Hey! It’s me, again! So, I know many of you are asking, “what exactly is figure skating?” “When did it even come into existence?” Well, archeologists have found primitive animal bone ice skates dating back to 3000 B.C., thus it is difficult to give a definitive date as to when figure skating actually began. However, the Dutch in the 13th and 14th centuries modified the primitive bone-made ice skates by adding edges to blades made of steel. The first ice skating association was developed in 1742 known as the Edinburgh Skating Club and the first instructional book on skating was not developed until 1772 in London. Thus, one can say that figure skating really emerged in the continent of Europe not until the late 16th century. In the mid 1800s, Jackson Haines can take credit for being the first American skater. Moreover, in the early 19th century, figure skating was considered to be an athletic sport and nowadays is one of the most popular winter sports of all time that has exquisite and very technical artistic and rhythmic elements.
You may ask, what comprises figure skating? Skaters are trained in their jumps, spins, and edgework. Several combinations of jumps and spins and footwork comprise a short and long program in competition. There are single, double, triple, and even quadruple jumps that correspond to the number of rotations made in the air. For example, a triple jump is 3 revolutions in the air before landing on the ice. Also there are a variety of different jumps that have different entrance and exit positions. The most difficult of the jumps is the axel, a jump that requires an entrance on a forward outside edge and thus, requires full strength to get up into the air. Toe jumps are of the easiest because tapping the toe into the ice provides force for getting up into the air. Spins range from sit spins, to camels, to laybacks, to flying camels and sits, and many more. My favorite jump is the flip jump, a toe jump that takes off from a back outside edge. I get the most height with this one out of all the others. My absolute favorite spin is the layback because it is graceful and so beautiful to watch. When combining your jumps and spins with footwork and edges you create an artistic program that can be either short (2 min 30 sec max) or long (4 min 30 sec max, aka free skate). You may think a few minutes is not a long time, trust me, a few minutes on the ice requires just as much stamina as a person running a mile in just 6 minutes. Skating is a sport. Let me repeat. Skating is a sport! Skaters need to be fit and in shape because it is exhausting doing jumps and spins a million times over and over again in trying to perfect and master them. A long program has certain standards and required elements and rules that I can get into at another time. But I assure you skating requires athleticism and endurance, very much so.