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.
Inline skating is a multi-disciplinary sport and can refer to a number of activities practiced using inline skates. Inline skates typically have two to five polyurethane wheels depending on the style of practice, arranged in a single line by a metal or plastic frame on the underside of a boot. The in-line design allows for greater speed and maneuverability than traditional roller skates. Following this basic design principle, inline skates can be modified to varying degrees to accommodate niche disciplines.
The Fédération Internationale de Roller Sports was the world governing body for roller sports, including skateboarding, rink hockey, inline hockey, inline speed skating, inline alpine, downhill, roller derby, roller freestyle, inline freestyle, aggressive inline skating, inline figure skating and artistic roller skating. It was established in April 1924 in Montreux, Switzerland by two Swiss sportsmen, Fred Renkewitz and Otto Myer, who had close connections to the International Olympic Committee.
USA Roller Sports (USARS), formerly the United States Amateur Confederation of Roller Skating, is the national governing body of competitive roller sports in the United States. It is recognized by the International Roller Sports Federation (FIRS) and the United States Olympic Committee.
Inline hockey or roller hockey is a variant of hockey played on a hard, smooth surface, with players using inline skates to move and ice hockey sticks to shoot a hard, plastic puck into their opponent's goal to score points. The sport is a very fast-paced and free-flowing game and is considered a contact sport, but body checking is prohibited. There are five players including the goalkeeper from each team on the rink at a time, while teams normally consist of 16 players. There are professional leagues, one of which is the National Roller Hockey League (NRHL). While it is not a contact sport, there are exceptions, i.e. the NRHL involves fighting.
Artistic roller skating is a competitive sport similar to figure skating but where competitors wear roller skates instead of ice skates. Within artistic roller skating, there are several disciplines:
The World Skate Roller Hockey World Cup is the international championship for roller hockey organized by World Skate. The first event was held in 1936, in the city of Stuttgart. Since 1989, the World Championship tournament is held every two years on the odd years. Until 2017, it was organized by the Fédération Internationale de Roller Sports. As of 2019, following the merge between the FIRS and the International Skateboarding Federation, the World Cup is now an event of the larger World Roller Games.
Roller sports are sports that use human powered vehicles which use rolling either by gravity or various pushing techniques. Typically ball bearings and polyurethane wheels are used for momentum and traction respectively, and attached to devices or vehicles that the roller puts his weight on. The international governing body is World Skate.
The Women's Roller Hockey World Cup is a competition between the best female national teams in the World. It takes place every two years and it was organized by the FIRS until its integration into World Skate.
Inline figure skating is inline skating similar to figure skating on inline skates — three or four-wheel frames with a toe-stop, mounted on figure skating boots in rockered configuration.
The WSE Continental Cup is an annual roller hockey match organised by the World Skate Europe - Rink Hockey since 1980, and contested by the winners of the top two European club competitions, the WSE Champions League and the WSE Cup.
The World Skate Europe Rink Hockey, formerly known as Comité Européen de Rink-Hockey, is a technical committee within World Skate Europe responsible for the governing of rink hockey in Europe.
World Skate Asia, formerly known as Confederation of Asia Roller Sports (CARS), is the main roller skating organization of Asia. World Skate Asia is part of the World Skate. Varieties of skating governed by the WS include:
The WSE Rink Hockey European Championship Women, abbreviated WSE Euro Women, is the premier rink hockey competition for women's national teams in Europe. It was previously known as the Rink Hockey Female European Championship and the CERH European Women's Roller Hockey Championship, abbreviated CERH Women's Euro. The championship is organized by World Skate Europe Rink Hockey and was first contested in 1991. Tournaments are held every two years.
The Intercontinental Cup is a roller hockey competition organized by World Skate and usually contested between the World Skate Europe and the World Skate America champions clubs.
The World Skate Games are an international biennial multi-sport event, comprising all the world roller sport disciplines as regulated by the World Skate international federation. The games involve 11 World Championships in one multi-sport event.
The 2018 Rink Hockey European Championship, also named as EuroHockey 2018, was the 53rd edition of the Rink Hockey European Championship, a biennial tournament for men's national roller hockey teams of Europe organised by World Skate Europe - Rink Hockey, which took place between 14 and 22 July in A Coruña, Spain.
The Roller Skating Federation of India (RSFI) is the national governing body for roller sports in India. The RSFI was established in 1955, and has been affiliated to the Fédération Internationale de Roller Sports (now World Skate) since 1971. The RSFI was a founder member of the Confederation Asian Roller Sports (CARS) in 1978. The Federation was officially recognized by the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports in September 1990, and was subsequently recognized by the Indian Olympic Association.
World Skate is the only governing body in the world for all sports performed on skating wheels. The organisation is the successor of the Fédération Internationale de Roller Sports (FIRS) founded on 21 April 1924.
The Inline Speed Skating World Championships are inline speed skating competitions sanctioned by World Skate. The World Championships have been held unofficially since 1937 and officially since 1966. their format has changed over the years.
