USA Roller Sports

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USA Roller Sports (USARS), formerly the United States Amateur Confederation of Roller Skating, is the national governing body of competitive roller sports (inline skating and roller skating) in the United States. It is recognized by the International Roller Sports Federation (FIRS) and the United States Olympic Committee.

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USA Roller Sports has sponsored amateur roller skating competitions at the regional and national level since 1937 in figure skating, speed skating and roller hockey; and since 2011 in roller derby. USARS has been the United States representative for the International Federation of Roller Sports (FIRS) since 1972, when it obtained this designation after the merger of two predecessor roller skating federations (the Roller Skating Rink Operators' Association or RSROA established in 1937, [1] and the U. S. Amateur Roller Skating Association, or USARSA). The organization exercises jurisdiction over matters pertaining to the participation of United States roller skaters in international competition, including existing or potential Pan American Games and Olympic Games participation.

The USARS mission statement is: "USARS is dedicated to creating, enhancing and conducting the best competitions and programs for roller sports. We instill the drive to win and be the absolute best… in sport and in life."

USA Hockey Inline was one of two governing bodies for the sport of inline hockey in the United States. [2] It was created in December 1994 by USA Hockey. On May 10, 2011, USA Hockey announced that it was terminating its inline program, and that all inline hockey memberships would expire on August 31, 2011, and encouraged USA Hockey inline members to transfer to USARS.

Roller sports disciplines

In its bylaws, USARS acknowledges "artistic", "speed", "roller derby" and "hockey" discipline categories. Its membership application for individuals, however, includes the following categories: [3]

USARS also accepts organizations (teams and leagues) and noncompeting members (coaches and officials, typically).

Competitions Organized

The USA Roller Sports is responsible for many competitions taking place each year. One of the biggest is USA Rink Hockey National Championship.

Olympic status

The sport is part of the Pan American Games and the World Games and is noted as an Olympic Recognized sport. In 2005, the International Olympic Committee selected Roller Sports among four other sports for consideration into the Olympic Games. In particular, Inline Speedskating was chosen and submitted for consideration. In the 1990s, hockey was slated as a demonstration sport but was never added as a full-fledged member of the Olympic Games' program.

FIRS President Aracu has recently set up a multimedia site to make rollerskating sports more visible to the IOC. Enter that site from http://www.rollersports.tv/ So far figure rollerskating and inline speed skating are represented in online videos. Pres. Aracu also has posted on that site a few letters documenting some of the steps he has taken to promote international speed skating.

FIRS and the CIC proposed to the International Olympic Committee that inline speedskating be the rollerskating discipline presented at the 2012 Summer Games. http://olympic.patincarrera.com/eng/news.html

In February 2012 IOC President Jacques Rogge told reporters that rollersports are one of eight sports in consideration for the 2020 Olympics. [4]

Controversy

In October 2001, USA Hockey, the national governing body of ice hockey in the United States, challenged USARS jurisdiction over roller hockey; however, the United States Olympic Committee continues to reaffirm the charter of roller sports, eligible in the summer Olympics, to USA Roller Sports.

In the meantime, USA Hockey formed a separate branch called USA Hockey InLine that is also promoting inline hockey events, but did not send a national team to the FIRS Inline Hockey World Championships.

USA Hockey InLine does field its own national team, but it takes part in the IIHF Inline Hockey World Championships, a separate event operated by the International Ice Hockey Federation since 1996.

In response, USA Roller Sports aligned itself with the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) to help with growth and legitimacy of its hockey programs.

Top roller hockey players have often shifted their allegiance from one organization to the other depending on opportunities. In some cases, players will appear at both World Championships in the same year.

On May 10, 2011, USA Hockey announced that it was terminating its inline program, and that all inline hockey memberships would expire on August 31, 2011, and encouraged USA Hockey inline members to transfer to USARS.

Since 2011, USARS has been in an ongoing controversy with the Women's Flat Track Derby Association and the affiliated Men's Roller Derby Association, with competing rules sets for playing roller derby.

