SKATING FOREVER

Skateboarding evolution

1940s – 1960s

If you must know, skateboarding was born sometime in the 1940s or early 1950s. It was when some California surfers were curious enough that they want to do something when the waves are flat. This was when the term "sidewalk surfing" was coined. It was known to be a new wave of surfing on the sidewalk as this sport became exceedingly popular. Also, the early skaters rivaled the surfing style and maneuvers and performed barefoot.

1970s

In this period of time skateparks hadn't been invented yet, so skateboarders would gather and skateboard in such urban places as The Escondido reservoir in San Diego, California. The Skateboarding magazine would publish the location and Skateboarders made up nicknames for each location such as:

Tea Bow

Fruit Bowl

Bellagio

Rabbit Hole

Bird Bath

Egg Bowl

Upland Pool

Sewer Slide

1980s

This is the era that was fuelled by the skateboard companies that were run by skateboarders. Freestyle skating remained popular throughout this period. Pioneers such as Rodney Mullen invented many of the basic tricks that would become the foundation of modern street skatings, such as the "Impossible" and the "kickflip". Freestyle influenced a lot of skateboarders which exerted upon street skating which later on became apparent during the mid–1980s.

This was when the rapid evolution also occurred in the late 1980s which was to accommodate the street skaters. Due to the scarce of availability of skateparks at this point of time, the street skating pushed skaters to seek out a variety of locations for this activity which involves shopping centers, public and private property. These locations were considered to be their “spot” to skate.

During this time was also when skateboarding was banned on some properties by some businesses, governments and some property owners that was under their jurisdiction or ownership due to public opposition. This has progressively intensified over the following decades. Sometime in 1992, there were only a small fraction of skateboarders that continued to take part in a highly technical style of street skating. Combined with the decline of skating, this led to a sport that lacked the typical appeal to attract new skaters.

1990s

Street skateboarding dominated skateboarding during this period. This was also the time when the boars come in specific styles and sizes. For the record, most boards in this time are about 7 ¼ to 8 inches (180–200mm) wide and 30 to 32 inches (760–810mm) long.

For the wheels, their sizes are made of an extremely hard polyurethane, with hardness (durometer) that is approximately 99A. The sizes are also relatively small making the boards lighter and the wheels’ inertia is overcome quicker leaving the tricks controllable.

Board styles have been changed dramatically if we go back to the timeline of 1970s but have remained mostly the same since the mid-1990s. The modern shape of the skateboard was derived from the freestyle boards of the 1980s with a largely proportioned shape and fairly narrow width. Since then, this became the standard by the mid-90s.

2000 – present

Recreational plans and statutes were implemented by many cities during this time period to be part of their vision for a number of communities and local parks to make the public lands and properties available, more particulary for skateboarding and also to invite skateboarders to come in off of the city streets and into a more organized skateboarding activity areas.

By 2001, this sport had gained so much popularity where more people under the age of 18 rode skateboards (10.6 million) than played baseball (8.2 million). At this period, skateboarding and skateparks began to be regarded and used in a diverse new way to complement academic lessons in schools, which includes new non–traditional physical education skateboarding programs, such as Skatepass and Skateistan. This was one way to encourage the youth to have confidence, better attendance, and self–discipline.

While skateboarding is considered to be a fun sport or recreational activity, it is also important to take precautions in getting involved with the said activity. This includes the proper shoes to wear and being extra careful most especially in engaging for the tricks while on the ride. Also, apart from being fun, there are multiple purposes of skateboarding nowadays, most especially in today’s modern era. These are:

Transportation. Usage of skateboards can be alternative transportation if you don't have your "wheels" yet. This is probably most popular for teenagers going to school or running some errands. It also makes the trip faster.

Military. The usefulness of commercial off-the-shelf skateboards during urban combat military exercises in the late 1990s in a program called Urban Warrior '99 was tested by the United States Marine Corp for the special purpose was of maneuvering inside buildings. This is in order to detect tripwires and sniper fire.

Tramp boarding. This is a variant of skateboarding which uses a board without the trucks and the wheels on a trampoline.

Swing boarding. This is the activity where a skateboard deck is suspended from a pivot point above the rider. This allows the rider to swing about that pivot point. A similar movement to riding a half pipe, the board swings in an arc. The harness and frame combination allows the rider to perform tricks like the turns and spins all while flying through the air.

Based on the healthy physical opportunities, skateboarding was understood to take participants for balance, muscle and bone strengthening. It also brings positive impacts to the youth by teaching them mutual respect, appreciation of the environment, artistic expression and social networking.

Throughout the years, skateboarding has been shaped and influenced by many skateboarders. Due to its high popularity most especially to the youth, it was announced last 2016 that skateboarding will be represented at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. This is but one clear proof to move beyond the stereotypes of Skateboarding.

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