Whenever I am outside skateboarding I always wonder, where did skateboards come from, or when were they invented? Skateboarding was invented during a period when surfing was very popular and people wanted to surf on the streets. The first skateboards were made with roller skates on the bottom of card board or wood. Crazy. I would never think that would even be safe! Somewhere in the 50’s or 60’s the skateboard went into full gear and companies started making boards and selling them. The first skateboarding freestyle contest was in 1975 in California. That’s only about 20 years later than the skateboard was invented. Today skateboarding is the largest participant sport in the U.S.A from age 12 to 15.

The ollie was invented by Allen “ollie” Gelfand on a vertical “vert” ramp. Rodney Mullen who invented the kickflip was he first to take an ollie to the streets. An ollie is where you pop the board on the tail and slide your foot forward to get the board airborne. A kickflip is where you pop the board on the tail and slide your foot on the edge to get it to flip around in a 360 and land on the board. A pop shuvit is a shuvit but it gets off the ground. A shuvit is where the board does a 360, not in a flip motion, but in a spin motion.
The three types of skateboarding are street, vert, and long boarding. Vert skating is skating on ramps and doing tricks on the ramps like Tony Hawk. The most famous is street skating. Skateboarders can do tricks like the kickflip, ollie, shuvit, 360 shuvit, heelflip, impossible, backside, frontside, grind, dolphin flip, batman flip, and lots more.

Skateboarding is very fun but dangerous. I skate and I have hurt myself numerous times. If you would like to get into skating wear a helmet and of course don’t ride in the middle of the street- that’s just dumb. More than 80,000 people get hurt on a skateboard every year and need hospital treatment. You can rip clothes like pants, shoes, socks, and shirts.

Skateboarding can make you money too. A sponsored skateboarder can make $1,000 to $20,000 a month. The really popular skateboarders even make millions a year from endorsements and skating contests. Skateboarding is a great way of exercise if you like slamming the ground. You know what your parents say, always wear pads, don’t hurt yourself, and don’t be home too late…. blah, blah, blah.
There are different types of boards and different boards skate differently. There are flip boards, plan b boards, girl boards, baker, skull, element, and lots more. I personally skate flip boards. Street skating is also called flat land skating and that’s how I skate. There aren’t really any outdoor skate parks in Atlanta so I don’t skate vert often. The state that has the most skateboarders is in California. Some skateboards are 11 inches wide and up to 30 inches long. The longer the board is the easier it is to land on it after a trick. The wider the board is the easier it is to land on the board after a trick. Most people get thin but long boards because fat skateboarding shoes make up for it.

Skateboards aren’t the only thing that matter, shoes matter too. Shoes make a big difference. You can’t skate in any old shoes; you have to skate in skateboarding shoes. Skate shoes have extra padding and are usually swayed so that they don’t rip as easily. Skate shoes need more support and need to be “stickier”. When you slide your foot on the rigid part of the board your shoe gets caught on it and pulls it upward. Skating like this will rip your shoes in a week or so. With skate shoes they won’t rip as easily.

Hey here is a random fact I just want to put in here because it is cool. It is also a use of transportation and was banned in Switzerland. In the 90’s, police forces and the army used skateboards to find trip wires and motion sensors, bet nobody knew that.