USA Roller Sports (USARS), formerly the United States Amateur Confederation of Roller Skating, is the national governing body of competitive roller sports (

inline skating Inline skating is a multi-disciplinary sport and can refer to a number of activities practiced using inline skates. Inline skates typically have two to five polyurethane wheels depending on the style of practice, arranged in a single line by a ...

and

roller skating Roller skating is the act of traveling on surfaces with roller skates. It is a recreational activity, a sport, and a form of transportation. Roller rinks and skate parks are built for roller skating, though it also takes place on streets, sid ...

) in the United States. It is recognized by the

International Roller Sports Federation International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

(FIRS) and the

United States Olympic Committee The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) is the National Olympic Committee and the National Paralympic Committee for the United States. It was founded in 1895 as the United States Olympic Committee, and is headquartered in Col ...

. USA Roller Sports has sponsored amateur roller skating competitions at the regional and national level since 1937 in

figure skating Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...

speed skating Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors racing, race each other in travelling a certain distance on Ice skate, skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marath ...

and roller hockey; and since 2011 in

roller derby Roller derby is a roller skating contact sport played by two teams of fifteen members. Roller derby is played by approximately 1,250 amateur leagues worldwide, mostly in the United States. Game play consists of a series of short scrimmages (jam ...

. USARS has been the United States representative for the International Federation of Roller Sports (FIRS) since 1972, when it obtained this designation after the merger of two predecessor roller skating federations (the Roller Skating Rink Operators' Association or RSROA established in 1937, and the U. S. Amateur Roller Skating Association, or USARSA). The organization exercises jurisdiction over matters pertaining to the participation of United States roller skaters in international competition, including existing or potential

Pan American Games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...

and

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

participation. The

USARS USA Roller Sports (USARS), formerly the United States Amateur Confederation of Roller Skating, is the national governing body of competitive roller sports (inline skating and roller skating) in the United States. It is recognized by the Internatio ...

mission statement is: "USARS is dedicated to creating, enhancing and conducting the best competitions and programs for roller sports. We instill the drive to win and be the absolute best… in sport and in life." USA Hockey Inline was one of two governing bodies for the sport of

inline hockey Roller inline hockey, or inline hockey is a variant of hockey played on a hard, smooth surface, with players using inline skates to move and ice hockey sticks to shoot a hard, plastic puck into their opponent's goal to score points. The sport ...

in the United States. It was created in December 1994 by

USA Hockey USA Hockey is the national ice hockey organization in the United States. It is recognized by the International Olympic Committee and the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee as the Sport governing body, governing body for organized ice ...

. On May 10, 2011, USA Hockey announced that it was terminating its inline program, and that all inline hockey memberships would expire on August 31, 2011, and encouraged USA Hockey inline members to transfer to USARS.

Roller sports disciplines

In its bylaws, USARS acknowledges "artistic", "speed", "roller derby" and "hockey" discipline categories. Its membership application for individuals, however, includes the following categories: *"figure" refers to roller figure skating, including singles, pairs, dance, figure, and precision *"speed" refers to

inline speed skating Inline speed skating is the roller sport of racing on inline skates. The sport may also be called ''inline racing'' by participants. Although it primarily evolved from racing on traditional roller skates, the sport is similar enough to ice spee ...

" was accepted as an official discipline in 2011 *"rink hockey" refers to quad skate roller hockey *"inline hockey" refers to inline skate roller hockey *"recreation" refers to fitness skating and

jam skating Jam skating (or Jamskating) is a skating style consisting of a combination of dance, gymnastics, and roller skating, performed on roller skates. The origins of jam skating are disputed, but it is often traced to the Great Lakes region, Florida an ...

