here is another point on the getting hurt aspect though. in hockey we were skates that have padding, shinpads,pants that have lots of pads, chestgard, elbowpads, and gloves to protect you in foot ball, small lil pads for yous legs, and a chest pad. not very much... but the padding does help in some cases, like have taken a slapshot to the shin and had a very nice bone bruise. also taken a slap shot from the same guy that broke the toe cap of my skate, which is a thick plastic. and he also broke the blade holder on my skate once.. to say the least his shots were hard...