Skateboarding - A popular and growing sport
Skateboarding is very similar to surfing, except you’re not in the water and you’re not on a surfboard. You’re on a board with four wheels. It was actually originally called “sidewalk surfing.” Surfing influenced skateboarding in its early days but now, surfers are taking on skateboarding tricks and styles into surfing and because of this, both sports are growing. Someone who skateboards is usually known as a skater or skateboarder. It has even become a part of the extreme sports family. It has been influenced by hundreds of skateboarders over the years and according to reports on a skating site there are 12.5 million skateboarders in the world.
There are two groups that are credited with the advancing skateboarding. They are the “Z-Boys” from Venice Beach, California who invented the “surf style” riding, and the “Bones Brigade” which included top professional skateboarder Tony Hawk, who helped produce some of the most fantastic skateboarding video ever made. The third generation happened in the 1980’s and early 1990’s when skateboard companies began promoting their art. This was also the birth of half-pipe and vertical ramp skateboarding, along with the “ollie” (which is a no-hands aerial). Street skating also became very popular at this time. Mark Gonzales was the one to pioneer street skating and was the first person to ollie up a curb and skate down a set of stairs. The fourth generation, which is also the current, is heavily dominated by one trick: the ollie. Most boards today are made to be 7 ¼ to 8 inches wide and usually between 30 to 32 inches long. The wheels are made with a hard durometer so that they slide even better during tricks.
Skateboarding has become extremely popular over the last 10 to 20 years and although it was tied to the culture of surfing, it has slowly developed its own image and culture. Skateboarding has stereotypes, music and fashion. It has become an international sport and there are many professional skateboarders who make a great living. A sport that was once looked at as something for nonconforming youth isn’t the case anymore. Skateboarding has a new generation which has a much broader range than people usually think of. It is also considered a means of transportation. People of all ages use them to get to school and to work. It is becoming more accepted by many different individuals and will only continue to grow in the future and be more accepted as a free and mainstream activity.