Background on Balance Blades

No parent wants to see their child fall backwards while learning to ice skate. The signature helpless feeling you get, when your child's skates slip out from under them and you prepare for the impending rear fall, hoping they do not hit their head off the ice.

While teaching my oldest son to ice skate, his skates would slip out and he continuously fell backwards. I would skate over, pick him up, wipe away his tears and say to myself there has to be a way to prevent rear falls at this beginner level.

As a former Canskate skating coach and having previous Canadian National competitive figure skating and hockey experience, I had an idea.

Indentations were cut into the rear of the blades, similar to inverted skate picks except they were hidden inside the contour of blade.

The rear would engage the ice automatically and involuntarily when the skate started to slip out and a rear fall is inevitable. They would provide a moment to realign the centre of gravity and avoid a fall.

I also noticed he could not get moving while holding onto a chair. It looked like he was running on the spot, as the front of the skate kept slipping out. So indentations were also cut into the front of the blade that could be voluntarily engaged into the ice to assist with basic skating skills such as standing up and pushing off.

I tried the new innovation on my youngest son and it worked immediately, he kept catching his balance and not falling. He was immediately able to get moving and participate with his brother. The best part was that I did not have to hold him up, he was learning to balance on his own.

The blades worked so well in preventing rear falls and as a learning aid, that my son learned to skate sooner. I did not have to hold him up once. He was able to get up off the ice on his own, stand in one spot, push off with proper skating strides and glides.

I noticed other parents holding up their kids, straining their backs and I could sense their frustration. Looking around, I noticed other kids were falling backwards despite using the newest after market skate aids.

We wanted to make Balance Blades available to all parents in order to provide their child with the best beginner skating experience.

The skate blade design was patented and trademarked. Our invention relates in general to the field of ice-skate blades and more particularly to a stabilizing ice-skate blade that can be utilized to perform skating skills.

Canadian Patent Application 2,916,313

US Patent No. 14/637199

The following video chronicles our journey. The skates used were only templates.

In 2017, we entered into an exclusive licence/distribution agreement with Winnwell Hockey. Winnwell powered by Balance Blades skates were introduced exclusively into big retail, available at Canadian Tire stores across Canada. Balance Blades continue to be sold from our online store.

Kids all over the world are learning to skate on Balance Blades, including Canada, USA, Sweden, France, Iceland, Australia, Hungary and Switzerland.

Happy skating.