Roller skating


Roller skating is the act of travelling on surfaces with roller skates. It is a recreational activity, a sport, and a form of transportation. Roller rinks and skate parks are built for roller skating, though it also takes place on streets, sidewalks, and bike paths.
Roller skating originated in the performing arts in the 18th century. It gained widespread popularity starting in the 1880s. Roller skating was very popular in the United States from the 1930s to the 1950s, then again in the 1970s when it was associated with disco music and roller discos. During the 1990s, inline outdoor roller skating became popular. Roller skating has often been a part of Black and LGBT history in particular.
Sport roller skating includes speed skating, roller hockey, roller derby, figure skating and aggressive inline skating.

History

The earliest roller skates known are from 18th-century Europe. These skates were used in theater and musical performances, possibly to simulate ice skating onstage. Early roller skating was done in a straight line because turning or curving was very difficult with the primitive skate designs of the time. Limited to an occasional performance prop at the time, roller skating would not see widespread use until the 1840s.
Waitresses in an 1840s beer hall in Berlin used roller skates to serve customers. Ballet and opera of the late 1840s, such as Le prophète, featured roller skating. This helped to make roller skating popular for the first time, in 1850s Europe. Technological improvements, such as rubber wheels in 1859 and four-wheeled turning skates in 1863, contributed to the spread of roller skating. The popularity of roller skating has fluctuated greatly since then; it is typically called a "craze" at its high points.
Roller skating boomed in popularity from 1880 to 1910; roller skates were mass produced and skating in rinks became popular with the general public in Europe, North and South America, and Australia. Specialized types of roller skating appeared in this period, such as figure skating and speed skating.
After a decline in popularity, roller skating became widespread again in the 1930s to the 1950s. This era is known as the Golden Age of Roller Skating. Many skating rinks offering electric organ music were built throughout the United States in this period.
In the 1970s, roller disco became widespread. This style of skating originated with disco music predominantly among Black and gay skaters. During the late 1980s and the 1990s, outdoor and indoor inline skating became popular. Roller skating declined in popularity in the early 21st century, but became more popular again during the COVID pandemic.
Roller skating has long been tied to Black American social movements, immigrant communities, and the LGBT community, particularly for women in roller derby. As a hobby it is perceived as whimsical and is widely accessible to many people.

