When I was young, around 12 years old, my parents bought me a skateboard. It was a thick piece of wood that looked like a very small surfboard. There were two pairs of roller skate wheels attached to the bottom of the board. There were no special shocks or any other special features that appear on today’s skateboards. The skateboard that I had would now be considered an antique.

The first skateboards on the market showed up in 1959, but makeshift homemade versions, often constructed of nothing more than old roller-skate wheels screwed to the bottom of a board, were first built by kids in the early 1900’s.

Manufacturers such as Makaha and Hobie wanted to cash in on the rising popularity of surfing and began promoting a new activity known as “sidewalk surfing,” in the early 1960’s. They believed that it would be a great substitute for surfers when no waves good enough to ride were available to them.

In 1963 Makaha developed the first professional skateboard team. Later that same year, the first skateboard competition took place in Hermosa, California. The competition included freestyle and downhill slalom skateboarding events.

The initial popularity of skateboarding diminished over the next few years, mostly because of the limitations of the current skateboard’s maneuverability limitations. Another reason was because of warnings from safety professionals that skateboarding was dangerous and a person could be gravely hurt.

In the mid-1970s after the development of the faster and more maneuverable polyurethane wheel, Skateboards popularity increased. The introduction of the kicktail, which is the raised back end of the board that makes kickturn tricks possible also helped in the revival of the skateboard.

The skateboard enthusiasm spread worldwide, and new skateboard magazines helped spread the news about the sport. Young and creative riders such as Tony Alva and Stacey Peralta helped to put the sport on the map.

In 1976, the first skate park was erected in Florida. Many others began to pop up  throughout North and South America, Europe, and Asia. Each one provided a variety of different slopes and various banked surfaces for sudden turns and exciting stunts.

At this time innovative riders began skateboarding in empty swimming pools and exploring the “vertical” capability of the sport. The empty swimming pools soon gave way to half-pipes and U-shaped riding surfaces which enabled the skater to perform aerial stunts.

Safety concerns and mounting insurance premiums for skate parks played a major role in the sport’s second decline from widespread popularity, even though protective gear such as helmets and kneepads were typical.

In the 1980s, skateboarding had more of an underground following. Skateboarders began to build their own jump ramps and half-pipes in urban settings. This began to be known as street style boarding.

The increased board size and improved constructions of the boards helped the new style blossom. The adventurous and individualistic complexion of street style skateboarding was spread through boarding documentary films that found a large audience with the days youth. The videos made stars of skateboarders Tony Hawk, Steve Caballero, Natas Kaupas, and Mark Gonzalez, along with many others.

However, it was the arrival of cable television and large competitions, such as the X Games, and alternative sports festivals broadcast on ESPN in 1995, that gave the sport predominant exposure and commercial legitimacy.

Since then, skateboarding has entrenched itself as a professional sport while still holding onto its independence from traditional team sports.

Most skateboards are about 32 inches long and 9 inches wide. A skateboard consists of three major parts. The deck, which is the board where the rider stands, the trucks, which is the device that attaches the wheels to the deck, and the wheels.

Originally, decks were made of thick wood. Later they were also made of aluminum, fiberglass, and plastic. On modern skateboard designs, the back of the deck is bent upward to form the kicktail. The front of the board is called the nose and is also bent upward.

The truck includes an axle and a hangar, which houses the axle, and a cushion that works as a shock absorber and also provides flexibility for steering the board. The wheels are made of tough polyurethane plastic. Pretty high tech compared to the skateboards that I remember using.

Much of the excitement of skateboarding rests in the riders’ imagination and creativity. Skaterboarders compete against each other and invent new tricks and new combinations of tricks.

Three of the most popular skateboarding moves are the kickturn, the ollie, and the grind.

A kickturn is accomplished when the rider pushes down on the kicktail, lifting the front wheels off the ground and then spinning on the rear wheels of the board.

The hands-free aerial known as the ollie is one of the most important tricks in modern skateboarding. It was invented by Alan (“Ollie”) Gelfand in 1978, who realized that by slamming his foot down on the kicktail and simultaneously sliding his front foot forward on the board caused the board and himself to jump into the air together.

A grind involves riding with the trucks against the edge or top of an object such as a railing or the edges of swimming pools and half pipes.

Street style boarding features tricks performed in a real or simulated urban environment with stairs, rails, ledges, and other obstacles. Skateboarding has developed as a youth subculture that emphasizes creativity and individuality.

Founded in 1994, World Cup Skateboarding oversees the biggest street and vert skateboarding competitions, with scheduled events in Australia, Brazil, Canada, the United States, and throughout Europe and Asia.

Skateboarding is an alternative for younger kids and teens compared to mainstream team sports, which are officially organized and for the most part, controlled by adults.

Photo Credit: Stan Liu / Icon SMI