Is skateboarding a hobby, a sport, a job, or a means of transportation? In fact, it is all of these. Who skates? Mostly young males. A 2002 study counted 18.5 million skateboarders worldwide. Eighty-five percent were under the age of 18, and 74 percent were male.
Who is the most common skater? Gender + Age
Early tricks were two-dimensional, performed on flat surfaces, such as riding on only two wheels ("wheelies"), spinning on the back wheels (a "pivot"), jumps, and slaloms. A big change came with the beginning of ramp skating and the opening of the first skateparks. They took skateboarding from a two dimensional sport to one that was some times vertical.
Name two tricks that are considered to be "two-dimensional"
What was a big change that changed skating?
Jumps and wheelies
Ramp skating and skateparks
Street skaters used shopping centers and public and private property to skate. There was sometimes friction between skaters and property owners, who feared they could be sued if anyone was injured.
What places did skaters use as skate parks?
shopping centers and public/private property
Skateboarding was invented in California in the late 1940s or early 1950s by surfers who wanted something to do when they couldn’t surf. This is why it was originally called “sidewalk surfing.”
Who invented skateboarding?
What was skateboarding originally called?
Surfers
Sidewalk Surfing
The new skateboards handled better. This allowed skateboarders to invent new tricks. A drought in California in 1976 meant many swimming pools were empty. Skateboarders skated their vertical walls. This is how the vert trend started.
What happened in California in 1976?
What did skateboarders use as their first ramps?
A drought
Empty swimming pools
Most boards are about 7 to 8 inches wide and 30 to 32 inches long. The wheels are made of polyurethane, which is very hard. The wheels are small. This makes the boards lighter, and tricks are easier to perform.
What makes skateboards lighter?
their small wheels
The first skateboards were wooden boxes or boards to which roller skate wheels had been attached.
How were the first skateboards made?
With wood and the wheels from roller skates
With their new boards, vert skaters could skate faster and do more difficult tricks. Alan “Ollie” Gelfand invented a trick called the ollie in 1976 that enabled skaters to perform airs on vertical ramps. The ollie revolutionized skateboarding -- most tricks today are based on the ollie.
Who invented a new trick in 1976?
What was the new revolutionary trick called?
Alan “Ollie” Gelfand
The ollie
Board styles changed greatly between the invention of skateboarding, and the mid 1990s, but have changed little since then. The symmetrical and fairly narrow shape of modern skateboards is based on the freestyle boards of the 1980s.
When did the style of skateboards change?
Have boards continued to change, or have they stayed the same?
up until the 1990s, since then they haven't changed
Skateboarding was booming by the 1960s. It was so popular there was a national magazine, Skateboarder Magazine. In 1965, the international skateboarding championships were televised nationally. Yet by the following year sales of skateboards were falling again. The fall was due partly to safety concerns. Skateboarding’s popularity has gone through cycles of boom and bust since its invention.
Why did the popularity of skateboarding fall?
Safety Concerns
What could potentially be dangerous about skateboarding?
The new, vertical style made skateboarding more exciting, but it nearly killed it, too. The new style was dangerous. Skatepark owners had to pay higher insurance costs. Many skateparks had to close. In one country, Norway, skateboards were banned between 1978 and 1989. By the early 1980s, skateboarding was losing popularity again.
Why did skateparks begin to close?
In what country were skateparks banned from 1978-1989?
They were too dangerous, insurance costs were rising
Norway
Skateboarding was originally part of surfing culture. In time, though, it spread away from the coast, to places where no one surfed. When it did this, it evolved a culture of its own. This culture included a style of music and clothing. Street skateboarders had a rebellious image. Some cities still oppose skateparks because they fear they will bring crime and drugs.
Are skateboards and surfers as closely related as they once were?
What does skateboarding culture bring?
Why are some people opposed to skateparks?
No, skateboarding now has a culture of its own
A style of music and clothing
They fear the culture will bring drugs and crime
The popularity of skateboarding fell in the late 1960s and stayed low until 1972, when Frank Nasworthy released a polyurethane skateboard wheel. This and other technological improvements made performance so much better that the sport was transformed. Skateboarding boomed again.
What year did skateboarding become popular again?
Why did skateboarding become popular again?
1972
Technological advances
Street skating may have saved skateboarding. It is the most popular style today. Street skating became popular because most people did not have access to vert ramps. Skateboarders like Rodney Mullen invented basic street skating tricks at this time, like the kickflip or the Impossible.
What kind of skating saved skateboarding?
Who invented basic street tricks, such as the kickflip?
Street skating
Rodney Mullen
Skateboarding continues to change, however. New media such as the magazine Transworld Skateboarding show skateboarders to be more diverse and controlled and less rebellious. Skateboarding is still evolving fast, and it will be interesting to see how it develops in the future.
What magazine shows skaters how to be more diverse?
What do you think is part of the future of skateboarding?
Transworld Skateboarding