See also

Related Research Articles

Hockey Sports played with hockey sticks

Hockey is a term used to denote various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium.

Roller hockey is a form of hockey played on a dry surface using wheeled skates. It can be played with traditional roller skates or with inline skates and use either a ball or puck. Combined, roller hockey is played in nearly 60 countries worldwide.

Speed skating Competitive form of ice skating

Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in travelling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marathon speed skating. In the Olympic Games, long-track speed skating is usually referred to as just "speed skating", while short-track speed skating is known as "short track". The International Skating Union (ISU), the governing body of competitive ice sports, refers to long track as "speed skating" and short track as "short track skating".

Roller skating Sport, activity, or form of transportation

Roller skating is traveling 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.

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.

Roller derby Contact sport on roller skates

Roller derby is a roller skating contact sport played by two teams of fifteen members. Roller derby is played by approximately 1,250 amateur leagues worldwide, mostly in the United States.

Roller in-line hockey Sport discipline

Roller inline hockey, or inline hockey is a variant of hockey played on a hard, smooth surface, with players using inline skates to move and 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 Type of sport similar to figure skating

Artistic roller skating is a sport similar to figure skating but where competitors wear roller skates instead of ice skates. Within artistic roller skating, there are several disciplines:

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.

Roller hockey (quad) Variation of hockey

Roller hockey, rink hockey or quad hockey is a team sport played on roller skates. It is the only quad skate team sport in existence where two teams face-off against one another at the same time. Two teams try to drive a hard ball with their sticks into the opposing teams' goalnet. Each team has five players on the rink at a time, four of whom are skaters and one who is the goalkeeper. The ball can only be put in motion by a stick, not the skate, otherwise a foul will be stated. The game has two 25-minute halves, with 15-minute halftime intermission, plus up to two 5-minute golden goal periods to settle ties with the clock stopping when the ball becomes dead. If the tie persists, a penalty shootout will determine the winner. Players – including the goalie – use quad skates, whereas inline skates are used in inline hockey. Excessive contact between players is forbidden in rink hockey, unlike inline hockey.

Inline figure skating Sport discipline

Inline figure skating is figure skating on inline figure skates—three or fourwheel frames with a toe-stop, mounted on figure skating boots in rockered configuration.

European Confederation of Roller Skating Governing body of roller skating and inline skating in Europe

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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 Charlotte Speed Demons was a women’s flat track roller derby team based in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States.

Roller sport in India

Roller sport is popular as a recreational sport in India, specially roller skating for children, and it is gaining popularity as a competitive sport. There are clubs in cities and towns, and roller skating is taught in some schools of urban areas.

Roller Sport South Africa

Roller Sport South Africa (RSSA) is the national sports governing body to promote, improve and develop the sport of roller skating in South Africa. Roller Sport South Africa is affiliated to the world governing body International Federation of Roller Sports known by its french acronym FIRS, the African Confederation of Sports of Roller Skating (ACSRS), and SASCOC. RSSA aims to become among the top 15 skating nations worldwide with a strong base of informed and competent coaches, officials and administrators.

Erin Jackson is an American speed skater, roller derby player, and Olympic gold medalist. Jackson is the first Black woman to win a Winter Olympic gold medal in an individual sport. She qualified for The World Games 2017 in Wroclaw, Poland, where she competed in inline speed skating in various distances on road and track. She also qualified to compete in the 500 meters long track speed skating event at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

World Skate Roller sports governing body

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 the 21 of April 1924.

References

  1. ↑ "Roller Skating Association > About Us". Archived from the original on 2010-03-04.
  2. ↑ Morse, Eric A.; Mitchell, Ronald K. (2006). Cases In Entrepreneurship: The Venture Creation Process. SAGE. pp. 68–. ISBN   9781412909761 . Retrieved 21 May 2012.
  3. ↑ 2013 USARS Membership Application
  4. ↑ "Will roller derby be included in the 2020 Olympics? | Olympics | Sports | National Post". Archived from the original on 2012-07-20. Retrieved 2012-03-06.
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