- Skateboard
- single flexible board mounted on wheels and steerable by weight positioning.
Skateboarding may not be as old as rugby,cricket or soccer but is by far the best,I'd say..
More tricks,Not the same old boring thing over and over again like rollerblading where you are linked to your
skates!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!How boring!
Contents
- Introduction
- The first crase
- Hard times
- Skateboarding comes of age
- Recent developments
- Skate Heroes
No one knows for sure who invented it when and where.I guess it started in the late fifties on the surfing beaches of California
when someone hit on the idea of attaching a pair of rollerskates to a plank.So when swell is crap you do a bit of "Sidewalk surfing".
The origins of skateboarding are well reflected in the designs of early skateboards which looked a lot like mini surfboards.They
were fairly narrow only about four inches(ten centimetres)wide and shorter than those of today.They would do more than ride up and down
the sidewalks by steering to the right or left by leaning to the particular side.The first major development came with the invention
of theKicktail:an extra raised area of board behind the back truck.So when pushed down the front of the board would rise a little bit off the ground.
This also allowed the board to steer more easy.
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The first manufactured skateboards came onto the market in 1965.These consisted of damn thick boards with narrow cast-iron trucks
and hard-rubber wheels.The races along the sidewalk were varied in different ways,and soon the first competition events appeared:freestyle,slalom,downhill,high jump and long jump.
Skateboarding was starting to develop in it's own right.In the mid-seventies skaters began to try new routes along drainage tunnels and up the slopes around buildings.This opened a whole
new world of tricks.They had discovered bank skating,out of which vertical skating was later to develop.Skaters were also learning to move their bodies more skilfully and soon they were
able to defy gravity.Vertical skating began in the backyard pools of California.These were empty swimming pools,which,unlike those in Europe,had rounded sides.All you needed was a bit of extra speed,
and you could ride your board up the pool side as far as the edge.There were a number of problems here:
1.The pool owners often did not like their pools being used in this way.
2.The pool sides were not quite rounded enough.
These so called transitions went vertical to much suddenly,catapulting the rider into the air.It was very difficult to get back down safely,and by then you
were riding to slowly to make it up to the opposite side of the pool.But skateboarding developed quickly in the United States,and it wasn't long before the first skateparks were being built.
These were specially laid out with the skater in mind.Pools were built with extra rounded sides,and there were other layouts for bank and freestyle skating.Up until the early eighties
these were the main hangout places for skaters.Competitions and tournaments were organized aruond them.Pool and vertical skateboarding became the most popular specialist forms.Vert skating as it came to be known,
was the most spectacular form.It was extremely difficult and demanding,and this encouraged even more innovations in board manufacture.The boards were built wider to give the rider more stability.New polyurethane wheels were
faster than the old rubber ones,and they definitely had more grip(trust me I've ridden on clay ones!).By now,barefoot skating was confined to a few diehard sidewalk surfers.Most skaters had realised that gymshoes gave more
stability,no to mention protection when you fell of your board.
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Some us don't know what early skate pioneers had to go through.They were rejected by public and hated by everybody;old ladies,rockers,skins,punks,7-11 clerks,cops and rental cops etc.Okay there are still cops,but some are
rad,others are f*%#@$up hardasses.But let's face it,what will the world be without cops in general?
By 1980,skateboarding had swept across Europe,where the most popular disciplines
were freestyle,slalom and high jump.But on both sides of the Atlantic it was still thaught of as a passing crase,and was not taken
seriously as a competitive sport.The early eighties saw a suddeb slump in popularity.It almost happened in one season:Skateparks closed,
board manufacturers stopped production,and skate magazines turned to Bmx and rollerskating.But a small band of enthusiasts kept the flag
flying in countries.They continued to develop their techniques;they produced their own magazines,made some of their own boards and built their own ramps.
This was the time when the first halpipes appeared on the scene.These were simpler and cheaper to build than the pools and could be designed
by the skaters themselves.They also gave a scope for a whole series of new tricks.The sport was becoming unpopular with the general public,and this pushed the skateboarding scene"underground".Skate culture became more smaller
but more committed,and one of it's creative phases.Skate enthusiasts became so involved their whole life revolved around the sport.It was not so much a sport
as lifestyle in it's own right - a whole new philosophy of life.Without such commitment the sport could never have survived.The few remaining skaters injected a new idealism into the organisation of their events,and showed the same
drive in the publication of their own magazines and the smaller "skate zines".Skateboarding soon developed into a new method of transport.Skaters would tackle
,mount any obstacle that came their way.They would use their board anywhere and everywhere.Thus
in the early eighties the art of street skating came about.The street skater
was completely independent of halfpipes and other artificial layouts;he was his own man.Tricks hat only vert
skaters had used were adapted to the street.Street ollies,slide 'n rolls and kerb grinds are the classic street moves and all of them came
from vert skating.Street skating was soon turned into a competition discipline,which from then on became kown as street skating.
It soon proved impossible to create a competition layout that was really like a street.So today's street-style events vary,some have rails,quaterpipes
and the lot.We today can be very fortunate for having what we have.Top of page
In 1985 skateboarding started to become popular again.The sport was emerging
from the shadows,and the beginnings of a second skateboard boom.Street style attracted lots of new young skaters,and the lifestyle
philosophy of hardcore soon became particularly attractive to kids.Since then sporting performance has
improved with leaps and bounds.The Americans have set new standards,especially in vert skating and street style.
Tricks are becoming more radical than ever,and techniques are continually refined.
years of training are needed to master them,and the whole scene is becoming much more professional.
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Miniramp skating is the latest addition to the sport.Includes quaterpipes,small halfpipes and funboxes,pirymids etc.The miniramp
has brought with it a whole new set of tricks.Meanwhile some disciplines have
become less popular than before.Among them are slalom and high jump.In the late eighties skateboarding
was at last accepted as a real sport on the world stage,and now it can no longer
be dismissed as a passing fad.There is a lucrative professional circuit,in the United States and all over,and
spectaters can be numbered in their tens of thousands.Top of page
No history of skateboarding is complete without at least some mention of it's
heroes.They not only shaped the sport,but without them it would not have been
around.Some of these people became cult figures in their own right.The legandary
Tony Alva was the first pool shredder.He was the world long-jump record
holder for many years after clearing seven oildrums in one go.Stacy Peralta,like Tony Alva,has his own
make of skateboard,but in the early days he too was one of the most successful pool skaters.Another of the all-time greats was the master of disaster himself,Duane Peters from the United States.
He was the first of the truly radical skaters.He pushed the limits with no thought for his board or himself.Duane peters was the
first skater to do a full loop in a full pipe.His commitment is shown by the fact that he only managed it on the third attempt.But I think doing something
like that you'll want to do it the first time and not make stupid mistakes!Also
worth mentioning areSteve Caballero,Tony Hawk and Mike McGillThey have been competing for a very long time yet they are
among the worlds best skaters.Steve for example is a great master of style and perfection.Mike Mcgill is
best known for a legendary trick that he invented known as the 540 McTwist.This is an air involving a
somersault with a half twist.he first achieved it at the 1985 Swedish summer camp opening up a whole new world of tricks.Another skater worth mentioning is
Rodney Mullen inventor of many skate tricks,for example the 360flip.
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