The history of skateboarding can be traced back to the early 1950s. This activity was brought about by the craze of surfing, whereby youths came up with some wooden skate boxes attached to skate wheels to try surfing on the pavements just for fun (Stock and Powell, 2010). This idea is believed to have come from Californian surfers. The underlying connection between skateboarding and surfing brought a lot of interest in this activity.
It was until 1959 that the first roller skateboard was on sale. Afterward, the wooden box skateboard got a facelift when it was replaced with layers of the wooden plank; to be precise this was in the early 1960s. This saw the period where the popularity of this activity grew overnight, which was characterized by a growing number of companies venturing into making well-designed skateboards (Martin, 2002). Several companies such as Jack’s, Hobie, and Makaha ventured and intensely competed for this lucrative skateboarding business.
Famous skateboard suffers by the 1960s were Torger Johnson, Danny Berber, and Woody Woodward. By that time skating was very simple; unlike today that skateboarding is full of fun and adventure, their mode of skateboarding was different from what it is today (Brooke, 2008). It was informed of freestyle or downhill. Then came the year 1965 when the popularity of skateboarding went down the drain. This was attributed to the fact that safety experts questioned the safety of skating activities urging parents not to buy skateboards and skating companies to stop selling. In this period, the once considered popular fun-filled event lost taste and value.
Moreover, many companies closed down and skateboards were no longer in the vicinity. Those who enjoyed the fun had to make the boards by themselves at home. However, the skating event was resurrected by one Frank Nasworthy in the year 1972, when he invented urethane skateboard wheels. The polyurethane technology was an idea of a firm called Cadillac Wheels. This period is considered to be the revolutionary era for skating. The invention of wheels brought back the lost interest and vigor into skateboarding. Perhaps the urethane wheel must be similar to the skateboard wheels used today, in the sense that they provided effective speed, traction, and ability to change maneuvers.
The enormous growth in the skating activity was experienced in the 1970s. This was characterized by the construction of several skate parks, adoption of vertical skating, aerial, the invert and the Ollie in skateboarding, ranking of professional skaters, and finally the width of the skateboard was increased to nine inches from six inches which increased stability on vertical surfaces(Martin, 2002). It is in this period of the 1970s that the world witnessed the first skateboarding sporting event in Del Mar California. The 1980s is the period when skateboarding fully transformed into a sporting event that is witnessed nowadays.
It is the same period that people changed their notion of skateboarding being a fun event to serious activity. This attitude boosted the growth and development of this sport. At one point teams were introduced in this sport, of course, big names such as Tony Alva and Jay Adams were identified with skateboarding. From time to time skater-owned companies have been in a position to invent new skateboards. It has been a revolutionary period, whereby walls, handrails, and streets turned into skate parks (Brooke, 2008). New tricks have been introduced into skating. It is also the era in which street skating stars such as Mark Gonzales, Natas Kaupas, and Mike Vallely came to be known.
This period of the 1990s and 2000’s skateboarding has met a lot of changes, irrespective of the rebel it has previously received from critics. Most had developed a feeling that skating is dangerous, perhaps because of frequent accidents faced by skaters. Despite all these challenges, skating activities have received a lot of media coverage especially from ESPN (Brooke, 2008). The media is using skateboarding events for marketing purposes.
Without forgetting, the corporate world is now engaged with skating events through sponsorships for promotional services. Skating has ended up to be a well-paying sporting activity, with an approximated income of $1000 to $10000 a month. This also has been one of the contributory factors toward skateboarding. Skating is gaining popularity every day, considering issues such as ongoing discussion to engage skateboarding into Olympics events.
Skateboarding stands as one of the sporting events with better growth prospects compared to other sports (Martin, 2002). Proper control and management of skateboarding is also an important opportunity. In the very recent past, skating groups have been coming together to ensure that this sport grows and develops with time. Example of these bodies includes International Association of Skateboarding Companies (IASC) and World Cup Skateboarding.
This sport has been a source of livelihood to some skaters which forms an opportunity in this activity, whereby individuals earn income from skating (Stock and Powell, 2010). Finally, the discussions about the inclusion of skateboarding in the Olympics also provide another essential opportunity.
References
Brooke, M. (2008). The Concrete Wave .Campbell: Paw Prints.
Martin, M. (2002). Skateboarding History. Minnesota: Capstone Press.
Stock, D and Powell, B. (2010). Skateboarding Step-By-Step. New York: Rosen Publishing Group.