Skateboards: The Evolution

From their earliest years, the vast majority of males seem to be predisposed to love anything with wheels on it. Steam rollers, garbage trucks, race cars-if it rolls it's fascinating. No small wonder then, that of the 18.5 million skateboarders on the planet, 74% of them are males! The first kid who attached wheels to a board and pitched himself down an incline could not have imagined what he started.

Modern skateboarding had its genesis in California in the late sixties. Not surprisingly, the concept came out of a surf shop. The intent was to give surfers something to do when the waves were not promising. "Sidewalk surfing" took off. The style of these early skaters mimicked the moves surfers used on water. The skateboards of that day did not have great traction and were not nearly as sophisticated as those of today, however, and the trend died down by the mid to late 1960's.

The popularity of skateboarding changed over the next few decades. Many adults remember the colorful "banana boards" of the seventies with fondness. Not until the 1980's however, did skateboards acquire the curved design with which we are familiar today. The curves finally gave skaters the board strength and control they required for the aerial moves which define the sport.

Today's skateboards are engineered to provide riders perfect balance and control. After much trial and error, sugar maple has become the favored wood veneer used for almost all boards, or decks and planks, as they are also known. Sugar maple lends the most elasticity and toughness, necessary attributes for the sport modern skateboarding has become.

Skateboarding has become an amazingly popular sport, with teams competing in organized competitions. There has even been talk about the inclusion of the event in the Olympics in 2012, however, there is dissension about this from within the ranks of skateboarders.

Whether or not skateboarding ever becomes an Olympic sport is not important to most skaters. The thrill of skateboarding will continue to draw youths, particularly males, to attain greater levels of difficulty. Challenging one another to perform tougher skills, individual skateboarders will continue to help their sport change.

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