Skateboarding
About:
History of Skateboarding
Skateboarding was first started in the 1950s, when all across California surfers got the idea of trying to surf the streets. No one really knows who made the first board -- instead, it seems that several people came up with similar ideas at the same time. They started with wooden boxes or boards with roller skate wheels slapped on the bottom, and like you might imagine, a lot of people got hurt in skateboarding's early years! It was a sport just being born and discovered, so anything went. The boxes turned into planks, and eventually companies were producing decks of pressed layers of wood -- similar to the skateboard decks of today.
By far the most well known name in Skateboarding, Tony Hawk is responsible for a great deal of how skateboarding looks today. By age fourteen, Tony Hawk became a pro skateboarder, and by sixteen Tony Hawk had become the worlds best skateboarder. Hawk has entered about 103 pro contests -- he won 73, and placed second in 19. This is skateboardings best record by far. Tony Hawk rode through the early rise in skating popularity, through its decline in the early 1990s, and now back to the top to become the most successful skateboarder in history.
Skateboards themselves have also had an interesting evolution -- the boards went from first being wooden boxes or planks to mass produced decks, with shaped edges and a large tail. Boards have evolved since to not having such a clear nose and tail, so that skaters can ride switch (backwards) more easily. Wheels went from metal roller skate wheels, to rubber, to now being made of urethane, so they are cheaper and lighter.
Skateboarding still has not stopped evolving, and skaters are coming up with new tricks all the time. Boards are also continuing to evolve, as companies try to make them lighter and stronger, or try to improve on their performance. Skateboarding has always been about personal discovery and pushing oneself to the limit.