An estimated two thousand years ago, ice skating emerged in Canada as a means of transportation. Today, figure skating has developed from a practical way to get around on ice into the elegant mix of art and sport it is today. Around the world, friends and families join together to participate in this pastime, as well as watch its contemporary counterparts: ice hockey and figure skating.
The Cambridge Dictionary defines ice skating as, “the sport or activity of moving on the ice, wearing ice skates.” Ice skating may be performed on naturally frozen bodies of water, such as ponds, lakes, canals, rivers, and human-made ice surfaces indoors and outdoors. However, many of the winter sports involving skating occur inside.

Taylor Yaglinski, 17, has been figure skating for 14 years. When asked about the sport, Yaglinski said, “Ice skating to me was like therapy. It always cleared my mind, and I always walked out of the rink in a better mood.” Many sports that teens participate in today are likely to cause mental and physical stress later down the road. Ice skating has been shown to create peace of mind, and an escape from reality for the skater. Yaglinski states, “I looked forward to it every day. I enjoyed how much of a challenge it was and how hard I had to push myself. By the age of 12, I skated nationally. That year was one of the most influential years in my life. That year taught me so much about discipline and hard work. It taught me to push myself to be the best ice skater I could at such a young age.”

While people tend to see ice skating as difficult, it is a fun and easy way to spend time with family and friends. A popular place for locals to spend time with loved ones is Hatfield Ice Rinks, located in Colmar, Pennsylvania. To get a taste of this, I paid a visit to Hatfield Ice. Getting the hang of skating was a struggle, but getting down the basics became easy, and I was quickly able to enjoy the night. Nick Cipolla, who was there with friends, divulged his experience, “I chose to come to Hatfield Ice with a few friends tonight because I always find ice skating to be a fun way of exercising and interacting with others.” Cipolla added, “We also just came from Buffalo Wild Wings and needed something to kill some time.” Hatfield Ice offers families and friends night skating on Fridays and Saturdays. Nick and his friends took advantage of the time and spent it well.

As we age, we tend to focus more on our phones and not take advantage of our world and all the fun things there are to do. Cipolla states, “We find it nice to be able to get out of the house and hang out together somewhere else. It’s a change of pace from what we like to do, and it helps us interact. It also helps us get off our phones, which is a good habit to keep.” Skating can be seen as competitive and the ice may intimidate people. However, it is a fun time to spend with friends and family and is not as intimidating once you get the hang of it. Trying to stay out of the house is a good habit, as we soon are all going to be going to school and not seeing each other as much.

Sources:
https://olympics.com/en/sports/figure-skating/#:~:text=Figure%20skating%20is%20the%20oldest,programme%2C%20proving%20a%20great%20success.
https://joticle.com/jot/interesting-facts-about-figure-skating
https://www.britannica.com/sports/ice-skating
http://3cowsandacone.com/blog/2018/11/22/facts-about-hockey
https://www.britannica.com/sports/ice-hockey
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/ice-skating