Skateboarding, a passion

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: