SkateBoarding
The Early Days
During the 1950s, surfing was becoming an increasingly popular sport from coast to coast in the United States. Surfers started looking for a way to recreate the feeling of riding a wave without actually riding a wave. Thus the first skateboard was created in 1959. It looked like a surfboard and the new sport was called sidewalk surfing for a time. However, in the 1960s the sport was termed skateboarding and was becoming popular very quickly.
The First Boarders
Lords of Dogtown?
Some of the first big names of skateboarding were Tony Alva, Jay Adams, and Stacy Peralta. They were ordinary kids who loved to skate but their abilities allowed them to take off and eventually become some of the first professionals.
Competition Style
3 TYPES OF COMPETITIONS:
**Vert-
Halfpipes, quaterpipes, miniramps, and bowls
**Street
Rails, handrails, and stairs
**Jam Style
X-GAMES
The People and influence
Kids
From its beginnings, skateboarding was considered to be an outlaw or rebel sport. Kids who skateboarded were often looked down upon by others who played team sports or by adults who thought it was a waste of time. These kids now had a sport to call thier own and it united many groups of people all over America. However, in 1965, a health and safety administration slammed skateboarding for being unsafe. They urged people to stop buying skateboards but it was too late. The sport was too popular and it could not be destroyed.
Music
Music played a huge role in the style of skateboarding. In the 1980s, punk rock music was being listened to by skateboarders all over the country. Many skaters also adapted the style of punk by wearing the same types of clothes that they did. Some bands that influenced skateboarding were the sex pistols, the dead kennedeys, and black flag.
Later Days
Skateboarding really took off in the 1970s when the ollie was invented. The ollie is the most important trick in skateboarding and is the foundation for almost all other tricks in the sport. At the same time, the first skateboarding magazines were starting to appear. Skateboarder magzine was one of the first ones ever published. During the 80s, skateboard heroes such as Tony Hawk came on the scene. Tony and other professionals at the time helped pave the way for the skaters of the future by inventing many new tricks. The 1990s were home to the X games which sparked huge media attention for the sport. People were starting to realize that skateboarding was more than just a bunch of kids on a board with wheels.
