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It’s called a Haglund’s deformity. Get it right. It reeks of ignorance when referred to as a Bauer Bump. It can happen in any skate. And sadly, I think people who use that term to pin it on a particular skate brand don’t know why they occur in the first place.

That's a reference, not acceptance. But the bigger issue is that people put it on one skate brand (which has the biggest retail market share), which is unfair. For example: I promise I am not trying to pick on you here, but I feel that in a professional setting it is best to refer to it by its correct name. It carries more weight. I used to have customers come to me and mention a Bauer bump, and I would correct them and tell them it's a Haglund's deformity. They would thank me afterwards because now they were able to research it better on how/why it happens and how to treat it, because they didn't know exactly what it was.

Then we educate them. Repeating it is just perpetuating the issue.

I agree with this, with the exception of True skates.

At risk of veering wildly off topic, I'd just like to say that, as a coach that does a fair bit of skating/edge-work with private clients, I couldn't agree with this more. Parents ask me all the time, 'what skates should I buy?' - except in VERY rare instances, my response is always, "whatever NON TOP OF THE LINE skate fits the best". Top of the line skates are simply too stiff for the vast majority of youth players.

An FT1 has almost zero protection. Ever blocked a shot in one? The retail model has almost zero protection anywhere other than the ankle, and even there its thin compared to a True skate or even other brands. I have owned a few pairs of pro spec FT1 skates and they are marginally heavier than the retail model. There is more padding throughout the entire skate, clarino liner (optional) and thicker ankle pads (optional), and even the composite seems thicker. I am not sure a retail FT1 would be able to handle 30 days of abuse from a professional player before falling apart. Now, I am not picking on the FT1, because it is one of my favorite skates, I am merely stating facts when comparing retail vs pro spec skates.

Finally got around to getting my soccer gear out of my hockey shelf... Just need to move it into better lighting once the basement gets cleaned up.

As a parent, unless I was dealing with a biomechanical issue that is ONLY solve-able with custom skates, I would have a hard time buying True (or any fully custom) skates for a kid under 16 that has not reached his/her full development - and I'd imagine that the vast majority of parents feel the same way. I understand that a few parents at the margins will pay whatever it costs to have the 'latest and greatest', but it just seems like a unnecessary waste of money to buy custom skates for a 14U player who's still got (potentially) upwards of three years of growing to do... Anyway. As a coach, I can tell you that after having my True skates for about 3 weeks, I no longer notice the weight difference - except when I pull them out of my bag...at which point, I'm like, 'HOLY S&#T, these are TANKS!' Once they're on my feet, however, it's all good and I don't notice anything. Do keep in mind, however, I'm coaching, not playing. If I were still playing at a high level, maybe I would notice that difference (in my case, my Trues are almost 21% heavier than my TotalOnes) in the third period? I mean, I guess I probably would? That said, what I DO notice is that my body mechanics are better in my Trues. I have to 'think less' about maintaining proper ankle/knee/hip alignment when I'm showing the kids a drill, because my body naturally goes there...which is not to say that I DIDN'T have proper skating technique in my TotalOnes...but it just 'feels' more natural in my Trues. Also, I KNOW I'm better on my edges. It is absolutely indisputable. Techniques that I used to put a HUGE amount of thought into executing properly now come smoothly and effortlessly. And I have also been able to drop from a 1/2' FBV/Fire sharpen to a 5/8" FBV/Fire, which has allowed me to noticeably increase the glide portion of my stride. As such, for me, AS A COACH, any weight increase has been more than offset by the performance benefit. ____________________________ (N.B. I am willing to stipulate that some of this perceived benefit of the Trues could be due to the placebo effect - i.e., I did SOMETHING (spent actual money on new skates) so my brain is telling itself that I'm doing a better job than I was before. I've seen video and I think I look 'smoother'...but, again, maybe I'm just telling myself that? Also, some of this benefit could be due to the obvious improvement of Step over Bauer stock steel...)

Final chapter. I emailed the board. Made it strictly about my sons lack of expeirence and not having fun. I did speak the other coach prior, but made it only about my son. Apparently the other team needed players and he likes my son having coached him last year. Got an email today that even though this is not typical protocol they granted our request, considering other circumstance, and this may not happen in the future. My son is happy his new coach reached out immediately to welcome us and talked to him. We didnt have to go through a team manager. He starts practice tomorrow. THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT.

I picked up this beauty yesterday.