User:Kila9231993

Skateboard History

by KILA LEW

The first skateboards where more like scooters, which then were roller skates attached to ply wood with a handle bar. Once the handle bar broke off people started to ride them without the handle bar and that was the first skateboard. The skateboard was used by surfers when the waves where low. Skateboarding used to be called street surfing. In the 1960’s companies started making skateboards now called old school skateboards, which was shaped like a surfboard. It had what people call one-action trucks instead of the two-action trucks of the skateboards today. It was during this first slump that Larry Stevenson invented the kick tail, and the first generation of skateboarders laid down the foundation of tricks and style. However, they were still largely limited by equipment. Then in 1973 the urethane wheel was invented, revolutionizing the sport. The new wheels provided much better traction and speed and, combined with new skateboard specific trucks, allowed skaters to push the difficulty of maneuvers to new levels. Tricks at this time consisted of surfing maneuvers done on flat ground or on banks. Empty swimming pools and cylindrical pipes were exploited as terrain for the first time.

In the 80’s the plywood ramp and street style revitalized skateboarding just as the urethane wheel had revitalized the sport in the 70’s. Forced to take an underground, do-it-yourself attitude, skaters began to create their own wooden skate ramps in backyards and empty lots and turn previously not ride able street terrain, such as walls and handrails, into free skate parks. Soon street skating became more popular and vert was growing unpopular. With all this grass-roots action taking place it was inevitable that skateboarding would go through another growth phase. This time the cycle peaked around 1987 after skateboarding had directly influenced international culture ranging from the hard-edged punk style of music that most skaters preferred to the baggy, earth-tone clothes and retro tennis shoes that skaters wore. During the 1970’s skateboarding experienced a large growth stage whish saw the construction of numerous concrete skate parks, a rank of professional skaters, magazines and movies. During this period modern skateboarding evolved to include vertical skating among its disciplines of slalom, downhill, freestyle and long jump. Key advances in the sport included the aerial, the invert and the Ollie (invented by Alan Ollie Gelfand, which may be the single most important trick in the evolution of skateboarding, next to the kick turn. This was the first time skateboarding had stars, some of the first really big names being Tony Alva, Jay Adams and Stacy Peralta. The look of skateboards also changed from being six to seven inches in width to over nine inches, providing better stability on vertical surfaces. Near the end of the 70’s, spiraling insurance and slowing attendance forced all but a few skate parks out of business and skateboarding entered its! Second slump.