There are nearly one hundred different sports that are played around the world. Skateboarding is now considered as being one of the most popular sports of the 21st century. The history of skateboarding is full of key figures and different important moments. This is when the actual idea of skateboarding got started, even though most people weren’t too sure about it at first.
It was around this time that some surfers from sunny California decided to take the same idea as surfing only use it on the streets and this turned into the sport of skateboarding. The first skateboarders actually used wooden boxes that were attached to roller skates. It was much harder to balance but they managed and over time the boxes eventually turned into planks which were much easier to use. In the late 1950s skateboarding really began to take off and planks were used instead which offered skaters much better balance.
Different contests and competitions began in small towns and more and more people became involved in the sport. Although the sport did take a dive several times and people weren’t sure just how long it would be around, it made its way back full force in the hippie era of the 1960s. In the hippie era in the 60’s, skateboarding came back full force. That includes the Ollie, invented by a man named Alan Gelfand.
Gelfand was an avid skater who was nicknamed Ollie. To perform the trick he slammed his back foot on the tail of the skateboard and as he did, jumping into the air at the same time, the board popped up with him as he jumped. Today the Ollie is recognized as being one of the most basic and popular moves. After the turn of the 21st century skateboarding became recognized globally as a legit sport and people stopped considering it as nothing more than a fun hobby to do on the side.
People started working hard and could actually have a career at skateboarding. No one knows where skateboarding will really go but it is now a globally popular and established sport that doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. Skateboarding is an intense and challenging sport that requires focus and balance. It’s even expected by some that skateboarding will soon become an Olympic sport.
