Roller Skating Museum
After visiting the National Museum of Roller Skating I not only learned several things I was unaware of before, I gained a greater appreciation of a sport that I always loved as a kid. The museum had an endless number of exhibits but the one that seemed to pull me in the most was the roller hockey exhibit. As a child I spent countless hours partaking in pickup games around my neighborhood. After visiting the museum I now have a better understanding of where the sport came from and how it originated. Originating in the Midwest in the later part of the 19th century the game of roller hockey has come a long ways in many areas from the rules of play to the equipment available to the players.
The sport officially came about in a Denmark roller rink in London, England in 1878, but since the Midwest region of the United States has exploded the sport beyond imaginable proportions. For example in 1991 a group of investors began the sports official professional existence. Thanks to these investors the Roller Hockey International began. The professional popularity of the sport has since ceased to exist, however the love of the game still carries on throughout the U.S. From small town pickup games to recreational programs roller hockey has become an American tradition and will continue to be for many years to come. The sport of roller hockey has come a long ways as a whole since its creation and the technology of the 20th century has aided a great deal to its success. When the sport started the skates and sticks were by today’s standards antiques. The original style of skates consisted of a leather sock attached onto three wheels and it was all held on the player foot by a set of laces. The skates today do resemble a similar image however the build of the skate has changed greatly. Skates today consist of a much harder shoe or boot with much more support and protection. They all have four wheels instead of three and the bearings inside the wheels allow the players to achieve much greater speeds than that of those in the past. The sticks and ball used have also come a great distance. The technology of the times has brought the sport along but every player to ever play the game is forever grateful to those members of the group that once came up with the idea to strap on a set of wheels to their feet and slap a ball around a rink for fun.
