Any tips for skating on ice for hockey?

I'm interested in picking up ice hockey. Can someone give me some tips?

• I am a 14 year old girl and play catcher in fastpicth softball. I have always been interested in ice hockey and realized in softball, the catcher's kinda like the goaltender. I've only been ice skating once and I sucked. My parents don't even know i'm interested in hockey but it seems liike so much fun and a great experience. And I only know one person at my school that plays hockey and he's really good. If I did start playing I would be on the same team as him but that would be akward. (We almost dated but we don't really talk anymore) Not to mention I would be the ONLY girl on the team and taking skating and hockey lessons at 14 with a bunch of little kids would be embarassing. Am I making the right choice by giving up softball and trying to do something new. I mean softball is really boring after playing for like 7 years without a high school team to play for now.

• Answer:

  I can understand how softball would be boring.... The first thing you need to understand is that hockey is an expensive sport. If you're planning on playing goalie, you have a lot of money to save up. The average cost for a teenager is about $800 - $1000 dollars for all new equipment. If you want to be a player, the equipment is less expensive (about $500). You'll obviously need to know how to skate. I felt the same way as a 13 year old playing with 8 year olds (I was okay at skating when I started, but still bad). Nobody will really say anything about it, but you need to start exclusively with skating lessons. Usually a good skating instructor will tell you when the best time is to start playing hockey and taking lessons. However, for goalies skating is very different and you may need to take goalie classes. (If you're gonna play goalie though, start with regular skating lessons) Also, being a girl and playing hockey is pretty boss, for many reasons. Girls are much more likely to get a college hockey scholarship than guys.