Most mothers and fathers hate the dangers that skateboarding brings to their children, however the children themselves love it as it gives them a sense of coolness and allows them to try out tricks and stunts seen at the X Games. Skateboarding is the act of riding on a “board with wheels”, and many teenagers around the world embrace being a daredevil on theirs by heading out to the park to show off their tricks and moves to other likeminded skateboarders.


Although skateboarding seems like it has been around for ages, it is a fairly new sport- coming into fame in the 1950s (mainly in California). The first skateboard was invented in California due to how popular surfing was at the time, and after someone added wheels to one of the surfboards, skateboarding was born.


Skateboarders used to mainly skate on the street, with the ollie (a trick where one jumps up in the air while on the board) being one of the most used tricks. Now, with the half pipe and the ramp, there are a multitude of different stunts that can be performed, and it is easier to both awe those that are watching as well as get an injury at the same time. As the ollie was the first famous skateboarding trick, I will tell you how it first originated. The ollie was first seen by its creator Alan “Ollie” Gelfand, who performed it in Florida in 1976. Until 1978 the trick remained mainly confined to Florida but after Gelfand visited California and showed off his move there it began to gradually increase in popularity all over the world, eventually being reinvented by Rodney Mullen in 1981 (who also invented the ollie kickflip).


Now that skateboarding is more modern, many things have originated because of it. Skateboarders are generally seen as rebels and skateboarding fashion is not dissimilar to punk fashion. Skate shops are widely famous places in today’s world, with Zoom Skateboard Shop being well known in the world (especially in Asia).


Most skateboards are about nine inches wide and thirty one inches long and are made of polyurethane. Wheels are generally between fifty and sixty millimeters in diameter. Skateboards today can have designs on them, with many boarders choosing to either display their names or graffiti on them.


Skateboarding has an interesting history- it was even banned in Norway between 1978 and 1989 due to the high level of injuries that were occurring. Skaters had to move to parks and practice in secrecy to enjoy the joy their favourite sport gave them. Over the world today there are plenty of skateboard groups, both amateur and professional that practice together on a regular basis. Skateboarding is most popular today in the United States of America, where the sport originally started out but many skateboard events are held at the X Games, which take place in different locations (it has recently tended to be in Asia). While skateboarding can be dangerous at times, the adrenaline rush received from it is what boarders strive for as well as to achieve the most complicated tricks- which easily makes you the cool kid at school should you be able to pull them off.