From an early age, fans of sports played on ice inevitably have the discussion about which sport is tougher to play, hockey or figure skating.
Before I begin, I’ll preface by pointing out that I have been a figure skater for over 15 years and have played hockey for almost as long. I have coached both sports and have studied them in and out of school. Yet with all this knowledge, it took me almost a year to come up with a conclusion as to which was the harder sport.
The only way you can possibly compare the two sports is if you examine each as a leisure activity as well as an athletic endeavor. For the purpose of this comparison, I will limit myself to comparing professional figure skaters to professional hockey players.
Battle of the Blades
Each athlete has trained their entire life to get to the spotlight. Hockey players dream of playing for their favourite team, scoring the winning goal and winning the Stanley cup. Figure skaters spend many years, competing at many levels before making it to the professional ranks: Provincials (Canadian figure skaters), Nationals, Worlds and finally the Olympics where fewer make it and only the best survive. Only these few elite skaters will become professionals.
One thing in common is that both sports practice not only on the ice, but off it as well. In fact, the bulk of training is done off-ice. Eccentrics is becoming a big thing nowadays. The purpose is to increase one’s range of motion and increase speed and agility, which helps performance, as well as it prevents injury and decreases recovery time.
The Montreal Canadiens use eccentrics a couple of times a month as a group activity to help them stay in shape. Usually if they do it is an off-ice day for them. See video. Figure skaters practice this as well, and some Canadian figure skaters even use the same teachers as the Montreal Canadiens use.
When it comes to eating and nutrition almost all professional athletes see a dietician to help them focus on what they are supposed to eat. It is very rare to come across a professional athlete who doesn’t get seen by a nutritionist/dietitian/naturopath. Every body is different and needs different things. These professionals have seen it all and help the athlete know what they need for their optimal performance.
Before a competition or a game, the musts are protein and hydration. They need fuel to last whether it is performing a four-minute short program or playing 10-30 minutes in a hockey game. Electrolytes, such as in Gatorade, are used, though perhaps more commonly amongst hockey players. I’ve seen figure skaters consume it as well, but watching them in the ‘kiss and cry’ it always seems to be a water bottle.
When asking an athlete what their preferred meal is before a big game/competition, the response is usually pasta or chicken. This gives protein and keeps them full longer, but the advice on the pasta is always the same: “Don’t eat it too close to performance time, or you may not feel too well.”
Equipment is expensive for both figure skaters and hockey players. By looking at this list of the best hockey skates, you can see that the price of the skates alone can range anywhere from around $100 up to around $900, while their figure skating counterparts can pay $300 just for the blade, with an extra $400 for the boot. Both professionals will change their skates at least once a year after the boot gets too worn.
Hockey players have a lot of extra equipment; padding can range from 300$-1500$+, depending on the brands being purchased. Goalies will pay much more for equipment than any other.
Figure skaters spend their extra money on dresses/competition clothes at 150$ + per outfit. At $50 per competition plus the cost of a coach, it too is an expensive sport to play. In Quebec, coaches range from $20 to $100 an hour depending on levels of experience and the level of a coach they are, as well as the level of the athlete.
Many elite hockey players grow up having trained at least occasionally with a figure skating coach to work on speed, transition, agility, etc. It happens quite often a young hockey player is practicing on the ice with a coach during a figure skating session.
When it comes to the actual performance, one sport is not harder then the other sport. Figure skating has many different elements as does hockey, though the latter has many more rules.
For figure skating, there is dance, freestyle, skills, interpretation, and pairs. For pairs, one partner gets thrown into the air and has to land side-by-side spins, and if they aren’t far enough apart, disaster will strike (an example is a few years back, Jessica Dubé had to be rushed to the hospital after getting her partner’s blade in the face).
For figure skaters, they have to last 3-6 minutes skating to music. To get extra points the harder elements should appear after the half-way mark. Figure skaters take months of starting a routine to perfecting it and being able to do back-to-back run-throughs.
Another example on how hard the sport is, is in the jumps. “When figure skaters land, they can experience five to eight times their body weight,” said BYU exercise science professor Sarah Ridge. “And that happens within 50-125 milliseconds, which is not a lot of time for the body to absorb that magnitude of force.”
Hockey players have to work on endurance, power and speed. Each hockey shift lasts roughly about 30 seconds. Many times players get stuck out on the ice longer then expected so they have to find a way to keep up the endurance before they can make a switch. They usually only get a few minutes free on the bench before being placed back out on the ice. The short bursts of explosive effort is different than the longer, more controlled yet equally taxing effort of a figure skater on their blades.
To be able to keep up with game pace, the players learn how to manage from a very early age. They keep up with strengthening exercises in the summer and preseason.
Chances are, if a professional figure skater and a professional hockey player were to do a race on the ice, they each have a chance of winning. If the race is shorter, the hockey player would likely win as they’ve been training their blades for fast bursts. But as the race gets longer, the long strides of a figure skater would prove more efficient, and they would most likely pull ahead.
There are injuries in both sports. Figure skaters usually get a knee, back, leg injury from landing a jump awkwardly or from falling. Hockey players get the same sort of injuries, but concussions are much more common due to the importance placed on physical contact and speed in their sport.
So in sum, there are certainly many similarities and differences in the battle of the blades.
Thank you for reading. Please take a moment to follow me on Twitter – @ddmatthews. Support LWOS by following us on Twitter – @LastWordOnSport – and “liking” our Facebook page.
For the latest sports injury news, check out our friends at Sports Injury Alert.
Main Photo via vimeo.com, CC
