Skateboarding Introduction History The Culture Variants of Skateboard

Introduction Skateboarding is an action sport which involves riding and performing tricks using a skateboard. Skateboarding can also be considered a recreational activity, an art form, a job, or a method of transportation. Skateboarding has been shaped and influenced by many skateboarders throughout the years. A 2002 report found that there were 18.5 million skateboarders in the world. 85% of skateboarders polled who had used a board in the last year were under the age of 18, and 74% were male. Index

History 1940s–1960s 1990s–present Skateboarding was probably born sometime in the late 1940s or early 1950s when surfers in California wanted something to surf when the waves were flat. No one knows who made the first board; it seems that several people came up with similar ideas at around the same time. These first skateboarders started with wooden boxes or boards with roller skate wheels attached to the bottom. During this time, skateboarding was seen as something to do for fun besides surfing, and was therefore often referred to as "Sidewalk Surfing". The current generation of skateboards is dominated by street skateboarding. Most boards are about 7 1 ⁄ 4 to 8 inches (180 to 200 mm) wide and 30 to 32 inches (760 to 810 mm) long. Index

The Culture Skateboarding was popularized by the 1986 skateboarding cult classic Thrashin’, also known as Skate Gang directed by David Winters. It has appearances from many famous skaters such as Tony Alva, Tony Hawk, Christian Hosoi and Steve Caballero. The film starred Josh Brolin, who would go on to win acting awards for his roles in the films W., No Country for Old Men, Milk and Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. Thrashin' also had a direct impact on Lords Of Dogtown as Catherine Hardwicke, who directed Lords Of Dogtown was hired by Winters to work on Thrashin' as a production designer where she met, worked with and befriended many famous skaters including the real Tony Alva, Tony Hawk, Christian Hosoi and Steve Caballero. Skateboarding was, at first, tied to the culture of surfing. As skateboarding spread across the United States to places unfamiliar with surfing or surfing culture, it developed an image of its own. For example, the classic film short Video Days (1991) portrayed skateboarders as reckless rebels. The rift between the old image of skateboarding and a newer one is quite visible: magazines such as Thrasher portray skateboarding as dirty, rebellious, and still firmly tied to punk, while other publications, Transworld Skateboarding as an example, paint a more diverse and controlled picture of skateboarding. Index

Variants of Skateboard The Longboard Electric Skateboard The Roller Suits

The Longboard A longboard is a surfing variant of a skateboard, similar and related to a surfboard or snowboard with wheels. It is used for cruising, downhill racing, slalom racing, sliding, and/or transport. However, most stunts, and the boards themselves, are very different from that of a typical skateboard. They usually are designed for the descent of a hill, slides, carves, freestyle or dancing. Index

Electric Skateboard An electric skateboard is typically a modified skateboard propelled by an electric engine, the thrust of which is usually controlled with an RF remote. As with a regular skateboard, it is steered by the rider shifting his or her weight. It was originally designed for local transport, but with the advent of more serious "Off Road" models is emerging as a new thrill sport. The Off Road style boards are able to transverse grass, gravel, dirt and hard sand and are often seen at low tide on the beach. Index

Roller Suits This suit places a number of rollers (similar to those found on rollerblades) on most of the major joints, the torso, and the back. The wearer can ride in a variety of positions (upright, prone, supine, on all fours, etc.) at speeds of up to 70 mph (116 km/h) in downhill. He has been featured on television shows in several countries on all continents. The buggy rollin wheel suit can be practiced on any similar surface as roller skate. IndexGraphs

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