Applying dust to your pads.

[WERNER 1]

Last Thursday night, I played goal on sport court for the first time.......I was not impressed!

I don't know if it was the humidity or what, but my pads were really sticking to the floor. I've got my first game of this new session tonight, and I'm trying to find a solution to the stickiness, without effecting wheel traction.......well, at least not greatly effecting.

I know when I play on a rollon surface, before the game I'll find a nice dusty spot outside of the rink and go waller in it a while, get my pads real dusty so they slide around better when I'm down. The problem is that at this new rink there's that sport carpet all around the outside, and there's no dust to be found.

My questions are:

1. Does anyone use dust or powder to add a little slickness to there pads?

2. Is it normal for sport court to be that sticky? (compared to rollon)- I Know it was really humid out the night I played.

I was under the assumption that S/C was a bit slicker than rollon.

I don't want to use any armorall/scilicon type stuff, that just makes your wheels slip out.

Thanks,
Rick

[Aaron]

Werner, in my experience sport-court is stickier than roll on or urethane. When I play on Sunday at the old roller skating rink, it's a urethane finished floor. It's glass-smooth and really works good for sliding on. Even with my plastic plates on my Battrams, I still don't slide as well on sport court compared to the other floor.

[Nightfall]

Well, it certainly isn't like ice I will say that much. I will also say that rollerhockey goaltending is a lot more difficult. The puck bounces a lot more often, is lighter so finding it after it hits you can be a pain in the butt, and it is a lot more wide open of a game. After two years of playing on a icecourt surface, I have learned to not count on sliding as must as I do on ice. I can slide VERY SHORT distances, but not anything to write home about.

I will say this. Don't expect the impossible when it comes to goaltending on a rollerhockey court. Especially since this is your first time on it. You have to be able to flip a switch in your head, knowing you are going from ice to roller and back again. It took me a year of playing on a court and then going to ice at the same time to get used to it.

Applying dust may or may not help. If you find any info out on this, then post it here. I don't know if any rollerhockey place would allow it since the dust would come off your pads and hinder others from moving around...including your own defenseman. I don't think I would like to see them loosing their edge and falling behind my net. Coughing up the puck in the defensive zone is not good.

[WERNER 1]

Just to clarify: I've been playing roller since 95........only on rollon though.

Well I couldn't find any dust or dirt before the game last night, due to the recent torential down pours we've been having around here.

I did however get to the rink a bit earlier than I usually do just to check everything out real good. It was a pretty dry, cool night last night, .......I think it was around 60 deg. I grabbed one of my pads out of my bag and walked out onto the rink and proceeded to rub my pad on the floor just to get an idea of what I was in for. Much to my surprise.....the floor was kind of dirty, and my pads were moving around quite well, without any pressure on them anyway. I guess the owner hadn't ran the "Zamboni" before the games last night.

I went back to using my old Mission VSI Proto's with the C7 frames that I had converted to goalie skates back in 96. They felt great, and my ankle bairly bothered me, although I need softer wheels, they were slipping out like crazy!

Overall it was a good time, and we won 5-3.

I"m still going to work on the "perfect" dust solution though.

[big dog daddy]

Werner,

I have benn playing on nothing but sportcourt since I've stated being a goalie so I don't know how other surfaces play other that the few pick up games I've playe at an ice rink that they let melt for the sumer(real smooth conrete).

I find that the surface tends to be real sticky if it is clean, which doesn't happen often where I play. When they do take the "Zamboni" to the tiles it is real hard to slide when your down, but even when is real dusty you can't slide all that well. The goalies that slide the best use pads that are all nylon/canvas type material like Tours or Battrams roller pads. Hence my need to get covers for my Eagle's.

BDD

[Vision]

This is why my roller pads were designed and built with cordura five holes. I don't have much problem sliding with them on sport court, even that strange floor in Las Vegas that they speed skate on.

[avatarkava]

Running out the door, so I don't have time to do a search on it, but someone suggested using the "loop" (soft) side of velcro and affixing it to the pads - I've tried it and it does make a big difference while preventing wear.

My next experiment is to go buy one of the very thin roll-up plastic sleds that they sell in a lot of variety stores and mold myself a set of plastic sliding plates that i can remove at will.

[WERNER 1]

Man that's a good idea! I wonder if the harder side would work better though? I've got a bunch of that stuff at home, I'll try it out this tuesday night.

When I first purchased my R6's, I wanted to build some covers for them so they wouldn't get ruined playing roller. I had a very hard time finding the "right" material to build these covers, I wanted to use a "Ballistic" nylon, but none of the fabric stores around here carried anything like that. I finally found the perfect material- Air bag material. This stuff is very tuff, and is very much like nylon.....with a coating on one side of it.

Although I never actually made the covers, I do have the material. Maybe some day if I ever get new pads I'll try it out. Untill then, I'm going to try the velcro.

Thanks

[jens_iceman]

Try using Magnesium powder, don't know if it works ?
But this is the kind of powder the gymnasts use to do their stuff soo....
Hopefully it will work .

[WERNER 1]

Well I stuck a bunch of velcro all over my R6's last night. The sad part is I only saw 7 shots last night........we won 15-2!

I messed around a bit in warm ups, and could tell a difference......but I think I need some more velcro.

I used both the soft and the hard sides of the velcro, and only placed it on the pad where it touches when your are in the b/f position. I had some that was 2" wide, and some that was about 3/4", the 2" seems to be a good choice for larger coverage on the pad.

I'm going to buy some more this weekend and "install" it.

Hmmm.......I wonder how this will effect my Ice game?

[Bernie]

Werner, I have seen you play, and you're an excellent goalie, so please keep this in mind:

I have NEVER met an EXCELLENT roller hockey goalie who modifies his pads in any way to help with sliding on the floor. I have met and played against many of the best goalies in many tournaments and never have I EVER seen one single gold-level goaltender with any such modifications ever in my life.

I do occasionally see such things in the C leagues /Bronze tourny divisions.

Just an observation that I think speaks for itself and you really ought to consider.


Bernie

[Goalie Boy]

In the short time I played rollerhockey I never did any thing to my pads.

[WERNER 1]

Thanks for the compliment.........I think?

I don't know what the deal is, I guess I'm just so used to the "feel" of roll-on and being able to go from a compact b/f position to extending a pad out an extra foot or two with out any/much resistance. I sure don't charish the thought of going down and being "stuck" to the floor that's for sure! It's been my experience that when you're.....in this case stuck, and then try and move, there is a much greater possability for injury as well....and I haven't been too lucky on that side of things as of late.

I could have just been the high humidity in the building that night, they're supposed to have the AC on pretty quick so mybe this whole thing will be a non-issue......I can only hope.

Thanks for all of the help.


( Oh yeah, I ordered some new wheels 59mm/ 64a. I hope these will stick! )

[Bernie]

I understand totally Wern, but you just have to get used to not playing on ice is all, and you have to get the "feel" for different floor surfaces. Putting stuff on or modding your pads is a sure sign of an inexperienced roller hockey goalie.

It's like playing indoor soccer and you decide to cut holes in the walls to let the ball go out of bounds just like in "real" soccer. That's not the way to approach it. You must instead develop techniques and stratagies to account for the fact that the game is different.

Bernie

[Aaron]

So Bernie, am I now demoted due to the plastic plates I have on my Battram pads? I figured so, because you never return my phone calls