{{Refimprove|date=July 2008}}

[[Image:Skaters1.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Skateboarders in [[Beijing]], [[China]].]]

[[Image:Skateboarder_Ollies_a_Gap.png|right|thumb|A skateboarder Ollies a gap.]]

'''Skateboarding''' is the act of riding and performing tricks using a [[skateboard]]. A person who skateboards is most often referred to as a skateboarder or a skater.

Skateboarding can be a recreational activity, an artform, a [[Profession|job]], or a method of [[transportation]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.webdelsol.com/Topic/articles/04/howell.html | title=Extreme Market Research | accessdate=2006-12-13 | author=Ocean Howell, Topic Magazine}}</ref> Skateboarding has been shaped and influenced by many skateboarders throughout the years. A 2002 report by ''American Sports Data'' found that there were 18.5 million skateboarders in the world. 85 percent of skateboarders polled who had used a board in the last year were under the age of 18, and 74 percent were male.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m4021/is_2002_Oct_1/ai_92087410 | title=Your Questions Answered - statistics about skateboarders | accessdate=2006-12-13 | author=John Fetto}}</ref>

Skateboarding is relatively modern. A key skateboarding maneuver, the [[Ollie (skateboarding trick)|ollie]], was developed in the late 1970s and in the early '80s freestyle skateboarder [[Rodney Mullen]] invented the ollie [[kickflip]]. <ref>{{cite web | url=http://skateboard.about.com/cs/boardscience/a/brief_history_2.htm | title=Skateboarding: A Brief History (page 2) | accessdate=2006-12-13 | author=Steve Cave, [[about.com]]}}</ref>

==History==

===The 1940s-1960s===

Skateboarding was probably born sometime in the late 1940s or early 1950s when surfers in [[California]], wanted something to surf when the waves were flat. No one knows who made the first board, rather, it seems that several people came up with similar ideas at around the same time. These first skateboarders started with wooden boxes or boards with roller skate wheels attached to the bottom. The boxes turned into planks, and eventually companies were producing decks of pressed layers of wood -- similar to the skateboard decks of today. During this time, skateboarding was seen as something to do for fun besides surfing, and was therefore often referred to as "Sidewalk Surfing".

[[Image:Skateboarder1.jpg|right|thumb|A skateboarder in [[Nice]], [[France]].]]

The first manufactured skateboards were ordered by a [[Los Angeles, California]] surf shop, meant to be used by surfers in their downtime. The shop owner, Bill Richard, made a deal with the Chicago Roller Skate Company to produce sets of skate wheels, which they attached to square wooden boards. Accordingly, skateboarding was originally denoted "sidewalk surfing" and early skaters emulated [[surfing]] style and maneuvers. [[Crate scooters]] preceded skateboards, and were borne of a similar concept, with the exception of having a wooden crate attached to the nose (front of the board), which formed rudimentary handlebars.<ref name="SBH">{{cite web|url=http://skateboard.about.com/cs/boardscience/a/brief_history.htm|title=Skateboarding: A Brief History (page 1)|accessdate=2007-09-01}}</ref>

A number of surfing manufacturers such as [[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 the sport during this period can also be seen in sales figures for Makaha, which quoted $10 million worth of board sales between 1963 and 1965 (Weyland, 2002:28). Yet by 1966 the sales had dropped significantly (ibid) and Skateboarder Magazine had stopped publication. The popularity of skateboarding dropped and remained low until the early 1970s. <ref name="SBH"/><ref name="SBH2">{{cite web |url= http://www.skatelog.com/skateboarding/skateboarding-history.htm|title= Skateboarding History|accessdate=2007-09-02 }}</ref>

===The 1970s===

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 fat ride it afforded the rider.<ref name="SBH"/> The improvement in traction and performance was so immense that from the wheel's release in 1972 the popularity of skateboarding started to rise rapidly again, causing companies to invest more in product development. Many companies started to manufacture trucks (axles) especially designed for skateboarding, reached in 1976 by [[Tracker Trucks]]. As the equipment became more maneuverable, the decks started to get wider, reaching widths of {{convert|10|in|mm}} and over, 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 [[aluminium]], 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, Kevin Reed, and the [[Z-Boys]] (so-called because of their local Zephyr surf shop) 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.

As a result of the "vert" skating movement, skate parks had to contend with high-liability costs that led to many park closures. In response, vert skaters started making their own ramps, while freestyle skaters continued to evolve their flatland style. Thus by the beginning of the 1980s, skateboarding had once again fallen into obscurity. <ref name="SBH2"/>

===The 1980s===

[[Image:Ollie_over_rubbish_bin.jpg|right|thumb|A skateboarder "Ollies" over a rubbish bin.]]

