An interesting tool for analysis is to consider how a child might look at this classification system before abstract and critical thinking skills are fully developed. A child would focus on the spatial differences in each sport and focus on what is blatantly different about them. This comes back to the different shapes of the skate blades as well as how the athletes are moving on the ice. I would imagine that a child might have difficulty understanding why a sport like ice fishing is not included in this classification system because, like all of the other ice sports, it takes place on ice. The distinction that might be difficult for a child to comprehend is how the different ice surfaces are being used. In the four ice sports recognized by the IOC, ice is the surface being used to move …show more content…
The ice sport classification scheme branches attract certain personalities, to an extent. The typical hockey player is a man that usually embodies what we might consider to be the “tough guy” persona and is very masculine. Contrary to that, the typical figure skater is a woman that is very feminine, delicate, and attractive. Male figure skaters and female hockey players do exist and they have their own events at the Olympics, but they are not as common and are stereotyped to have similar characteristics to their opposite gendered “typical” counterparts. Additionally, it is uncommon for an athlete to specialize in more than one ice sport. As with everything, there will be outliers that do not fit what one would consider to be the normal characteristics of an athlete involved in an ice sport. One of the most notable female