Skateboarding is classified as an
extreme sport, but I think it is much more then that. Skateboarding
is a social interaction program in and of itself. It has shaped many
people threw the years and brought good people together to become
good friends. A 2009 report found that the skateboarding market grew
up to an estimate of $2.8 billion dollars in an annual revenue with
11.08 skaters in the world.
Skateboarding was born sometime in
the late 1940's or early 1950's, when surfers in California wanted
something to ride on land that resembled the waves. Skateboarding was
originally considered “sidewalk surfing” because of the kinds of
moves that they would do on the skateboards. As skateboarding became
more and more popular, the very fist skateboard magazine came out in
1964, known as the “Quarterly skateboarder”. It was published by
John Severson and lasted for only four issues, but it resumed
publication in 1975.
The very first skateboard competition
that aired on ABC, was in 1965. There were only two kinds of
skateboard competitions back then, flatland freestyle skateboarding
and slalom speed racing. One famous skater of the time was Woody
Woodward, who lived in the 1960's, is the founding father of a
skateboard camp called Woodward. Which is a six mile long outdoor
skatepark in Pennsylvania.
In the 1970's, a man named Frank
Nasworthy started to develop a skateboard wheel made of a substance
called Polyurethane. He called his company, once he perfected the
wheel substance, “Cadillac wheels”. Those wheels were such a
huge hit that other people started making wheels like it and
experimenting with other substances. Some people tried using
fiberglass and aluminum to make the skateboard decks, but they would
either brake or be too heavy. So after several tries of different
things, they came to using maple plywood. The skateboarders saw that
it was now easier to ride on this new smaller, lighter, faster board.
They started coming up with tricks to do on them instead of just
surfing on them. Once the 1990's hit, skateboarding became dominated
by the street skating side of the sport. Skaters were skating almost
everywhere, so many places in the world to grind, ride, and slide.
Unfortunately though, they were hurting the properties and destroying
some of the places they skated trying to do those tricks. They
started getting kicked out of those places and hated by other people.
Luckily some of the other people looked out for the skaters and
decided to make a place that was just for them. The first skateparks
were revolutionary as well as architectural wonders. Because of this,
the mid- to late 70s became known as the "skatepark era."
Ranging from 1976 to 1982, this was a time when over 200 skateparks
were built in the U.S. alone—and quite tragically, almost all of
these parks were closed and/or destroyed within that same period. In
the end, the Bro Bowl in Tampa, along with Kona in Jacksonville,
Florida, and Derby in Santa Cruz, California, stand as three of the
era’s survivors. Representative architecturally, historically, and
culturally of the places where modern skateboarding was formed during
the 1970s, and where the roots of American skateboard culture itself
was shaped, they are significant landmarks that should be preserved.
Of these three skateparks, it should be noted that the Bro Bowl is
the only one that remains completely intact in its original form when
it opened its doors in 1978. The skateboarding industry was a huge
hit up until 1990. Once that year hit, skaters just got sick of
getting in trouble for skating and stopped it all together. It was
basically a skateboarderless world, no one wanted to skate. From 1990
to 2010 it was a dry era for skateboarders. In that time however,
there became a brand that would destroy skaters reputation forever.
They called themselves “DGK Skaters”, and they said “If you are
kicking us out of these spots because you think we are destroying
them or doing bad things, when we weren't, then why don't you kick us
out because we are?” Said Mathew Confred, sponsored by DGK. DGK
skaters went all around during that time destroying all the spots on
purpose and doing drugs and all sorts of bad things. Giving
Skateboarding a bad name, when skateboarding came back in 1012, we
were not welcome. When the true skateboarders came back to do awesome
tricks and skate awesome spots for fun, the people didn't want them
to because they thought that all skaters are DGK skaters, which is
just not true. Now a days, in 2015, skaters are trying to gain back
there name. Me for instance, my name is Andrew Littrell and I am what
people would call good skater. I don't do drugs like many of my
skating friends. I don't drink alcohol like other skaters do. I don't
do things that DGK skaters would do. I skate in places that are fun
and ok for me to skate, if someone came up to me and said “Hey you
can't skate here” then I wouldn't. I love to skate, its how I get
around since I don't have a car yet. I use it as a way to get my
feelings and frustration out. It's not just a sport, like baseball or
football, its a passion. It's hard to do and it takes much practice
to do tricks. But when you put your time and energy into it, its the
best thing in the world.
Here are some pictures of the very first skateboards:
.jpg)
