Skateboarding
Skateboarding is an action sport that involves riding and performing tricks using a skateboard, as well as a recreational activity, an art form, an entertainment industry job, and a method of transportation.[1][2] Originating in the United States, skateboarding has been shaped and influenced by many skateboarders throughout the years. A 2009 report found that the skateboarding market is worth an estimated $4.8 billion in annual revenue, with 11.08 million active skateboarders in the world.[3] In 2016, it was announced that skateboarding would be represented at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, for both male and female teams.[4]
"Skateboarder" redirects here. For the magazine, see Skateboarder (magazine).Highest governing body
Since the 1970s, skateparks have been constructed specifically for use by skateboarders, freestyle BMXers, aggressive skaters, and more recently, scooters.[5] However, skateboarding has become controversial in areas in which the activity, although legal, has damaged curbs, stoneworks, steps, benches, plazas, and parks.[1][6]
History
1940s–1960s
The first skateboards started with wooden boxes, or boards, with roller skate wheels attached to the bottom. Crate scooters preceded skateboards, having a wooden crate attached to the nose (front of the board), which formed rudimentary handlebars.[7][8][9] The boxes turned into planks, similar to the skateboard decks of today.[1]
Skateboarding, as it exists today, was probably born sometime in the late 1940s, or early 1950s,[10] when surfers in California wanted something to do when the waves were flat. This was called "sidewalk surfing" – a new wave of surfing on the sidewalk as the sport of surfing became highly popular. No one knows who made the first board; it seems that several people came up with similar ideas at around the same time. The first manufactured skateboards were ordered by a Los Angeles, California surf shop, meant to be used by surfers in their downtime. The shop owner, Bill Richard, made a deal with the Chicago Roller Skate Company[11] to produce sets of skate wheels, which they attached to square wooden boards. Accordingly, skateboarding was originally denoted "sidewalk surfing" and early skaters emulated surfing style and maneuvers, and performed barefoot.[7][1][12]
By the 1960s a small number of surfing manufacturers in Southern California such as Jack's, Kips', Hobie, Bing's and Makaha started building skateboards that resembled small surfboards, and assembled teams to promote their products. One of the earliest Skateboard exhibitions was sponsored by Makaha's founder, Larry Stevenson, in 1963 and held at the Pier Avenue Junior High School in Hermosa Beach, California.[13][14][15] Some of these same teams of skateboarders were also featured on a television show called Surf's Up in 1964, hosted by Stan Richards, that helped promote skateboarding as something new and fun to do.[16]
As the popularity of skateboarding began expanding, the first skateboarding magazine, The Quarterly Skateboarder was published in 1964.[1] John Severson, who published the magazine, wrote in his first editorial:
Safety
Skateboards, along with other small-wheeled transportation such as in-line skates and scooters, suffer a safety problem: riders may easily be thrown from small cracks and outcroppings in pavement, especially where the cracks run across the direction of travel. Hitting such an irregularity is the major cause of falls and injuries.[117] The risk may be reduced at higher travel speeds.
Severe injuries are relatively rare.[118] Commonly, a skateboarder who falls suffers from scrapes, cuts, bruises, and sprains.[118] Among injuries reported to a hospital, about half involve broken bones, usually the long bones in the leg or arm.[117] One third of skateboarders with reported injuries are very new to the sport, having started skating within one week of the injury.[117] Although less common, involving 3.5–9 percent of reported injuries, traumatic head injuries and death are possible severe outcomes.[117]
Skating as a form of transportation exposes the skateboarder to the dangers of other traffic. Skateboarders on the street may be hit by other vehicles or may fall into vehicular traffic.
Skateboarders also occasionally pose a risk to other pedestrians and traffic. If the skateboarder falls, the skateboard may roll or fly into another person. A skateboarder who collides with a person who is walking or biking may injure or, rarely, kill that person.[119]
Many jurisdictions require skateboarders to wear bicycle helmets to reduce the risk of head injuries and death. Other protective gear, such as wrist guards, also reduce injury. Some medical researchers have proposed restricting skateboarding to designated, specially designed areas, to reduce the number and severity of injuries, and to eliminate injuries caused by motor vehicles or to other pedestrians.[117]
The use, ownership and sale of skateboards were forbidden in Norway from 1978 to 1989 because of the high number of injuries caused by boards. The ban led skateboarders to construct ramps in the forest and other secluded areas to avoid the police. There was, however, one legal skatepark in the country in Frogner Park in Oslo.[120][121][122]
Controversy
Skateboarding damages urban terrain features such as curbs, benches, and ledges when skateboarders perform "grinds" and other tricks on these surfaces.[128] Private industry has responded to this problem by using skate deterrent devices, such as the Skatestopper, in efforts to prevent further damage and to reduce skateboarding on these surfaces.[128]
The enactment of ordinances and the posting of signs stating "Skateboarding is not allowed" have also become common methods to discourage skateboarding in public areas in many cities, to protect pedestrians and property.[1][129] In the area of street skating, tickets and arrest from police for trespassing and vandalism are not uncommon.[129]
Skateboarding has become an important problem in Freedom Plaza, a National Park within the Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site in Washington, D.C.[6][130] The Plaza has become a popular location for skateboarding, although the activity is illegal and has resulted in police actions.[6][131] The Plaza contains copies of portions of Pierre (Peter) Charles L'Enfant's 1791 plan for the nation's capital city that have been inscribed in the park's raised marble surface.[130] A 2016 National Park Service management plan for the Historic Site states that skateboarding has damaged stonework, sculptures, walls, benches, steps, and other surfaces in some areas of the Plaza.[6] The management plan further states that skateboarding presents a persistent law enforcement and management challenge, as popular websites advertise the Plaza's attractiveness for the activity.[6] The plan notes that vandals have removed "No Skateboarding" signs and recommends the replacement of those signs.[6]
A professional skateboarder promoted on Facebook the use of governmental sites for the prohibited activity during the 2013 federal government shutdown in the United States.[132]