(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)