Skateboarding has been around for almost 80 years yet in many ways it still seems like a new sport. When you consider that snowboarding was only really invented in 1965 it shows how old skating is and how it doesn’t really get the credit it deserves. The sport has been through a lot and there are many reasons for its varied reputation yet finally it may be getting the recognition that it deserves.
The sport began in 1940 when surfers in California wanted a way to continue to surf when there were no waves, skateboarding was the solution. However, due to the poor technology at the time with steel wheels and no flexibility in the boards, there was little flow in the boards and so they offered low creative output. The sport had its first bite of fame in the 1950s when Roller Derby released a popular skateboard toy and children across America got one. By the 1960s competitions were being held where people would race through obstacles or do freestyle tricks.
Yet it wasn’t until the 1970s when skateboarding would finally get a voice of its own and become a cultural institution. New wheels came to the market and it allowed skateboards to ride smoother, turn faster, and be able to do many more tricks. Children started to take their boards from their streets into swimming pools so that they could ride up tall ramps. The first skate park was opened in 1975 and skateboarding experienced a boom in popularity.
In the 1980s and 1990s skateboarding appeared to be largely forgotten until the X games were founded. Now there was a platform for the best to show off their skills and courage and skateboarding soon became popular again. With the release of Tony Hawk’s PlayStation game, the world was now obsessed with skateboarding once again. Tony Hawk was changing what was possible with a skateboard in the air as he was the first to complete both a 720 (two turns in the air) in 1985 and a 900 (2.5 turns in the air) in 1999.
Yet still skateboarding was not accepted by the sporting hierarchy. While snowboarding was invented in 1965 and at some points had an equally bad reputation it was an Olympic sport since 1998. Finally in the 2014 Youth Olympics skateboarding features as an exhibition sport and was scheduled to be part of the 2020 Olympics until it was postponed due to coronavirus. It, therefore, appears that skateboarding has finally completed its journey. It started out as a limited pastime for surfers, became a form of rebellion and expression, fell in popularity, and rose again to become an outlet for those who felt “different” before finally being recognized as a sport of integrity and athletic ability.
Tony Hawk is the man who has been credited with taking skateboarding from drained swimming pools to the mainstream. He took up the sport in 1979 and has been changing the game ever since. His love for the sport has seen him committed through times when he became so popular that he was the face of Milk in America and so unpopular that he had to pay to fly to different spots around the world to try and find a competition. Hawk was the one who has lobbied hard for skateboarding to be recognized by the Olympic Federation.