure skates. Here I'm going to introduce figure skates, also known as skating boots, or simply boots, and have a look at the different parts that make them up, and then talk a little about skate types, and brands.