Skateboard:RipStik DLX Caster Board

Skateboarding--travel on a two-by-four mounted on a set of roller-skate wheels--began in the early 1960s as an unassuming activity along the beach walks of Southern California. Chroniclers of the sport claim a connection between skateboarding and the surfing craze of about the same time period. Early skateboards were homemade affairs and lack the range of motion and technology to replicate the surfing moves skateboarders practiced. Injuries and broken bones among early skateboarders was not uncommon. Advances in manufactured skateboards, however, improved as the sport grew. Clay or composite wheels replaced the early metal ones of homemade boards. In the early 1970s, urethane wheels, which gripped the riding surface better than other materials, improved the safety of the sport for skaters, if not the pedestrians sharing the sidewalks. Cities and towns issued laws prohibiting skateboarding on streets and sidewalks, sending the skaters to parks, empty swimming pools, and specially built ramps, pipes, and walls. These special venues spawned skateboarding as a competitive sport for a specialized version of the sport called vert skating, which developed its own set of daring moves and tricks. Throughout the 1980s, the popularity of the sport continued as skateboard manufacturers financed National Skateboard Association competitions and offered handsome prizes. Professional skaters became the champions devotees admired and copied. Tony Hawk was first among them. A pro by the age of fourteen, Hawk had earned enough prize money to purchase a house for himself while he was still in high school. By 2000, skateboarding ranked as the sixth most popular sport in America; among boys 6 to 18, it was the third most popular of sports. Vert skating and flat skating attracts millions of skaters in the USA. Worldwide, there are an estimated 50 million active skaters.