Surf Boarders31

A calm beach on a sunny day might seem like a great idea but its the surfboarders nightmare. Low swells on a sunny day was enough to drive surfboarders out of their minds with boredom. That was until the invention of the skateboard. The first skateboards started to appear in the 1930's when kids attached two by four planks to rollerskates. It wasn't until the 1950's that the skateboard was developed from planks of spare wood to pressed layers of wood.

Its popularity peaked at 1963 then crashed down at 1965. During this time boards were just used when not surfing. The design was still in its early stages, with boards being heavy and long, still retaining a surfboard shape. The wheels were clay, which offered nothing for grip and control. That was until 1972 when the urethane wheel was invented by Frank Nasworthy.

Later in 1975 skateboarding came back with a vengence, giving birth to the first pro skateboarding competitions and the first pro skateboarding team The Zephyr team. the skateboarding scene was no longer a fad but a sport. Three years later a skateboarder by the name of Alan Gelfand brought to the world the "Ollie" which invovles the skateboarder jumping in the air with both feet flush to the board. The ollie has been the base of many of the tricks that followed.

The popularity of skateboarding kept on its uneven journey into the 1980's where it produced names from otherwise ordinary kids including Tony Hawk and Rodney Mullen. It pushed on into the 1990s where it gained its more hardcore image with the popularity of punk music.

The boards got smaller, and lighter increasing thier versitility. After 2000 skateboarding was pushed right into the mainstream, with movies and games being developed, in particular the Tony Hawk series of games contibuted greatly to a renewed public interest.

Skateboarding has continuosly been evolving and for it to survive as a sport, it has to continue to evovle.