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Skateboarding
Skateboarding
can be a form of art, a sport, a hobby, a job
or a method of transportation.Skateboarding has
been shaped and influenced by many skateboarders
throughout the years. A 2002 report by American
Sports Data found that there were 12.5 million
skateboarders in the world. Eighty-five percent
of skateboarders polled who had used a board in
the last year were under the age of 18, and 74
percent were male.
Skateboarding
is a relatively modern sport—it originated
as "sidewalk surfing" in the United
States—particularly California—in
the 1950s. A key skateboarding trick, the ollie,
was only developed in the late 1970s.
History
Before
The Beginning
Predating
the first skateboard, the New York Times reported
on May 21, 1893 in an article entitled: DANGEROUS
SPORT IN BROOKLYN: Coasting on Lincoln Place May
Sometime Lead to Loss of Life" It begins:
Lincoln
Place, {Park Slope} Brooklyn, smoothly paved with
asphalt from the Prospect Park (Brooklyn) Circle
to Fifth Avenue and has a slope about 15 degrees.
During the past few weeks small boys from all
parts of the neighborhood have gathered on Lincoln
Place with little four wheeled carts, on which
they have coasted down the middle of the Street…
Brooklyn
Eagle article on July 18, 1897, "BETTER BROOKLYN
STREETS" further explains how street engineering
in Brooklyn enabled the above mentioned "cart
coasting."
The
great amount of asphalt and vitrified brick pavement
that is replacing the noisy and miserably laid
cobblestones, and even granite block... {would
create} roads the smoothest in the country and
as noiseless as can be provided for by the very
latest scientific pavement…
The first skateboard
The
first skateboard originated sometime in the 1950s
and coincided with the initial popularization
of surfing in California. The earliest skateboards
were homemade and constructed of flat wooden planks
attached to roller-skate trucks and wheels. Skateboarding
was originally called "sidewalk surfing"
and early skaters emulated surfing style and moves.
Skateboards may or may not have evolved from "crate
scooters." Crate scooters preceded skateboards,
and were essentially similar except for having
a wooden crate attached to the front, which formed
rudimentary handlebars.
In
the mid 1960s, skateboarding went mainstream.
A number of surfing manufacturers such as Hobie
and Makaha started building skateboards that resembled
small surfboards and assembling teams to promote
their products. The popularity of skateboarding
at this time spawned a national magazine, Skateboarder
Magazine and the 1965 international championships
were broadcast on national television. The growth
of skateboarding at this time can also be seen
in Makaha's sales figures which quoted $4 million
worth of board sales between 1963 and 1965 (Weyland,
2002:28). Yet by 1966 sales had dropped significantly
(ibid) and Skateboarder Magazine had stopped publication.
Skateboarding's popularity dropped and remained
low until the early 1970s.
Second generation
In
the early 1970s, Frank Nasworthy started to develop
a skateboard wheel made of polyurethane,calling
it the 'Cadillac' as he hoped this would convey
the smooth ride it afforded the rider.[4] The
improvement in traction and performance was so
immense that from the wheel's release in 1974
the popularity of skateboarding started to rise
rapidly again, and companies wanted to invest
more in product development. Many companies started
to manufacture trucks (axles) especially designed
for skateboarding, and the modern design was reached
in 1976 by Tracker Trucks. As the equipment became
more maneuverable, the decks started to get wider,
reaching widths of 10 inches (250 mm) and over
in the end, thus giving the skateboarder even
more control. Banana board is a term used to describe
skateboards made of polypropylene that were skinny,
flexible, with ribs on the underside for structural
support and very popular during the mid-1970s.
They were available in myriad colors, bright yellow
probably being the most memorable, hence the name.
Manufacturers
started to experiment with more exotic composites
and metals, like fiberglass and aluminum, but
the common skateboards were made of maple plywood.
The skateboarders took advantage of the improved
handling of their skateboards and started inventing
new tricks. Skateboarders, most notably Ty Page,
Bruce Logan, Bobby Piercy, Jared Phillips, Kevin
Reed, and the Z-Boys, started to skate the vertical
walls of swimming pools that were left empty in
the 1976 California drought. This started the
vert trend in skateboarding. With increased control,
vert skaters could skate faster and perform more
dangerous tricks, such as slash grinds and frontside/backside
airs. This caused liability concerns and increased
insurance costs to skatepark owners, and the development
(first by Norcon,then more successfully by Rector)
of improved knee pads that had a hard sliding
cap and strong strapping proved to be too-little-too-late.
