(SPORTS SWAP)
I'm Herberts Vasiljevs, Latvia, ice hockey.
Herberts Vasiljevs!
I love fast-paced hockey, the challenge, the competition
and when a goal is scored, it's unbelievable!
(3-TIME OLYMPIAN,
(TURIN 2006, VANCOUVER 2010, SOCHI 2014)
I'm Valentina Marchei and I'm a figure skater from Italy.
The good thing about our sport is there are no copies.
Being yourself, we are all different.
- Argh! - Oh!
I am the boss, OK?
(SPORTS SWAP)
(ICE HOCKEY/FIGURE SKATING)
(FIGURE SKATING/ICE HOCKEY)
Hi, Valentina.
- Nice to meet you! - Nice to meet you, too.
What do you think is going to be the toughest challenge
for you in hockey?
I think the eye-hand coordination with the puck.
I'm used to skating alone so I don't really handle anything.
So that is going to be challenging.
I absolutely have no knowledge about ice hockey.
It's the fastest team sport on earth.
The little Italian lady will have a tough time!
Oh, welcome!
You look so pretty!
What do you know about figure skating?
- They twist a lot? - Spin!
- Ah! They spin! It's a spin! - Yeah!
They try to jump all the time.
- Not try! - They do the...
This one! I don't know what it is.
OK, nice, er, stretched leg!
I am scared. I've got no padding.
I'm going to do some...
I hate doing the turns and the flips!
And whatever else they do!
(THE KIT)
Ooh! Oh, my God! Ahh!
Argh!
So, these are the shin pads,
protecting always against pucks, sticks, everything.
Then we have elbow pads where you can elbow guys.
Obviously we have gloves and we have a helmet.
(HELMET - THERMOPLASTIC OUTER SHELL, FOAM PADDING INSIDE)
We put on you just a few sparkles,
so you're pretty lucky today.
You need to carry all those sparkles
because if you don't own the dress, you're no-one!
The blade is a bit different because yours is a bit thinner.
Mine is a bit larger.
Usually it's 4mm mine, and yours is about 3mm.
You have toe picks now and that's the main thing.
- You see? - That's pretty sharp!
The stick, it's one piece and made out of carbon.
The curve is different with every player.
My curve is like this.
Yeah.
It's called the pancake flipper.
I'm going to show you.
Oop-la!
The puck.
OK, you can feel it a little bit.
How does it feel?
- How does it feel? - It's OK, I've got padding.
It's no problem. It's about 160-170 grams.
It's not very heavy.
But the thing is it's very, very hard.
We're going to put the real jersey on.
You're going to look like a real hockey player.
God! I feel like a lion in a cage here.
(THE WARM UP)
It's so important to have inside edge
and the outside edge.
Just to warm up so you feel comfortable on the ice.
This is the basics of everything.
Like every jump, the entrance of the spin, the cross-overs.
Bravo!
Outside, cross inside.
Wow!
(THE INITIATION)
So we're going to go around the pylons,
like one, two, three, four pylons.
Go around them to the goal.
And then try to shoot and score a goal.
So put it on the ice.
- Cool! - So you saw how it's done.
- You were too strict with me! - I'm not strict!
- You are! - Easy going.
You can take your time.
Go round, go round and then try to shoot.
You need a little work.
It's the puck thing. The puck runs away.
Is there like a motor inside or something that it goes?
It runs away by itself. I can't control it!
That's the difficult part, just to tame the puck,
just to have it under control
all the time. But everything else,
she'll get used to skating and puck handling,
but you need practice, practice, practice!
It's like a dancer on the ice rink.
Very nice!
So what about doing a challenge
about one jump, one spin and one spiral?
(SPIN)
(SPIRAL)
He's a kamikaze!
(JUMP)
You have to know which foot is...
when to jump from which side.
So it's really tough to do.
Welcome to my world.
(THE BASICS)
Argh!
That's all I could... Oh! You're a hockey player now!
First part will be skating through the pylons
with no puck.
(BALANCE)
And the second thing,
you're just going to push the puck in front of you.
(CONTROL)
The third part is going to be only stick handling.
We're going to here, go through...and shoot!
Yeah. OK.
Stop it.
Already jumped one.
- Oof! - It's OK.
So when do we get physical, like I want to...
Argh! Hit you!
- Argh! - Ohh!
(BODY CHECKING - ONLY PERMITTED AGAINST OPPONENT WITH PUCK)
It's challenging, it's not easy.
It's not an easy game. This needs a lot of repeats.
Let's start with three turns.
When you turn onto the inside, you put your leg in the front.
Oh, OK.
OK, good.
Ah, OK, better, better.
Loosen your shoulders. OK, good.
You... No! Loose them up!
- I am loose! - No, you're not loose!
You're like this, you have no neck!
Show your neck.
Good, nice.
Oh! Don't start from bending.
A good prince or ballerina,
they open their foot,
stretch their leg and bend.
I am the boss, OK?
Good.
Perfecto!
You almost looked pretty.
So the only thing you will have to do is closing.
OK?
(PERFORMANCE/EXECUTION)
(KEY JUDGING CRITERIA IN FIGURE SKATING)
You have to look nice, you have to look elegant.
You have to be...
You have to show off!
Totally opposite to hockey!
(THE CHALLENGE)
So the hard part is over. It's just the easy part.
Just repeat the challenge.
(THREE ATTEMPTS
(TO SCORE A GOAL)
Ahhh!
At least try to go a little faster!
Whoo!
I totally respect after this practice the hockey players
because it's so, so difficult and really demanding
and it's that physical that you have to be strong,
that you have to be attentive.
She improved speed wise, she improved stick-handling wise.
Even the shot was better
so there's a lot of confidence that is involved in hockey
and she improved a lot!
It's time to go back to my natural world,
the one of the princesses and the sparkles and the toe picks!
And no sticks!
(PERFORM A ROUTINE
(WITH ONE JUMP, ONE SPIN, ONE SPIRAL)
So show me what you have learnt and show me your routine.
Oh! Pretty prince!
Woo-hoo! Good!
For me it was the spinning that was really tough.
I can't spin, I don't know how to do this.
The little bit that I spun that was already my world!
We could see finally a smoother part.
There's, like, something nice inside of here.
Inside, yeah.
Inside! Very deep inside.
(SHOWBOATING)
Woo-hoo!
I want to challenge you to three different challenges.
OK.
One, who spins the longest.
- I'm dizzy! - Yay!
One, pushing out from the barrier on one foot.
Who goes the furthest.
And 50m sprint!
- Yep! - No!
- Good job! - Very nice.
Thank you very much.
(SPORTS SWAP)