Roller skating
Roller skating is a sport, as well as a form of transportation or recreation. Roller skates are basically boots with small wheels attached to them. Generally roller skates have two variants: inline skates and quad roller skates. Initially they were invented to substitute regular skates during the summertime when there was no possibility to find ice anywhere. So first skates were more like an entertainment and amusement than as a real sport. Special roller skating rinks have been created both in the US and in Europe where people can go on a holiday to have a good time – it is still a good alternative to watching movies in movie theatres or going to a bowling club.
Today roller skating has turned into a real sport and even a number of sports with their subtypes. Thus, roller skating can be divided into artistic skating, group skating, inline skating, roller hockey, and artistic roller skating. All of these disciplines have their own sub-disciplines like figures, dance, freestyle, single/pairs for artistic roller skating; aggressive skating, free skating, slalom skating, slide skating for inline skating. All of them have their peculiarities and are sometimes completely different from each other, the only difference being the skates attached to the sportsmen's feet. For example, artistic roller skating is much like figure skating on ice, and free skating is much more similar to such street sports as skateboarding. The disciplines have become so popular that official bodies have been created to regulate them: USA Roller Sports, International Freestyle Skating Association, British Federation of Roller Skating and some others.