ICE SKATING

IS ICE SKATING HARD TO LEARN?

Ice skating is a sport in which people slide over a smooth ice surface on steel-bladed skates. Ice skating occurs both on specially prepared indoor and outdoor tracks, as well as on naturally occurring bodies of frozen water, such as lakes and rivers. It can be done for a variety of reasons, including exercise, leisure, traveling, and various sports. People probably skated on ice in the Scandinavian countries before the Christian era. The first skates are believed to have been sharp splinters of animal bone fitted to the bottoms of boots to ease travel over ice. Some drawings and references in literature to ice skating date from the Middle Ages. Skating as a sport developed on the lakes of Scotland and the canals of the Netherlands. In the 13th and 14th centuries wood was substituted for bone in skate blades, and in 1572 the first iron skates were manufactured. There are four main types of this sport- figure skating, short track skating, speed skating and ice skating.

Skating is a popular sport in the Winter Olympics for both men and women, and some world-famous Olympic ice-skaters. Many ice-skaters perform alone, but pairs skating is also a popular sport in which two ice-skaters, typically a man and a woman, perform a choreographed routine together. Although difficult, ice skating can be one of the most exciting and fun athletic activities to learn. Athletes can fall behind if they are not as skilled. Learning to ice skate can be a long and frustrating process. It takes true commitment in order to succeed truly. Ice skating is also a very expensive as multiple pieces of equipment are needed as well as ice time.

Practicing over and over is an easy way to learn although it can be frustrating and requires a lot of failures. Reading up on ice skating and ice skating techniques as well as watching others ice skate is another easy way to teach oneself. In order to learn skating, there are some cases of being injured while skates fail. Stress fractures are a common injury with ice skaters due to the repetitive moves and motions from the landing and jumps. Also the muscle strains refer to any damage to the muscle or the attaching tendons due to pressure put on that muscle. Many injuries including knee injuries, ankle sprain and wrist sprain, so that it is very important to have a great practice and a full commitment in ice skating. Read more...