(recreational dance skating) *"aggressive" refers to

skateboarding Skateboarding is an extreme sport, action sport originating in the United States that involves riding and performing tricks using a skateboard, as well as a recreational activity, an art form, an entertainment industry Profession, job, and a ...

and

aggressive inline skating Aggressive inline skating (referred to by participants as rollerblading, blading, skating, street skating, rolling, roller freestyle or freestyle rolling) is a sub-discipline of inline skating in the action sports canon. Aggressive inline skates ...

USARS also accepts organizations (teams and leagues) and noncompeting members (coaches and officials, typically).

Competitions Organized

The USA Roller Sports is responsible for many competitions taking place each year. One of the biggest is

USA Rink Hockey National Championship The USA Rink Hockey National Championship is the biggest Roller Hockey Clubs Championship in United States. In the U.S., the sport is largely owned by roller rink operators. The sport suffers stateside since players are mostly made up of operator ...

Olympic status

The sport is part of the

and the

World Games The World Games are an international multi-sport event comprising sports and sporting disciplines that are not contested in the Olympic Games. They are usually held every four years, one year after a Summer Olympic Games, over the course of 11 d ...

and is noted as an Olympic Recognized sport. In 2005, the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

selected Roller Sports among four other sports for consideration into the Olympic Games. In particular, Inline Speedskating was chosen and submitted for consideration. In the 1990s, hockey was slated as a demonstration sport but was never added as a full-fledged member of the Olympic Games' program. FIRS President Aracu has recently set up a multimedia site to make rollerskating sports more visible to the IOC. Enter that site from http://www.rollersports.tv/ So far figure rollerskating and inline speed skating are represented in online videos. Pres. Aracu also has posted on that site a few letters documenting some of the steps he has taken to promote international speed skating. FIRS and the CIC proposed to the International Olympic Committee that inline speedskating be the rollerskating discipline presented at the 2012 Summer Games. http://olympic.patincarrera.com/eng/news.html In February 2012 IOC President Jacques Rogge told reporters that rollersports are one of eight sports in consideration for the 2020 Olympics.

Controversy

In October 2001,

, the national governing body of ice hockey in the United States, challenged USARS jurisdiction over roller hockey; however, the United States Olympic Committee continues to reaffirm the charter of roller sports, eligible in the summer Olympics, to USA Roller Sports. In the meantime, USA Hockey formed a separate branch called USA Hockey InLine that is also promoting inline hockey events, but did not send a national team to the FIRS Inline Hockey World Championships. USA Hockey InLine does field its own national team, but it takes part in the IIHF Inline Hockey World Championships, a separate event operated by the

International Ice Hockey Federation The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF; french: Fédération internationale de hockey sur glace; german: Internationale Eishockey-Föderation) is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 83 m ...

since 1996. In response, USA Roller Sports aligned itself with the

Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It has ...

(AAU) to help with growth and legitimacy of its hockey programs. Top roller hockey players have often shifted their allegiance from one organization to the other depending on opportunities. In some cases, players will appear at both World Championships in the same year. On May 10, 2011,

announced that it was terminating its inline program, and that all inline hockey memberships would expire on August 31, 2011, and encouraged USA Hockey inline members to transfer to USARS. Since 2011, USARS has been in an ongoing controversy with the

Women's Flat Track Derby Association The Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) is the international governing body for the sport of women's flat track roller derby, and association of leagues around the world. The organization was founded in April 2004 as the United Leagues Co ...

and the affiliated

Men's Roller Derby Association The Men's Roller Derby Association (MRDA) is the international governing body of men's flat track roller derby. It was founded in 2007 under the name Men's Derby Coalition (renamed to Men's Roller Derby Association in 2011), and currently has 59 ...

, with competing rules sets for playing roller derby.

External links

Official Website for USA Roller SportsInternational Federation of Roller SportsUnited States Olympic CommitteeHistory of Roller Skating: Governing Bodies

References

{{Sports governing bodies of the United States

Roller sports Roller sports are sports that use human powered vehicles which use rolling either by gravity or various pushing techniques. Typically ball bearings and polyurethane wheels are used for momentum and traction respectively, and attached to devices or ...