During this era, the "freestyle" movement
in skateboarding began to splinter off and develop
into a much more specialized discipline, characterized
by the development of a wide assortment of flat-ground
tricks.
Skateparks
increasingly contend with high-liability costs
that led to many parks closing. Vert skaters therefore
started making their own ramps and freestylers
didn't need skateparks. Thus by the beginning
of the 1980s, skateboarding had died again.
Third generation
The
third skateboard generation, from the early/mid
eighties to early nineties, was fueled by skateboard
companies that were run by skateboarders. The
focus was initially on vert ramp skateboarding.
The invention of the no-hands aerial (later known
as the ollie) by Alan Gelfand in Florida in 1976
and the almost parallel development of the grabbed
aerial by George Orton and Tony Alva in California
had made it possible for skaters to perform airs
on vertical ramps. While this wave of skateboarding
was sparked by commercialized vert ramp skating,
a majority of people who skateboarded during this
period never rode vert ramps. Because most people
couldn't afford to build vert ramps or didn't
have access to nearby ramps, street skating gained
popularity. Freestyle skating remained healthy
throughout this period with pioneers such as Rodney
Mullen inventing the basics of modern street skating;
the flatground ollie, the ollie kickflip, the
heelflip, and the 360 flip, to name a few. The
influence freestyle had on street skating became
apparent during the mid-eighties, but street skating
was still performed on wide vert boards with short
noses, slide rails, and large soft wheels. Skateboarding,
however, evolved quickly in the late 1980s to
accommodate the street skater. Since few skateparks
were available to skaters at this time, street
skating pushed skaters to seek out shopping centres
and public and private property as their "spot"
to skate. Public opposition, and the threat of
lawsuits, forced businesses and property owners
to ban skateboarding on their property. By 1992,
only a small fraction of skateboarders remained
as a highly technical version of street skating,
combined with the decline of vert skating, produced
a sport that lacked the mainstream appeal to attract
new skaters.
Current generation
The
fourth and current generation of skateboards is
dominated by street skating. Most boards are about
7¼ to 8 inches (200 mm) wide and 30 to
32 inches (810 mm) long. The wheels are made of
an extremely hard polyurethane, with hardness(durometer)
approximately 99a. As Steve Caballero had shown
on vert in the mid-80's, very high durometers
offer the benefit of reduced drag on hard surfaces
which results in an overall faster ride, so long
as one avoids rougher terrain. The wheel sizes
are relatively small so that the boards are lighter,
and the wheel's inertia is overcome quicker, thus
making tricks more manageable. Today, modern wheels
are currently around 48 to 60 mm in diameter and
advances in technology have made them extremely
light compared to the wheels of the eighties.
Most decks are still constructed out of Canadian
Maple, with 7-plies being the industry standard
for strength and durability. Board styles have
changed dramatically since the 1970s but have
remained mostly alike since the mid 1990s. The
contemporary shape of the skateboard is derived
from the freestyle boards of the 1980s with a
largely symmetrical shape and relatively narrow
width. This form had become standard by 1992.
During the 90s ramp or vert skateboarding dropped
in popularity.
While
street skateboarding remains popular, its rigid
conformity and high attrition rate (85% of skateboarders
leave the sport by the time they reach age 18)[7]
does not appeal to everyone, and there is a resurgence
of other types of skateboarding brewing. Longboarding,
speedboarding, downhill sliding, pool or bowl
skating, slalom, and ditch skateboarding are thriving
all over the world, albeit below the radar. (Credit:
Wikipedia).
Articles
Jump
On Board, by Greg Tingle - Cover
- Article
The
other extreme
Sports
and personality management - Why it is needed,
by Greg Tingle & Yvette Moore
Interviews
Dion
Appel, Founder and CEO - LifeLounge - 5th June
2003
Brad
Carrol, Director, Standing Eight - 1st September
2003
Profiles
Cannaboard
RedBull
Channel
V
Bondi
Beach Skatepark
Press
Releases
Standing
Eight supports Media Man Australia - 25th August
2003
Media
Man Australia
Sport
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