Bandy Bandy is played almost exclusively in the Scandinavian countries, the Baltic countries, and Mongolia. A team is composed of from 8 to 11 players who wear skates and use curved sticks to hit a ball. Rink size varies but is characteristically larger than an ice hockey rink (about 100 by 55 m [109 by 60 yards]). The goalie does not use a
stick but, alone among the players, can touch the ball with his hands. There are two halves of 45 minutes each, and play commences at the centre circle. Unlike hockey, no play is allowed behind the goals. Play begins with a “stroke off,� and each team is confined to its own half of the rink. The use of a ball instead of a flat puck makes bandy
faster than hockey. Free strokes are given for penalties, such as for going over the midline. Free substitution is permitted. There are six officials in the game. Bandy originated in England in the late 18th century, and the modern game of ice hockey probably developed from it.
The skier uses either a classic diagonal stride cross-country technique, or the faster skate skiing technique. In races, the skate-skiing technique is almost exclusively used. The skis are hot
waxed from tip to tail, to avoid slowing the dog team down. Classic skis with grip wax are not used for races but are occasionally used for extended back-country travel. Skijoring dogs are taught the classic dog sledding commands to start running (hike), turn (gee and haw—right and left respectively in the US), to stop (whoa) and to pass distractions (on by). Training is best done on foot, before the person straps on their skis, to avoid being pulled into objects, like trees or halffrozen creeks.
Skijoring
Since many leashed dogs naturally tend to pull a skier with no training, the sport cannot claim a single country of origin. It was invented and continues to be reinvented all over the world. As a competitive sport, however, it is believed that the first races were held in Scandinavia as an offshoot of the older sport of Pulka.
Ice Hockey
Ice hockey is a team sport played on ice in which skaters use sticks to shoot a hard rubber hockey puck into their opponent’s net to score points. In some countries, such as Canada, the United States and a few European countries such as Finland and
Sweden among others, it is known as “hockey”; the name “ice hockey” is used in countries where “hockey” generally refers to field hockey (like in most European, South American and Asian countries). A team usually consists of four lines of three
forwards, three pairs of defensemen, and two goalies. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take the puck and score a goal against the opposing team. Each team has a goaltender who tries to stop the puck from going into the goal.
Speed Skating
The roots of speed skating date back over a millennium to Scandinavia, Northern Europe and the Netherlands, where the natives added bones to their shoes and used them to travel on frozen rivers, canals and lakes. It was much later, in the 16th century, that people started seeing skating as fun and perhaps even a sporting activity. Later, in Norway, King Eystein Magnusson, later King Eystein I of Norway, boasts of his skills racing on ice legs. However, skating and speed skating was not limited to the Netherlands and
Scandinavia; in 1592, a Scotsman designed a skate with an iron blade. It was iron-bladed skates that led to the spread of skating and, in particular, speed skating. By 1642, the first official skating club, The Skating Club Of Edinburgh, was born, and, in 1763, the world saw its first official speed skating race, on the Fens in England organized by the National Ice Skating Association. While in the Netherlands, people began touring the waterways connecting the 11 cities of Friesland, a challenge which eventually led to the Elfstedentocht.
Curling Skeleton
Swedish curling traces its roots to 1846 when a Scotsman named William Andrew MacFie moved to Uddevalla at the Swedish west coast, about 85 kilometres north of Gothenburg. He brought equipment for curling
and in 1852 he founded the very first European curling club outside Great Britain, Bohuslänska Curlingklubben, which still exists today. The curlers in Uddevalla tried to introduce curling to the people of
Gothenburgh during the 1870s but without success. Instead, Stockholm became the new market for Swedish curling. Two men with Bavarian roots formed Amatörföreningens Curlingklubb in Stockholm at the end of 1900.
of the air flowing past them and force the sled to move. Although the athlete will do their best to learn every corner of the track before they race, lightning-fast reflexes are needed to get the sled into the best position to enter and exit a corner at speed. Failing to find the perfect line will slow them down and just the slightest error could cost them a place on the podium.
Skeleton
To steer a sled, the athletes can call upon a number of techniques. They either shift their bodyweight in the direction they want to turn, use their knees or shoulders to put downward pressure on one of the corners of the sled, or reach out and tap a toe on the ice in the direction they want to turn. When they’re travelling at such high speeds, even moving their head will change the direction
Ski Jumping
The origin of ski jumping can be traced to Ole Rye who jumped 9.5m in 1808. Norwegian Sondre Norheim is widely considered the father of modern ski jumping. In 1866 he won what has been described as the world’s first ski jumping competition with prizes, held at Ofte, Høydalsmo, Norway.
Telemark
Skiing has existed as a mode of transportation for at least 4000 years, based on rock carvings found in Norway. there is some evidence that soldiers used skis in the middle ages. In the late 1800’s skiing made a shift from a method of transportation to a recreational activity. People from villages in Norway would gather to ski, jump and compete on their skis. Sondre Norheim is credited today as being the father of telemark
skiing. He was a Norwegian, living in the area of Telemark, Norway when in 1866 he was invited to attend the first known ski jumping contest and won, impressing the audience with he performance. In 1868, Sondre competed in the first national skiing competition held in Oslo where he used the Telemark turn and was the only competitor using curved skis and bindings with heel bands made of willow. While Sondre may not have been the first to use this new method and equipment, he is known for bringing attention to these methods and for moving skiing from a method of transportation to a sport.