The Secrets Of Skateboarding
Skateboarding is known as an easy and fun way to get exercise and meet new friends in modern society. The majority of skateboarders are thought to be under the age of 21 but there are a lot of ‘adults’ who take part on a very regular basis.
Skateboarding is known as an activity to stretch back to the early 1900’s when roller skate wheels were attached to milk crate devices. Over time this developed into just the bottom of the ‘crate’ being used along with steel wheels attached instead of roller skate wheels.
In the 1950’s ‘trucks’ entered the skateboarding equation. Trucks are the metal bridge which holds the wheels to the underside of the board. By the start of the next decade street surfing was becoming more and more popular. Half way through the 60’s the publisher of ‘Surf Guide’ was a man named Larry Stevenson. Larry took it upon himself to promote skateboarding and the sport really gathered momentum because of this. Larry’s company was called ‘Makaha’ and they went on to produce the first professional skateboards in the 60’s.
In 1964 a surfer called Hobie Alter created Hobie skateboards and things really took off. Over fifty million skateboards were sold within a three year period then all of a sudden there was a large dip in popularity. This lack of popularity lasted until around 1973 when a man named Frank Nasworthy started releasing boards with new ‘urethane’ wheels. This was followed by the opening of the first skate park in Florida in 1976- this park became so popular hundreds of other parks followed all across America.
In 1978 the famous ‘ollie’ was invented by a certain Alan Gelfand, this trick was also called the ‘no hand’s aerial. This trick seemed to break the mold and freestyle/street-style flourished and took skateboarding to a new level. In 1981 a skateboarding magazine called ‘thrasher’ was released and published for the first time. This publication offered the hardcore skaters with information on all the skateboard scenes. In the mid to late 1980’s the skateboarding scene became dominated by three different manufacturers:
1. Powell Peralta
2. Vision
3. Santa Cruz.
These three companies provided top quality equipment for skaters and also took skate clothing to a new level in fashion. Vertical ramp tricks along with improved skills in street skating led to the sport becoming professional for the best skaters. Street skating lay down the designs for many of the modern day tricks like the Ollie, Kickflip, Heelflips and many other popular moves/techniques. Today skateboarding is more popular than ever and the industry is growing from strength to strength. The secrets of skateboarding lay in the different techniques and styles/tricks and can be accomplished by most with a little dedication and practice.