Historical timeline

  • 1743: First recorded use of roller skates, in a London stage performance. The inventor of this skate is unknown.
  • 1760: First recorded skate invention, by John Joseph Merlin, who created a primitive inline skate with small metal wheels.
  • 1818: Roller skates appeared on the ballet stage in Berlin.
  • 1819: First patented roller skate design, in France by M. Petitbled. These early skates were similar to today's inline skates, but they were not very maneuverable. It was difficult with these skates to do anything but move in a straight line and perhaps make wide sweeping turns.
  • Rest of the 19th century: inventors continued to work on improving skate design.
  • 1823: Robert John Tyers of London patented a skate called the Rolito. This skate had five wheels in a single row on the bottom of a shoe or boot.
  • 1857: The hobby of roller skating gained enough momentum to warrant the opening of the first public skating rinks. The Strand, London and Floral Hall had these first roller rinks.
  • 1863: The four-wheeled turning roller skate, or quad skate, with four wheels set in two side-by-side pairs, was first designed, in New York City by James Leonard Plimpton in an attempt to improve upon previous designs. The skate contained a pivoting action using a rubber cushion that allowed the skater to skate a curve just by pressing his weight to one side or the other, most commonly by leaning to one side. It was a huge success, so much so that the first public roller skating rinks were opened in 1866, first in New York City by Plimpton in his furniture store and then in Newport, Rhode Island with the support of Plimpton. The design of the quad skate allowed easier turns and maneuverability, and the quad skate came to dominate the industry for more than a century.
  • 1875: Roller skating rink in Plymouth, England held its first competition.
  • 1876: William Brown in Birmingham, England, patented a design for the wheels of roller skates. Brown's design embodied his effort to keep the two bearing surfaces of an axle, fixed and moving, apart. Brown worked closely with Joseph Henry Hughes, who drew up the patent for a ball or roller bearing race for bicycle and carriage wheels in 1877. Hughes' patent included all the elements of an adjustable system. These two men are thus responsible for modern roller skate and skateboard wheels, as well as the ball bearing race inclusion in velocipedes—later to become motorbikes and automobiles. This was arguably the most important advance in the realistic use of roller skates as a pleasurable pastime.
  • 1876: The toe stop was first patented. This braking implement provided skaters with the ability to stop promptly upon tipping the skate onto the toe. Toe stops are still used today on most quad skates, as well as some types of inline skates.
  • 1877: The Royal Skating indoor skating ring building is erected rue Veydt, Brussels.
  • 1878: In Boston, 17-year-old Pawnee skater Fred "Bright Star" Murree defeats Kenneth Skinner, the fastest speed skater in the area at the time. This begins Murree's career.
  • 1880s: Roller skates were being mass-produced in America. This was the sport's first of several boom periods. Micajah C. Henley of Richmond, Indiana produced thousands of skates every week during peak sales. Henley skates were the first skate with adjustable tension via a screw, the ancestor of the kingbolt mechanism on modern quad skates.
  • 1884: Levant M. Richardson received a patent for the use of steel ball bearings in skate wheels to reduce friction, allowing skaters to increase speed with minimum effort.
  • 1898: Richardson started the Richardson Ball Bearing and Skate Company, which provided skates to most professional skate racers of the time, including Harley Davidson.
  • :The design of the quad skate has remained essentially unchanged since then, and remained as the dominant roller skate design until nearly the end of the 20th century. The quad skate has begun to make a comeback recently due to the popularity of roller derby and jam skating.
  • 1900: The Peck & Snyder Company patented an inline skate with two wheels.
  • 1902: The Chicago Coliseum opened a public skating rink. Over 7,000 people attended the opening night.
  • 1935: The Chicago Coliseum hosts the first Transcontinental Roller Derby with a pair of men and women and Chicago becomes the birthplace of roller derby.
  • 1937: Roller skating the sport was organized nationally by the Roller Skate Rink Owner's Association and the onset of roller skating's golden age
  • 1977: Inline skates looking like ice skates were used by DEFA, the East German state film studio, in the film :de:Die zertanzten Schuhe, based on the fairy tale The Twelve Dancing Princesses, in some winter scenes on a frozen lake.
  • 1979: The roller disco trend in America occurs, highlighted in films like that year's Roller Boogie. Scott Olson and Brennan Olson of Minneapolis, Minnesota came across a pair of inline skates created in the 1960s by the Chicago Roller Skate Company and, seeing the potential for off-ice hockey training, set about redesigning the skates using modern materials and attaching ice hockey boots. A few years later Scott Olson began heavily promoting the skates and launched the company Rollerblade, Inc.
  • 1983: President Ronald Reagan declared October National Roller Skating Month.
  • 1993: Active Brake Technology, Rollerblade, Inc. developed ABT or Active Brake Technology for increased safety.
  • 2020–2021: Roller skates are in short supply worldwide due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Types of roller skating

Artistic

Artistic roller skating is a sport which consists of a number of events. These are usually accomplished on quad skates, but inline skates may be used for some events. Various flights of events are organized by age and ability/experience. In the US, local competitions lead to 9 regional competitions which led to the National Championships and World Championships.
  • Figures: Figure artistic skating involves prescribed movement symmetrically composed of at least two circles, but not more than three circles, involving primary, or primary and secondary movements, with or without turns. Figures are skated on circles, which have been inscribed on the skating surface.
  • Dance: Skaters are judged by the accuracy of steps that they skate when performing a particular dance. In addition to being judged on their edges and turns, skaters must carry themselves in an elegant manner while paying careful attention to the rhythm and timing of the music.
  • Freestyle: Freestyle roller dancing is a style of physical movement, usually done to music, that is not choreographed or planned ahead of time. It occurs in many genres, including those where people dance with partners. By definition, this kind of dance is never the same from performance to performance, although it can be done formally and informally, sometimes using some sparse choreography as a very loose outline for the improvisation.
  • Precision teams: A team of skaters creates various patterns and movements to music. Often used elements include skating in a line, skating in a box, "splicing", and skating in a circle. The team is judged on its choreography and the ability to skate together precisely, and jumps and spins are not as important. In this category, they are classified as "small groups" or "big groups". These show groups are also divided due to the level and ages.
  • Singles and pairs: A single skater or a pair of skaters present routines to music. They are judged on skating ability and creativity. Jumps, spins and turns are expected in these events. Sometimes with a pair or couple skaters slow music will play, and usually it is two songs.