Skateboarding In The 1960's

Skateboarding evolved in the early 1960’s as a way for Surfboarders to have a feel for the waves in the off-season. Many people do not know much about the sport besides the fact that it only seems like troublemakers are participating in it. There is a lot to learn including the origin, about the professionals, stereotypes amongst the skaters, lack of parks, injuries, and salaries given from sponsors. Skateboarding is a gateway to freedom to most people. It is not something we do because we want to cause trouble or we like to get hurt; it allows us to just freeze time and clear our minds. You can feel so tiny in this world but as soon as you step on that board, you feel like something. The world of skating started in the early 1960’s.
It must have been crazy to see these kids strolling down the sidewalks with a crate strapped to a pair of roller skate wheels. So much has evolved since then though! New ways to innovate the design and simplicity of the board were soon found. Back in the early days of skateboarding the boards were either heavy with the thick shaped decks, monstrous trucks and wheels, or they were tiny like a banana or penny board. These different sized and shaped decks really told you what kind of a skater you were. The smaller boards were merely just for cruising around and enjoying the ride. The bigger boards though, signified that you were down for some business. As tricks became more complex and the heights of obstacles soared, news reconstructive features needed to concur. Many shapes and many sizes exist nowadays in the skate world varying on the preference of the skaters themselves. But, the most common is what we call the ‘house’ shape. It is most typically the shape that you will see if you go into a shop and see a wall of decks. This shape redefined the heights that skaters could take this sport. With sturdier trucks, more durable polyurethane wheels, and impact resistant steel ball bearings, skaters were cheating death and doing tricks down 20 set stairs. Skateboarding has come a long way in its short fifty years, and it is crazy to think that this is just the start of it. Professionals carried this sport to where it is now and to where it will be in the next decade.
Early professionals like Tony Hawk, Tony Alva, Mike Valley, and actor Jason Dill showed young skateboarders the new lengths that they can take with their boards. Hawk is ultimately known as the best vert rider to ever live. Some of his gravity defying stunts will forever be questioned to this day. Dill, on the other hand, showed that the skateboard could be taken to the streets. Curb skating evolved around his era, which consisted of finding a painted curb and doing grinds or slides on it. This became very popular and eventually became the front covers on magazines like Thrasher and Transworld. Although it is unknown, someone thought to dig deeper into the streets. Stair sets, handrails, guardrails, bumps, ledges, gaps, and more were being skated and skateboarding was evolving as a sport. It was no longer contained to a handful of obstacles; skaters got to choose what they wanted to skate and how hard they wanted to. With all these newfound stunts that were being pulled off, the chance of going professional in this sport grew; with that, skateboarders hopes dropped. Although this sport should just be for the fun of it, these skaters wanted to make a career out of something that they loved to do. Luckily, they still had some hopes of opportunity. Sponsorships allow one to receive free product in return of representing the company and hopefully attracting new
consumers. Depending on your skill level and ultimately what one is best at skating determined what kind of sponsor you were eligible for. If a skater preferred handrails, stairs, or ledges, then they would be best suited for a deck or truck sponsor. With all the new companies and sponsors coming up, the skate scene evolved into something bigger. Eventually we get to where we are today with professionals like Eric Koston, Paul Rodriguez, Shane O’Neill and Luan Oliveria. These guys show the new lengths that we can take this sport and how crazy it can get. If you learned all the tricks in your regular stance, no worries, try them switch. There was no longer one way to ride your board. Rodriguez showed the world his dominance in the switch position, or otherwise known as riding your board in the opposite stance. This opened up a door for skateboarding, but furthered the chances for those wanting to do this professionally. What is one word that most people would use to describe skaters?
Punks? Juveniles? Scum? Think again. Skateboarding actually keeps kids off the streets (from activities like gangbanging, obviously, since we kind of skate there) and actually reduces violence in that skater. Even though tricks that skaters perform can and most times will vandalize obstacles does not put them in a position to be judged for what they love to do, skateboarding! Most skaters are not troublemakers, drug abusers, or violence probed pricks. We do it because we love to skate. Most people will describe skateboarding as the best thing to ever happen to them. Others will go to lengths to say that it actually saved their life. Don’t think of skateboarders as these stereotypes tell most to do; most skaters are actually the kindest people one could ever meet. There is no judging in this sport. We do not judge people on their skin color, what kind of clothes they wear, how much money they have, what tricks they can or cannot do; everyone is like a brother to each other in this sport. There is so much support going around to each other that it is hard for a non-skateboarder to fathom. No stereotypes, just
love. Although the sport of skateboarding has evolved drastically, the lack of parks is unbearable. Skate parks are most times the only ‘legal’ place for skaters to skate nowadays. But the funny thing is that the closest park to most people is anywhere from one to three hours away. You would think that with making this sport illegal they would at least provide skaters with more facilities to participate in skateboarding legally. One of the biggest questions that most people want to know is how often does one get injured in skateboarding? The answer can vary depending on the skill level of the skater. A beginner can really get hurt if they go out of their skill level for the hopes of getting better in a shorter time. But, that rarely happens because most young skateboarders know their limits and are scared to go out of their comfort zones. That leaves us with the intermediate and professional skaters. These are the guys that perform the tricks that you surely think would be followed by death. But to ones surprise, these guys do not get injured as often as people think. They are skilled at what they do which is why they are called professionals! When someone is a professional at something they obviously are at a stage to where they know how to do what they are doing, in most cases, perfectly. But there are injuries in skateboarding, of course. Skaters cannot control the rocks, cracks, equipment, or obstacles that cause these injuries. So measuring how often one gets hurt in skateboarding is too hard to do because it just depends on how stupid you are to do something you know you should not be doing, otherwise you should have nothing to worry about. The biggest question that young skaters are dying to know is how much a professional makes on average. Again, this ultimately depends on what kind of sponsors they have and whether they participate in endorsement deals as well. The average professional can make anywhere from five digit to eight digit incomes yearly. That is not bad for doing something that you love to do! Skateboarding can be described as the quintessence of life to some. Maybe that is because of the freedom that it allows, or the bonds of friendship that is created amongst skaters. Perhaps there is something skaters know that non-skaters just would not comprehend. It will be pretty hard for one to grasp unless they go out there and grab a board themselves.