This period was fuelled 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 (skateboarding trick)|ollie]]) by [[Alan Gelfand]] in Florida in 1976<ref name="sm">Snyder, Craig [http://www.skateboarding.com/skate/stories/article/0,23271,1116287,00.html Gasbag], [[Transworld Skateboarding Magazine]] (October 2005, p. 44)</ref> and the almost parallel development of the grabbed aerial by [[George Orton]] and [[Tony Alva]] in California in 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 many of the basic tricks of modern street skating such as the Impossible and the [[kickflip]]. 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{{Fact|date=July 2008}}. 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.

===The 1990s to Present===

The current generation of skateboards is dominated by street skating. Most boards are about 7¼ to 8&nbsp;inches wide and 30 to 32&nbsp;inches long. The wheels are made of an extremely hard [[polyurethane]], with hardness([[durometer]]) approximately 99a. 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. 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 skateboarding|freestyle]] boards of the 1980s with a largely symmetrical shape and relatively narrow width. This form had become standard by the mid '90s.

[[Go Skateboarding Day]] was created in 2004 by a group of skateboarding companies to promote skateboarding and help make it more noticeable to the world. It is celebrated every year on June 21st.

==Trick skating==

:''See [[Skateboarding trick]] for detailed descriptions of maneuvers''

[[Image:Kickflip1.jpg|thumb|A skater performs a switch [[kickflip]] off a stairset.]]

With the evolution of [[skatepark]]s and ramp skating, the skateboard began to change. Early skate tricks had consisted mainly of two-dimensional manoeuvres like riding on only two wheels ("wheelie" or "manual"), spinning only on the back wheels (a "pivot"), high jumping over a bar and landing on the board again, also known as a "hippie jump", long jumping from one board to another (often over small barrels or fearless teenagers) or slalom.

In 1976, skateboarding was transformed by the invention of the [[Ollie (skateboarding trick)|ollie]] by [[Alan Gelfand|Alan "Ollie" Gelfand]]. It remained largely a unique Florida trick until the summer of 1978, when Gelfand made his first visit to California. Gelfand and his revolutionary manoeuvre caught the attention of the West Coast skaters and the media where it began to spread worldwide. The ollie was adapted to flat ground by [[Rodney Mullen]] in 1982. Mullen also invented the "Magic Flip", which was later renamed the [[Kickflip]], as well many other tricks including, the 360 Kickflip, which is a 360 pop [[shove it]] and a kickflip in the same motion. The flat ground ollie allowed skateboarders to perform tricks in mid-air without any more equipment than the skateboard itself, it has formed the basis of many street skating tricks.

==Culture==

{{see also|Skate punk}}

{{see also|Punk fashion}}

Skateboarding was, at first, tied to the culture of [[surfing]]. As skateboarding spread across the [[United States]] to places unfamiliar with surfing or surfing culture, it developed an image of its own. For example, the classic film short ''[[Video Days]]'' (1991) portrayed skateboarders as reckless rebels.

The image of the skateboarder as a rebellious, non-conforming youth has faded in recent years{{Fact|date=July 2008}}. Certain cities still oppose the building skateparks in their neighbourhoods, for fear of increased crime and drugs in the area. The rift between the old image of skateboarding and a newer one is quite visible: magazines such as ''[[Thrasher (magazine)|Thrasher]]'' portray skateboarding as dirty, rebellious, and still firmly tied to [[punk subculture|punk]], while other publications, ''[[Transworld Skateboarding]]'' as an example, paint a more diverse, and controlled picture of skateboarding. Furthermore, as more professional skaters use [[hip hop]], [[reggae]], or [[hard rock]] music accompaniment in their videos, many urban youths, hip-hop fans, reggae fans, and hard rock fans are also drawn to skateboarding, further diluting the sport's punk image.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3181390863653504968&q=Team+Ice+cream+skate+video | title=Team Ice Cream Skate Video | accessdate=2007-01-07}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://skateboarding.transworld.net/2003/7/23/roots-rock-reggae-skateboarding/ | title=Roots, Rock, Reggae, Skateboarding | accessdate=2003-07-23}}</ref>

Films such as ''[[Grind (2003 film)|Grind]]'' and ''[[Lords Of Dogtown]]'', have helped improve the reputation of skateboarding youth{{Fact|date=July 2008}}, depicting individuals of this subculture as having a positive outlook on life, prone to poking harmless fun at each other, and engaging in healthy sportsman's competition. According to the film, lack of respect, egotism and hostility towards fellow skateboarders is generally frowned upon, albeit each of the characters (and as such, proxies of the "stereotypical" skateboarder) have a firm disrespect for authority and for rules in general. Group spirit is supposed to heavily influence the members of this community. In presentations of this sort, showcasing of criminal tendencies is absent, and no attempt is made to tie extreme sports to any kind of illegal activity{{Fact|date=July 2008}}.

