Ice Skating

Ice skating involves gliding over a surface of ice wearing skates, which are boots with thin blades on the bottom. It was the Dutch who are credited with inventing the first ice skates in the 13th or 14th century by strapping steel blades onto the bottom of their boots. A table maker’s apprentice came up with the idea of making the blades lighter so that a skater did not need sticks to help him/her propel the body across the ice. Throughout history people of all walks of life have enjoyed ice-skating. This was a popular activity with the royalty of Europe.

The metal blade on the bottom of the skate show has very little friction on ice so it can glide easily. Skaters can increase this friction by leaning forward and this helps to increase the speed. They can also use gravity to help them control their movements. The can stop themselves by either digging the toe or the heel of the blade into the ice.

Many sports involve ice-skating, such as ice hockey, figure skating, speed skating, tour skating, ringette and bandy. Both ringette and bandy are team sports very similar to field hockey. In figure skating, individuals use many different routines, such as twists jumps, which are synchronized to music. This is s field of competitive ice-skating practiced all over the world.

There are also dangers involved in ice-skating. The ice is hard, so when one falls it is possible to do serious injury. This is why everyone, but especially small children and those involved in contact ice sports, must wear protective helmets that will protect the head if one should fall. The blades are quite sharp and can cause cuts if they come in contact with a body part either through a fall or another accident on the ice.