Adjust the Size of Your Hockey Skates: Reebok Pump Skates

Watching the Blue Jays lose the other day, I was thoroughly fascinated by one of the ads I saw. It’s not that the ad was all that impressive; it was just one of those where the narrator— who sounds too professional for his own good— talks to you about important considerations to make before doing something. Yeah.

But the product did seem pretty awesome.

So say your son plays in his neighbourhood house league for ice hockey, and because he’s a growing boy, you have to buy bigger skates every year. And because you aren’t making the money that Ilya Kovalchuk is now guaranteed with his new contract, you’re not too thrilled about dropping a hundred bucks on skates every year.

Now, you can spend a hundred bucks, but every two years with the Reebok Pump skates. I’ve never owned a pair of these babies but the concept sounds pretty idiot-proof. The size of these skates is adjustable so you can actually customize them to your son’s feet.

How it works is that apparently, they’ve decked them out with inflatable air cushions on the sides, which, when you inflate, make the fit a bit tighter. And the best part is that, despite how his grade 2 teacher is always quick to point out his lack of fine motor skills, your son should be able to easily inflate the cushions. All he has to do is press this button-like pump a few times and voila! It fits!
It’s a miracle. He’s more comfortable, and not to mention a bit safer. But the truly miraculous part is that you can buy the skates a size bigger for him to grow into (saving YOU money!), without hearing his whiny complaints every time you drive him to a game.

The thing is though, I don’t see why this sort of pump technology isn’t on everything these days. Hats, shoes, gloves, knee pads, headphones, etc. etc. can all have this pump to make the size customizable. Instead of having a small, medium, large, and extra large, everything can just be one size fits all.

That would truly make the world a better place to be, especially for the terminally lazy race we’ve become.

The 10 Most Creative Sports Training Equipment: Must-Have Pieces for Any Athlete

10. Cushioned whistles

A must-have for any referee who wants to penalize in comfort. The actual whistle is attached to a handle that features a cushioned grip. Now that’s what I call indulgence.

9. Basketball shooting sleeves

These sleeves tighten around your arm to force you to shoot with proper form in basketball. They keep your arm aligned with the basket and emphasize the arc of a shot.

8. Belt tennis ball holders

Tennis, especially for us beginners, usually involves a ton of picking up balls that have landed in the net on unforced errors. Thus, it’s now convention to keep a bunch of balls in your pockets instead of having to run after every fanned shot. And this little invention lets you keep an extra tennis ball clipped onto your waist.

7. Extreme slideboards

If you’re an American, first of all, just know that hockey is Canada’s game. Why? Because here in Canada, we get to freeze our butts off playing hockey year-round. 365-day rinks are everywhere and ponds are frozen for 5 months of they year. But for you Americans, there’s the extreme slideboard, which simulates the ice surface so you can practice your shots, passes, and handles. Now, you’ll never beat Canada at the Olympics but you can have some fun sliding.

6. Parachutes

Parachutes are awesome. Whoever thought of harnessing the power of air resistance as a method of fitness? We can run with parachutes dragging behind us, and we can even swing bats, sticks, and arms with parachutes to provide resistance.

5. Radar balls

The radar ball is great for amateur ballplayers who don’t want to spend 200 bucks on a radar gun when they can get a decent reading from a $20 item. The radar ball detects the impact of the ball on the glove in order to determine the velocity of it. An idea that saves me $180 is a good idea any day.

4. Roller skis

With a pair of roller skis, you can simulate the experience of cross-country skiing in any temperature. Roller skis are just skis with wheels at the bottom. Sure, it’s a dead simple idea but it took someone to come up with it.

3. Curveball trainers

Baseball’s second contribution to this list is the curveball trainer. Basically, these are foam balls that have spiral grooves in them to create the crazy movements of a slider, screwball, and curveball. This happens because the grooves in the ball are able to manipulate the way air travels around it, convincing the molecules to push the ball a certain way, and allowing you to practice hitting them.

2. Golf ball-finding glasses

These babies almost made it to number one on this list. How could you not love ‘em? Your cousin gives you a lucky golf ball but after 3 straight eagles, you lose it in the rough. Time to pop on the golf ball-finding glasses and voila— suddenly a little white speck begins to stand out.

1. Passback footballs

I absolutely adore the people who mass-produce those “why-didn’t-I-think-of-that” ideas. This is definitely one of those. If you’re friends prefer drinking Mountain Dew and playing Call of Duty to playing catch with you, you can now finally train your spiral on your own. Passback footballs are flat on one side so they can bounce back to you after hitting a wall of some sort. Brilliant! It may not bounce back as well as it does off your friend’s belly, but you’ll just have to live with it.