The begging of skateboarding
Skateboarding was probably born sometime in the late 1940s or early 1950s when surfers in California wanted something to surf when the waves were flat. No one knows who made the first board; it seems that several people came up with similar ideas at around the same time. These first skateboarders started with wooden boxes or boards with roller skate wheels attached to the bottom. The boxes turned into planks, and eventually companies were producing decks of pressed layers of wood – similar to the skateboard decks of today. During this time, skateboarding was seen as something to do for fun besides surfing, and was therefore often referred to as "Sidewalk Surfing".
Safety
To improve skateboarding safety, a growing number of communities provide supervised skateboard parks. These may have professionally designed "bowls" and "ramps" or other designated skateboarding areas that are located away from motor vehicle and pedestrian traffic.
Skateboarding is an activity in which you move quickly over hard surfaces. It can lead to injuries that range from minor cuts and bruises to catastrophic brain injury. Each year in the United States, skateboarding injuries cause about 50,000 visits to emergency departments and 1500 children and adolescents to be hospitalized.
The basics of skateboarding
A skateboard is made up of three main components: a deck, trucks and wheels. The deck is the part of the board that you stand on. The typical skateboard deck today has both an upturned nose and tail, and a concave shape through the middle. These features give a skateboarder greater control over how the board moves when doing tricks. Decks vary in width, and your choice depends on what kind of skating you want to do. Typically, wider boards are used for vert skating, and narrower boards are used on the street. But really, it all comes down to personal preference.
The beginning tricks of skateboarding
The Ollie
The kickturns
The 50-50 grind
The Board slide
The Rock N' rolls
The Truck stand
The manuals
and the Kickflips