''[[Gleaming the Cube]]'', a 1989 movie starring Christian Slater as a skateboarding teen investigating the death of his adopted Vietnamese brother was somewhat of an iconic landmark to the skateboarding genre of the era{{Fact|date=July 2008}}. Many well-known skaters had cameos in the film, including [[Tony Hawk]].

Skateboarding video games have also become very popular in skateboarding culture{{Fact|date=July 2008}}. Some of the most popular are ''[[Tony Hawk's Proving Ground]]'', and ''[[Skate (video game)|Skate.]]'' for the [[Xbox 360]] and [[Playstation 3]] platforms.

== Skateboarding as a form of transportation ==

The use of skateboards solely as a form of transportation is often associated with the [[Longboard_(skateboard) | longboard]]{{Fact|date=July 2008}}. Depending on local laws, using skateboards as a form of transportation outside residential areas may or may not be legal. Backers cite portability, exercise, and environmental friendliness as some of the benefits of skateboarding as an alternative to automobiles.

Skateboards, along with other small-wheeled transportation such as in-line skates and scooters, suffer a safety caveat where riders may easily be thrown from small cracks and outcroppings in pavement, especially where the cracks run perpendicular to the direction of travel. However, high average travel speeds help mitigate this; injuries are more likely to be minor{{Fact|date=July 2008}}, although very uncommon, head injuries still pose a major health risk.

==Miscellaneous==

[[Image:Usmcskateboard.jpg|right|thumb|A member of Charlie Company 1st Battalion 5th Marines carries a skateboard during military exercise ''Urban Warrior '99'']]

===Skateboard ban in Norway===

The use, ownership and sale of skateboards were forbidden in [[Norway]], during the period between 1978 and 1989. The ban was said to be due to the perceived high number of injuries caused by boards. The ban led skateboarders to construct ramps in the forest and other secluded areas to avoid the police.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://oslopuls.no/film/article1536291.ece | title=Criminals on wheels | accessdate=2006-12-13}}</ref>

===Military experimentation in the United States===

The [[United States Marine Corps]] tested the usefulness of commercial off-the-shelf skateboards during [[urban combat]] [[military exercise]]s in the late 1990s. Their special purpose was "for maneuvering inside buildings in order to detect [[tripwire]]s and [[sniper]] fire".<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.dodmedia.osd.mil/DVIC_View/Still_Details.cfm?SDAN=DMSD0002959&JPGPath=/Assets/2000/Marines/DM-SD-00-02959.JPG | title=Defense Visual Information Center database / US Department of Defense| accessdate=2006-12-30}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://newton.nap.edu/books/0309088739/html/82.html | title=The Role of Experimentation in Building Future Naval Forces (2004), Naval Studies Board | accessdate=2006-12-30}}</ref>

==Notes==

{{reflist}}

== Further reading and information ==

*Borden, Iain. (2001). ''Skateboarding, Space and the City: Architecture and the Body''. Oxford: Berg.

*Hocking, Justin, Jeffrey Knutson and Jared Maher (Eds.). (2004). ''Life and Limb: Skateboarders Write from the Deep End''. New York: Soft Skull Press.

*Weyland, Jocko. (2002). ''The Answer is Never: a History and Memoir of Skateboarding''. New York: Grove Press.

*Hawk, Tony and Mortimer, Sean. (2000). ''Hawk: Occupation: Skateboarder''. New York: HarperCollins.

*Thrasher Magazine. (2001). ''Thrasher: Insane Terrain''. New York: Universe.

*Brooke, Michael (1999) ''The Concrete Wave - the History of Skateboarding''. Warwick Publishing

*Mullen, Rodney and Mortimer, Sean (2003). ''The Mutt''

*[http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7734067482568610083&q=skateboard+kings Skateboard Kings], a 1978 documentary on skateboarding

*[http://skatespotter.com/ SkateSpotter], a directory of skate spots

== External links ==

{{commonscat}}

{{Wiktionarypar|Skateboarding}}

*[http://www.shredbook.com/browse.php?cat=Skate&showBNav=true Skating Slang]

*[http://www.sk8uk.co.uk Skateboard UK]

*[http://www.skatebook.tv Skatebook.TV]

{{Skateboarding}}

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