Extremz.com

Skateboard History

Pubication Date: April 1999

In the 1950's, when the surfing craze was in full swing, people realized skateboarding could recreate the feeling of riding a wave. The first skateboard actually was a scooter that had the pushbar broken off. Kids kept playing with the scooter, and skateboarding was born.

In the early 1960's, companies such as Makaha and Hobie began to mass-produce the first true surfing-inspired skateboards. The sport became very popular overnight and companies were fighting to keep up with demand. Then in 1965, a slew of so-called safety experts declared skateboarding unsafe. The fad died as quickly as it had started and skateboarding entered its first of many slumps. A pattern of peaks and valleys in the skateboarding world became known as the "ten-year cycle," although the slumps weren't exactly ten years apart.

The first generation of skateboarders laid the foundation for tricks and style, but the equipment left them limited. However, the urethane wheel was invented in 1973 and revolutionized the sport. These new wheels combined with new skateboard specific trucks, provided much better traction and speed which allowed skaters to push the difficulty of maneuvers to new levels. Tricks at this time consisted of surfing maneuvers done on flat ground or on banks. Empty swimming pools and cylindrical pipes made for the perfect skateboarding terrain.

During the 1970's a large growth stage was realized with the construction of numerous concrete skateparks, a rank of professional skaters, magazines and movies. During this time modern skateboarding evolved to include vertical skating among its disciplines of slalom, downhill, freestyle and longjump. Key advances in the sport included the aerial, the invert and ollie, which may be the single most important trick in the evolution of skateboarding. Skateboarding's second slump came near the end of the 70's when spiraling insurance and slowing attendance forced all but a few skateparks out of business.

In the 80's, the plywood ramp and streetstyle revitalized skateboarding just as the urethane wheel did in the 70's. Forced to take an underground, do-it-yourself attitude, skaters began to create their own wooden skateparks in backyards and empty lots and turn previously unridable street terrain, such as walls and handrails, into free-skate parks. Skater-owned companies became the norm and innovations in board and truck size allowed the trick envelope to be pushed even further. Skateboarding was undergoing another growth phase. This time the cycle peaked around 1987 after skateboarding had directly influenced international culture ranging from the hard-edged punk style of music that most skaters preferred to the baggy, earth-tone clothes and retro tennis shoes that skaters wore.

The current cycle of skateboarding has been fueled by many items including new companies, more varied and difficult terrain, a new, more hard-core, almost dangerous attitude, and most importantly by a new generation of kids who have discovered the exhilarating feeling of rolling along on a board with wheels. The ollie has come into its own as the foundation for 80% of street tricks and about 60% of vert tricks. Street skating is the most popular, however, vert skating is making a comeback.

In regards to the "ten-year cycle," skateboarding is on an upward swing, with a possible peak coming in three to four years, and perhaps this time the sport will enjoy sustained growth without a slump. Skateboarding can be enjoyed by kids as young as two years, but most pro skaters range from early teen to early twenties.

Long viewed as a rebel sport, perhaps because of the danger and occasional illegality of the endeavor, skateboarding has recently taken a step towards the mainstream in 1995 by being included in ESPN's 1995 X Games. Many of the skaters who competed feel that ESPN's presentation of the X Games raised skateboarding's overall image with the general public and is a good thing for the future of the sport.

The impact of media coverage on skateboarding has moved it from an underground sport to a spectator sport over the last two years. Skateboarding is beginning to gain respect as a genuine sport rather than being thought of as a pastime. There has also been a rise in the number of new skateparks being built around the country, giving a boost to the skating community in many towns. The many different ramps, pipes and bowls present at these parks has led to a change in equipment - there is a wide range of boards and wheels being seen. Wheel diameters are larger, deck width continues to grow, and longboards are gaining in popularity, especially in beach communities and among those that just want to use their skateboard to cruise or as a mode of transportation.