The Evolution of Skating from Ice Skates to Inline Skates - Skating

Skating is a form of sports or means of traveling on smooth surfaces using contraptions with wheels or blades. There are different forms of skating which includes ice skating, roller skating and skateboarding, among many others. Skateboarding is skating using a board with a set of small wheels. It is a very popular sport and hobby among many teenagers as well as daredevils who skateboards on very high platforms. Another type of skating is called inline skating. It is quite similar to roller skating but the wheels on the skates are positioned in one line.

The earliest form of skating can be traced back in 3000 BC because of a pair of skates found in a Swiss lake. The skates were said to have been made of leg bones and leather straps. Subsequently, the footwear used for skating improved after hundreds of centuries had past. Skates have evolved from the wooden platform skates of the Dutch in the 14^th century to the two plate all metal blade of Jackson Haines in 1865 to the modern skates (first closed toe blade made form one piece of steel) of John E. Strauss in 1914 that became what we know as the skates of today. As footwear evolved, so did skating. When skating became popular in the 19^th century, artificial ice rinks began to appear so that most skating enthusiasts did not need to wait for the lake to freeze just to enjoy skating.

Eventually other forms of skating began to develop, one of which is called skateboarding. It started in the 1950s when some surfers thought of bringing surfing to dry land. Thus the appearance of small-sized surfboards with wheels began to be seen while the surfing craze was on its utmost high. The following decades saw the transformation of the skateboard as well as skateboarding itself. From the simple push and ride to the different flip tricks and daring exhibitions, skateboarding became a very popular sport of young enthusiasts. Nowadays, there are a lot of pro and extreme games dedicated to skateboarding.

Inline skating, on the other hand, is somewhat a combination of ice skates and roller blades. The skates are fashioned in such a way that they resemble ice skates but instead of solid metal blades, you will find 4 to 6 wheels arranged in one line. This is often used on the road or any other flat surface. Inline skating has also become a sport of some kind such as race skating, aggressive skating, free style, slalom, and slide skating, among many others.