01/10/2026
January = National Ice Skating Month ⛸🏒
"Ice skating" is defined as the recreation and sport where one glides across an ice surface on blades fixed to the bottoms of shoes (aka skates). This activity gave rise to three distinctive sports: Figure Skating (the performance of various jumps, spins, and dance movements); Speed Skating (racing/sprinting on ice skates); Ice Hockey (the most well known team skating sport).
The earliest evidence of ice skating dates to approximately 3,000 B.C. when inhabitants of Scandinavia and Russia filed and fashioned the bones of large animals into skates for wintertime travel on frozen lakes and waterways. By the 14th century, the Dutch forged skates with sharpened steel blades allowing for faster speeds and more control. The technical discipline of figure skating is believed to have been developed in 18th-century Britain right around when people started gaining more time for recreation! The first organized figure skating club was established in Edinburgh, Scotland during the 1740s. Ice Hockey was developed from "stick-and-ball" games that go as far back as the 17th century. The first such game played on ice was in Scotland in 1608 as pick-up games called "chamieare" (or "shinny"). Some say the very first ice hockey game was played in Windsor, Nova Scotia during the 1800s... Others say it was the Mi’kmaq Tribe of Nova Scotia who first started playing a hockey-like game on ice — using a stick and a square wooden block.
"Ice Skating" around the world!
➡ skridskoåkning
➡ schaatsen
➡ spèileadh deighe
➡ катание на коньках
➡ il pattinaggio
➡ patinage sur glace
Don't forget! The Winter Olympics begin 2/6 and then the Para-Winter Olympics begin 3/6, both in Milano Cortina, Italy. We can't wait!
