Skateboarding: a sport loved by young people

Skate parks are top-rated on winter weekends. In groups of three or five, young skateboarders dressed in trendy and casual clothes show their youth here. Glide, grab the board, rise high, spin in the air… a series of actions in one go. In recent years, with the introduction of skateboarding into the Olympics and the introduction of skateboarding by various trendy variety shows and top idols, more and more young people have fallen in love with skateboarding. Skateboarding, representing freedom and challenging the limit, plays with heartbeats, not just cool.
From water to land
In the afterglow of the setting sun, a teenager in a hooded suit was riding a skateboard, driving from a distance, facing the iron pole, jumping high, flipping, whirling, and moving in one go, as if stepping on a hot wheel. Zha…Scenarios like this appear more and more in the extreme sports fields in Shenzhen.
Skateboarding is the land-based extension of surfing. Compared with surfing, which is limited by geography and climate, skateboarding has greater freedom. In the mid-to-late 1950s, residents of the beach community in Southern California invented the world’s first skateboard—a 50×10×50cm wooden board fixed on the iron wheel of the roller skate. Such simple sports equipment has begun to attract attention because it can bring people the same feeling as surfing.
The second generation of skateboards was born in 1962 and consists of a board made of oak plywood, a roller-skating steering axle, and plastic wheels. Compared to the first generation of skateboards, this skateboard is a leap in technology. With the rise of punk and new wave music, skateboarding is satisfied with flat sports. Many companies have also begun to hold competitions, and the venues are becoming more and more diverse, such as swimming pools, slopes, half pipes, etc. However, the performance of the plastic wheels of this skateboard is still not ideal. Its too little traction makes the skateboard easy to lose control when turning. Its low elasticity makes the skateboard abruptly stop when encountering even tiny obstacles, throwing the skater off. At the same time, its wear resistance is also too poor.
In 1973, a skateboard enthusiast named Frank put polyurethane wheels on his skateboard for the first time and achieved unexpected results. This adjustable wheel is wear-resistant and allows the skateboard to make sharp turns safely and securely and run over small obstacles on the ground with ease. This is the third generation of skateboards.
Skateboards in the 1980s had more and more shapes, and more tricks meant more danger. Skateboards began to take to the streets, and enthusiasts used all the street obstacles as a test to improve their skills. The street-style skateboards with raised ends and symmetrical shapes appeared at this time.
Today, skateboarding, as one of the roller skating sports, is not just a simple street pastime. Today, it has become the “coolest” sport on earth, and it belongs to the top three extreme sports in the world. On the field, athletes step on skateboards on different terrains, grounds, specific facilities, and the melody of music to complete various complex sliding, jumping, spinning, tossing, and other complicated technical movements. There are two types of competitions in the National Games, the Asian Games and the Olympic Games: street style and bowl pool.