Skateboarding is seen as a sport that involves the use of a flat wooden board attached to four wheels so that the skateboarder is able to perform tasks on the skateboard, such as going along with the walking path, riding up and down concrete gulleys (called bowls in the case of skateboarding parlance) or riding rails.
Skateboarding is considered often in circles as a difficult activity for beginners, as it involves muscle control, balance, understanding of angles and how movement affects those angles, and the ability to control the board as well as the body. Beginners are likely to spend their time practicing on relatively flat surfaces compared to the bowls.
Skateboarders can skateboard at numerous locations through a city. While there are skate parks available in many places around the country, skateboarders can skateboard anywhere there is a flat hard surface. These surfaces can include a parking lot, if it is smooth, the sidewalk, if it doesn’t have many bumps or cracks, and the street.
Skateboarders also have the often if one is around to practice at a skate park. There is the bowl, the big bowl, the half bowl, the rails, the grinding objects, and more. A skate park is often available in many major areas where there are many skateboarders, and it gives skateboarders a place for them to practice without disrupting others.
Skateboarders are often seen as part of the counterculture movement, though this has changed most likely in the past several years as skateboarding has gained more acceptance and popularity since initial exposure. Skateboarders are often seen with “beanies,” with baggy pants, with Vans for shoes, and with long hair in many cases.
There have been songs that have idolized those who have been skateboarding, such as Avril Lavigne’s song “Skater Boi” which becomes popular in the early 2000s, as skateboarding was gaining popularity in the mainstream sports audience. The song “Skater Boi” was about her love and infatuation with skaters and their counter culture ways.
There are several statistics about skateboarders that give a glimpse into the demographics that are involved in skateboarding. They are in the following section.
- About 11 million people self-report that they enjoy skateboarding on a regular basis.
- There are 500 skateboarding parks that exist in the United States right now.
- A “core skater” is someone who skates 26 times or more per year.
- The “casual skater” is someone who skates one to 25 times per year.
- Of all skaters, 77.1% are male, whereas 83.4% of core skaters are male.
- 23.9% of all skaters are female, while 16.6% of all core skaters are female.
There are many different kinds of skateboards. There are skateboards with long boards, which are generally called long boards instead of skateboards. Long boards perform the same function as skateboards in that they are pieces of wood that are a certain length that are attached to wheels, and the wheels roll on the surface.
The skateboards that have been used by major skateboarders were once looked at in detail and presented on screens during ESPN events where they chronicled the skateboarding competitions. The skateboards were looked at in terms of weight, how long they were, and possibly what kind of wheels they had.
There is also the electric skateboard, which was originally invented in the 1970s as a gas powered skateboard but was recently turned to electric with the advent of a quicker, more efficient battery. The electric skateboard is like the regular skateboard in that it it made out of wood and has wheels, but it is longer and wider than a typical skateboard.
The length and the width are increased to add additional room for more batteries, which power the skateboard. The length and width that are additional also add for more stability at higher speeds, which the electric skateboard can reach. An electric skateboard can reach speed of up to 30 miles per hour and has wider wheels for off-road skateboarding.
Electric skateboarding makes is possible to go fast on skateboards, with speeds up to 30 miles per hour. Electric skateboarding makes it possible to go off-road as well. Electric skateboarding is powered by a switch in the skateboarder’s hand that controls the speed. Electric skateboarding is useful for those that like those activities.