World Skate facts for kids
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| Abbreviation | WS |
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| Predecessor | Federation Internationale de Roller Sports |
| Founded | 21 April 1924 |
| Type | Sports federation |
| Legal status | Governing body of Roller sports |
| Headquarters | Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland |
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Region served
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Worldwide |
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Membership
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130 |
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Official languages
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English, French, Spanish |
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President
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Sabatino Aracu |
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Vice-Presidents
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Secretary
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Roberto Marotta |
| Affiliations | ARISF |
World Skate is the main organization that manages and promotes all sports played on skates or skateboards around the world. It was created on April 21, 1924, and used to be called the Fédération Internationale de Roller Sports (FIRS). World Skate helps organize competitions and set rules for many exciting wheeled sports.
Contents
Sports and Activities
World Skate is the international group that oversees many different sports on wheels. These include:
- Artistic skating: Like ice skating, but on roller skates. Skaters perform jumps, spins, and dance moves.
- Inline alpine skating: Racing downhill on inline skates, similar to alpine skiing.
- Inline downhill skating: Going down steep hills on inline skates at high speeds.
- Inline freestyle skating: Performing tricks and creative moves on inline skates.
- Inline speed skating: Racing on inline skates around a track or road.
- Roller derby: A contact sport played on roller skates, usually on an oval track.
- Roller freestyle skating: Also known as aggressive inline skating or rollerblading. Skaters do tricks on ramps and rails.
- Roller hockey: A team sport played with sticks and a ball or puck while on skates.
- Inline hockey: Played on inline skates.
- Rink hockey: Played on quad roller skates.
- Scootering: Performing tricks and stunts on a scooter.
- Skateboarding: Riding and performing tricks on a skateboard.
- Skate cross: A race where skaters go through an obstacle course.
History of World Skate
World Skate started on April 21, 1924. It was first called the Fédération Internationale de Patinage a Roulettes (FIPR). Its goal was to create international roller sports championships in Europe. The first meeting included people from France, Germany, Great Britain, and Switzerland. Fred Renkewitz was the president from 1924 to 1960.
The FIPR began organizing World Championship events in the late 1930s. The first Rink Hockey World Championship was held in Stuttgart in 1936. The first Speed Skating World Championship happened in 1937–38. After World War II, championships started again in 1947. The first Artistic Skating World Championship was held in Washington, D.C., United States.
In the 1960s, the organization was recognized by the International Olympic Committee. It became the main group for all roller skating sports and changed its name to the Fédération Internationale de Roller Skating (FIRS). In the 1970s, it joined the General Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF).
For a long time, artistic skating, rink hockey, and speed skating were the main sports FIRS managed. Then, inline hockey was added in the 1990s. The first Inline Hockey World Championship was held in 1995. In 2000, the name changed again to Fédération Internationale de Roller Sports, but the FIRS acronym stayed the same.
In 2004, there was a disagreement when FIRS removed Catalonia's temporary membership. Spanish officials were said to have influenced other countries to vote against Catalonia. While Catalonia was a member, its national team won the 2004 Rink Hockey Men's B World Championship.
FIRS kept adding more roller sports. By 2017, it managed ten different sports. The first World Roller Games in 2017 brought all these world championships together. It was a two-week skating event held in Nanjing, China. The second World Roller Games took place in 2019 in Barcelona, Spain.
In June 2017, FIRS changed its name to World Skate. The World Roller Games were also renamed the World Skate Games. The 2022 World Skate Games in Argentina were the first to use the new name.
Because of the conflict in Ukraine, World Skate did not allow Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials to compete in its events in 2022. They also did not host any events in Russia or Belarus that year.
Major Competitions
World Skate organizes many big events for roller sports.
World Skate Games
Since 2017, World Skate has organized the World Skate Games every two years. This is a huge event that includes all the roller sports World Skate manages. It serves as the World Championship for 11 different sports: alpine, artistic, inline downhill, inline freestyle, inline hockey, rink hockey, roller derby, roller freestyle, scooter, skateboard, and speed.
The first event was in Nanjing, China, in September 2017. Over 3,000 athletes from 193 national teams took part. They competed to become world champions in ten sports.
The second event was in Barcelona, Spain, in July 2019. More than 4,000 athletes from 76 countries competed in eleven sports.
The third event, the first called 'World Skate Games,' was originally planned for October and November 2021 in Argentina. However, it was moved to 2022 because of scheduling problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. It was still held in Argentina as planned.
Olympic Games
Roller hockey was played at the 1992 Summer Olympics as a demonstration sport in 1992. This means it was shown to the public but did not award medals.
Skateboarding events were added to the 2020 Summer Olympics. There are two types of events: park and street. In the park event, skaters perform tricks in a bowl-shaped area, similar to an empty swimming pool. They have three timed runs. In the street event, skaters use ramps and rails for their routines and tricks. At the 2020 Olympics, 80 spots were available for skateboarders. Each country could send up to three athletes per event.
Youth Olympic Games
Roller sports first appeared at the Youth Olympic Games in 2018. Two speed skating events were included as medal sports for young athletes.
World Games
World Skate has been part of the World Games since the very first games in 1981. Artistic skating and inline speed skating track events have been in every World Games. Roller hockey or inline hockey has also been featured in almost all of them.
The International World Games Association (IWGA) announced in April 2018 that four roller sports would be in the 2021 World Games. These games took place from June 15–25 in Birmingham, Alabama. This event celebrated the 40th anniversary of the World Games. It featured 3,600 athletes from over 100 countries. This was the first time the World Games returned to the United States since 1981.
The roller sports included in the 2021 World Games were artistic skating, inline hockey, and two types of speed skating: road and track. World Skate was unique because its sports were in three different categories at the World Games. Speed skating was with "Trend Sports," artistic skating with "Artistic Sports," and inline hockey with "Ball Sports."
World Championships
World Skate organizes many specific World Championships for each sport:
- Artistic Skating World Championships
- Inline Alpine World Championship
- Inline Downhill World Championship
- Inline Hockey World Championship
- Inline Speed Skating World Championship
- Roller Derby World Championship
- Roller Freestyle Skating World Championship
- Roller Hockey World Cup
- World Scootering Championship
- World Skateboarding Championship
Regional Events
World Skate also supports many regional competitions.
Single-Sport Events
These events focus on one type of roller sport:
- Asian Inline Speed Skating Championship, since 1985
- African Inline Speed Skating Championship, since 2017
- European Inline Speed Skating Championship, since 1989
- Ocean Inline Speed Skating Championship
- Pan American Skating Championships
Multi-Sport Events
Roller sports are also part of larger multi-sport events:
- Asian Games
- Pan American Games
In May 2019, Panam Sports decided to remove skateboarding from the roller sports program for the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima. This happened because World Skate could not promise that the best skateboarders would attend. World Skate had scheduled another major event at the same time as the Pan American Games. There were already some disagreements between the organizations. World Skate had not approved the Pan American Games as a way to qualify for the Olympics.
Continental Areas
World Skate is divided into five continental areas. Each area helps organize its own regional competitions:
- World Skate Africa
- World Skate America (also known as CSP Confederacion Sudamericana de Patinaje)
- World Skate Asia
- World Skate Europe
- World Skate Oceania
See also
