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Buying New Hockey Gear
So you have found hockey. Some might say, "been called to
hockey". Now you need some kit to play safely.
The major question is, new or second hand?
New has one major disadvantage - cost. Paying full retail for
items can hurt the hip in the pocket region. If going new (or
second hand), the first rule is, get the best quality that you can
afford. For myself, I got the best available that fitted me
comfortably. My gear has saved me many days off work where lesser
gear would probably have left me more injured. I only needed to
save a couple of days of income to justify my purchases fully!
Advantages of new gear - you know its history and you know its
hygiene. You can read reviews and performance figures on each
item.
Minimum kit to get on the ice: stick, helmet (a full face
cage or visor is strongly
recommended), groin guard, gloves and skates; for drop-in and
training, at least one definitively
light or dark jersey is needed (please bring one of each to allow
balancing of teams).
Strongly recommended - the whole lot!
Hockey at any level is not chess! It is a high speed contact
sport where folks of similar sizes are competing for a single bit of
rubber and the right to control it. Even simple falls can leave
long term injuries if an elbow or knee is involved.
Even if the level is designated as, "no body checking", collisions
will happen (it is not chess, remember?) unless you intend to let the
other bloke take the puck uncontested? Yeah,.. right!
To quote Happy Gilmore (Adam Sandler movie),
"That's
MY puck,.. don't you ever touch MY puck!"
Roger Smith (Armoursmith
Hockey) wrote this list of things to consider when buying gear.
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When you are buying from overseas have you considered
that you may be buying seconds or inferior copies?
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Many products appear to have inferior stitching and
incorrect sizing, in the case of skates they can be very
heavy, poor glue and stitching or inferior linings. |
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When buying from a local store do you realise that you
have a warranty on your equipment which you don’t if you
buy from overseas?
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The warranty from overseas requires you to pay freight –
UPS or Fedex, to return goods, plus you are without
goods for some length of time AND you have to pay to get
your goods back! |
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Did you realise that any equipment purchased outside of
Australia cannot be fitted or repaired by your local
store?
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The warranty from overseas states that local stores do
repairs and fitting at their own risk. This means if we
fit your foreign skates and the glue is from a bad batch
and they fall apart, we have to replace at our expense. |
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When you buy from overseas do you realise that you are
supporting their economy and not the Australian or
Queensland economy?
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Australians are usually big on Buy Australian – why
don’t you start now! |
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Have you considered that by buying from Australian or
Queensland suppliers that you are supporting your own
hockey league!
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Did you know that Armoursmith continually support local
hockey clubs, leagues and schools. Did you know that we
also sponsor NSW clubs and teams? |
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Did you know that Queensland businesses sponsor your
hockey thus being able to offer you more or improved
hockey?
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The more support Queensland businesses receive from you
then the more they can put into local clubs, with this,
local clubs have more power to press for increased ice
time.
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What support are overseas businesses giving to you and
your club? |
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Consider that if you provided more support to local
hockey stores, they could increase their level of
sponsorship which inturn reduces the fees for you?
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If local hockey stores received your support, they could
provide even more sponsorship which means savings would
be passed on to you by way of reduced fees, free
uniforms etc. |
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