A skateboarder in the middle of a trick
Skateboarding is the act of rolling on or interacting with a skateboard. Someone who skateboards is a skater (or skateboarder or most fully skateboard rider), though the shortest term may also refer to someone ice skating or roller skating.
Like roller skating, skateboarding is often done for recreation and as a sport, but, more often than ice skating, it is a method of transportation. Similar activities include snowboarding, BMX, and surfing.
Skateboarding
Skateboarding has its origins in surfing, and was originally called "sidewalk surfing". Now, with wakeboarding replacing much waterskiing and snowboarding replacing much skiing, skateboarding is increasingly unique. However, as surfing influenced skateboarding, now the reverse is also true. Surfers are doing more skateboarding tricks now, and the result is evolution in both sports.
In the 1970's skateboarding was still a sidewalk "sport" with surfboard shaped boards designed more for the California vibe than for function. Narrow trucks kept the wheels close together and made the board a bit unstable. As boards and truck widened, there was also a growth of terrain skating. Originally drainage ditches and empty swimming pools were used, but then skaters began to build their own terrains, the Ramp. In the beginning, the ramp was a quarter pipe that you would skate up to and up to the edge at the top. A big improvement came with the HalfPipe. Though there are skateboard parks with extremely complex 3-D terrains, the halfpipe is still the core of advanced skateboarding. Ski resorts have them for snowboarders, and the pipes for skateboarders are also commonly used for rollerbladers and BMX bicycles.
Trick skating
see: Skateboarding trick for detailed description of trick skating maneuvers
With the evolution of skateboard parks (or skateparks) and ramp riding, the skateboard began to change. Street skating was originally basically two-dimensional tricks (e.g. riding on only the front wheels (nose manual), spinning like an ice skater on the back wheels (a 360), high jumping over a bar, long jumping from one board to another (often over fearless teenagers lying on their backs), slalom, the 900 and stale fish, etc.) Around 1978 or so, street riding became transformed by the invention of the ollie or no hands aerial, the first modern skateboarding trick, by Alan "Ollie" Gelfand. The ollie is to fly off the ground (flat or a wall) with the board, but without holding onto the board and then landing back on the board. It involves using your feet to press against the board in various complicated combinations, depending on the trick to be performed. No longer is the trick to fly from one place to another. On the way the board can twist and flip, as can the rider, then to be united before hitting ground. The development of these complex tricks went from the street to the vertical tops of the half pipes (and other terrains).
Very skillful skateboarders often become famous through sponsorship and endorsements. Examples include Tony Hawk (who has a series of video games in his name), Bob Burnquist, Rodney Mullen, Steve Caballero, and Josh Kalis (who has appeared in numerous television advertisements for DC Shoes). Hawk has recently appeared in the MTV music video awards. Perhaps the greatest skateboarder of all time is Tom Penny from England who is favored by many as having the best style and flow of tricks with minimal effort. In the vert world, some are surpassing the skills of Tony Hawk. Recently his signiature trick, "The 900" was performed by a brazillian skater by the name of Sandro Dias. Also, Danny Way is considered by some to be the most innovative and daring skater. Many styles today are a mimic of Tom Penny, who is a pioneer and in the early 1990s was the first skater to catch his flip tricks in mid air.
All this from an object that was never designed to lock into grinds, flip in the air or do the tricks performed by today's skateboarders. Throwing themselves down large stairs and handrails only ups the ante in the modern skateboarding world. Today's skateboarders not only differ greatly from those only 10 years ago in terms of tricks and consistency, but also style, which is a very important aspect in the way skateboarders are marketed by skateboarding companies.
Famous Skateboarders
See also
External links
Last updated: 08-19-2005 06:27:15
Last updated: 08-27-2005 14:57:18
