by Alex Li

Created on: June 29, 2008

A wooden frame, attached by metal trucks on wheels a "skateboard", rolling down the street with incredible speed passes by on-looking pedestrians. A little over fifty years ago, this was unheard of. Skateboarding has come a long way since then and thus revolutionized this country. Skateboarding started approximately in the 1950s when surfing was becoming a craze and acquired several slumps throughout its history before making its way into a new sport. Skateboarding, a form of transportation, has influenced the youth in several ways most notably Danny Way's record-breaking stunt over the Great Wall of China.

The first form of skateboards dates back to the early 1900s. It was a scooter-like apparatus with roller-skate wheels nailed onto a two by four. These scooter-type contraptions were altered overtime and then in the 1950s, when the handle broke off people began riding these boards without the handles, and thus skateboarding was born. Another reason for the birth of skating was young Californian surfers who were so frustrated from the lack of waves that they ultimately decided to recreate the feeling of riding a wave on concrete, or "sidewalk surfing". Skating was then connected or associated directly to surfing and this would influence everything to come, from maneuvers and style, to terrain, fashion and attitude. (Skateboarding History)

Skateboarding acquired several slumps throughout his history. The first slump started in the 1960s. During this period, skateboarding had gained an impressive following amongst the surf crowd. However, when publishers for surf magazines started to promote skating, things began to take off. By 1965, the media started to take skating to a new level with international contests, movies (Skater Dater), and magazines (Quarterly Skateboarder). (A Short History of Skateboarding 6) This elevated the new sport to enormous heights and in just a period of 3 years, over fifty million skateboards were sold. (Skateboarding History 4) However, companies making these boards were too busy with its production that it left no time for research and development. Therefore, the first crash of skating came about due to an inferiority of the product and a public upset of reckless riding. (Skateboarding History)

Over the next eight years, skateboarding remained fairly underground. During this period, Larry Stevenson invented the "kicktail" and attempted to resurrect the sport once again only to find little success. However, later on, a surfer by the

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>