People of almost any age can enjoy ice skating as healthful and relaxing exercise. Skaters use most of the body’s muscles, especially the muscles. Skating helps blood circulation by strengthening the heart.

Ice skating is an important competitive sport as well as popular form of recreation. Athletes complete in two kinds of ice skating – figure skating and speed skating. Figure skaters perform leaps, spins and other graceful movements, usually to music. Speed-skaters compete in races of various distances. Many young people and adults also play hockey, a fast, rugged sport in which the players wear ice skates. Millions of people attend ice shows each year. Ice shows are colourful spectacles that often feature champion figure-skaters.

Figure-skating competitions are held on a rink about 200 feet (60 meters) long and 100 feet (30 meters) wide. The rink has gently rounded corners and is surrounded by a barrier about 4 feet (1.2 meters) high.

Figure skates have a special blade that enables competitors to perform the difficult moves required in figure skating. The blade is 1/8 inch (3 millimeters) thick and about 12 inches (30 centimeters) long. The blade has an inside and outside edge. Skaters skate on one edge at a time. The bottom of the blade is slightly curved inward. This curve permits only a small part of the blade to touch the ice at one time, enabling a skater to maneuver more easily. The front of the blade has several teeth called toe picks. Skaters use the toe picks to bite into the ice when performing certain jumps and spins. The boots of figure skates have a high top.

Figure-skaters wear costumes that are comfortable and attractive and that permit freedom of movement. Women generally wear a simple dress with a short skirt and matching tights. The men usually wear close-fitting, comfortable pants with a matching shirt.

Figure-skaters may take part in (1) single skating, (2) pair skating, (3) ice dancing, and (4) precision skating. Men and women compete separately in singles skating, but they follow similar rules. In pair skating and ice dancing, teams consisting of a man and a woman compete against one another. Precision skating involves groups of 12 to about 24 skaters each that compete as teams. The teams try to perform as a single unit rather than as soloists.

Figure skaters compete at various levels, depending on their skill. Skaters must pass proficiency tests to advance to a higher level. The highest level is the senior level.

Judges score all events on a scale of 0 to 6 points, with 6 being the highest score. They carry the skater’s scores to one decimal place, as in a score of 3.7.

Singles skating consists of two parts in both men’s and women’s competition. They are the short program and the free-skating program, also known as the long program.

The short program counts one-third of the skater’s total score for the competition. It consists of eight required move or elements : three jumps, three spins and two fast step sequences or footwork. All skaters perform the same moves. The moves may be done in any sequence with a 2 minute 40 second time limit. The moves are performed to music selected by the skater.

Each skater receives two scores. The first score reflects the technical merit of the skater’s program--that is, how accurately the skater performed the moves. The second score reflects the program’s artistic impression, which evaluates the overall program, including its choreography, artistry and expression.

The free-skating program accounts for two-thirds of the skater’s score. Free skating has no required elements and has a length limitation of 4 minutes for women and 4½ minutes for men. In free skating, the skaters select their own music and theme, and choreograph many difficult spins, jumps, footwork and interpretive moves to best display their technical and artistic skills. As in the short program, scores are given for technical merit and for artistic impression.

Compulsory figures were originally part of Olympic and other international competitions. Compulsory figures are now required only at the basic levels of figure skating in the United States and they are a separate, optional event for senior skaters. Compulsory figures are intended to demonstrate a skater’s skill in mastering total control of motion, speed, balance and edges. Each figure consists of two or three circles that form a variation of the figure “8”. Skaters must create and then trace circles that are perfectly shaped and of the same size as the originals.