History of skateboarding –
timeline Skateboarding was first started in the 1950s, when all across California surfers got the idea of trying to surf the streets. It was known as ‘sidewalk surfing’. The first skateboards were pieces of small wood with trucks and wheels that had been removed from rollerblades and screwed to them. In the early 1960’s, the popularity of skateboarding grew rapidly as it gained the interest of many people that didn’t surf. Skateboarding grew from just street and pool styled riding to downhill slalom and freestyle. In 1963, Skateboarding reached a peak in its popularity. Skateboard brands began to grow largely, and even began holding competitions. In 1965, skateboarding's popularity suddenly began to come to a halt. Most people assumed that skateboarding had simply lost peoples interest and died out. Skateboard companies stopped producing products, forcing people who wanted to skate to make their own skateboards again from scratch. In 1972, Frank Nasworthy invented the urethane skateboard wheel. This allowed skateboarders to perform maneuvers and tricks like never before, and allowed for a much more controlled ride. They were much safer and functioned much more successfully than clay, or even metal wheels that were being used at the time. His invention re-gained the interest towards skateboarding of many people. He called his company ‘Cadillac Wheels’. In 1978, the ‘ollie’ was invented by a man named Alan Gelfand In 1984, the first skateboarding video called ‘The Bones Brigade Video Show’ was made by Stacey Peralta and George Powell (The owners of the American skateboarding company ‘Powell Peralta’). In the 1990’s street skating grows in popularity, but grows along with punk culture, which gives skateboarding a strong angry image. In 1994 World Cup Skateboarding was founded and in 1995, the first X-Games were held, which gained a lot of attention towards skateboarding. In 1997 the winter X-Games gained so much attention that skateboarding became classified as an extreme sport. In 2000, Longboarding began to increase in interest, involving styles of skating such as freestyle (trick skating), freeride, and downhill. |