Rising Popularity of Ice Skating and Emergence of it as a sport

Ice-Sakting- What is it??

Well, it is the act of moving on the ice with the help of ice skates. So, if you ever buy skates, do consider the use you are buying it for. Never buy skates in a rush or just out of fun, there are various kinds of skates according to their uses which we will discuss a bit later. Before you go to buy ice skates, consider the facts given below.

So, as I was saying that there are several reasons skating is done, it can for a tournament, for Olympics, as a form of exercise, travelling, leisure moment. Ice skating occurs on both prepared ice surfaces which include-arenas, parks, tracks and also in naturally occurring frozen water bodies like ponds, lakes, etc.

Emergence as a sport

Skating became popular recreational sports in The Fens in England for people from every sphere of life. Though exactly it is not known that when the first skating matches were held but, by the early nineteenth-century ice skate racing was established and was also covered and published by the press. It first developed on the lakes of Scotland and the canals of Netherlands. During the 13^th and 14^th century instead of woods it was replaced by bones in skate blades and by 1572 the first iron skates were manufactured. During the severe winters, when the lake froze skating matches were held in several towns and village all over Fens. Competitions were held between men, women and sometimes children, as a reward, they were given prize money, clothing or food.

The first manual book regarding ice skating was published in London in 1772, it was written by a British artillery lieutenant Robert Jones. And since then, it was a non stop recreational and competitive sports of all time. Played by enjoy and enjoyed by all.

Basically, there are five main types of skating and they are-

• Figure skates- Used as figure skating and has toe picks on the front of the blade, made of stainless steel or aluminium along with a steel runner.
• The Hockey Skate- Majorly used for Ice Hockey, ringette. Boots made of moulded plastic, leather, ballistic nylon except the one’s used during competitive hockey , they are not made up of moulded plastic. One for the goaltenders has low cut in the ankle and the boots sit closer to the ice for alower centre of gravity.
• .The Bandy Skate-  Precisely used for Bandy, boots made from leather, lower than hockey skates, doesn’t cover the ankles and are designed so that it won’t hurt the opponents while playing
• The racing skate- As the name gives a clear idea, they have long blades, used during speed skating, like clap skate and here the shoe and blade are connected via a hinge.
• The touring skate- More commonly known as Nordic Skate, long blades which can be attached by the help of bindings, meant for long distance tour skating on natural ice.
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