When you think of skateboarding you think boys clad in helmets and knee pads doing impressive acrobatic-like moves with a board. Skateboarding may seem like a boys sport, but, according to Barb Odanaka, author of Skateboarding Mom, back in the 1970s both girls and boys did skateboarding and it was no big deal. When in the 1980s skateboarding went "urban" or "hard-core", she says, girls seemed to stop riding. Today, most parents still think that skateboarding is for boys, but girls are getting back on the boards with a vengeance. Girls can have as much fun on a board as guys can and they can be just as technically skilled. Take Elissa Steamer, for example, she started skateboarding at age twelve and turned professional in 1998. She's a skateboarding star. A quick Internet search for "girls" or "women" and "skateboarding" will bring up lots of information targeted specifically towards girls interested in skateboarding. There are plenty of competitions to challenge girls, such as the All Girl Skate Jam, the Ride Like A Girl skate contest and the World Cup Skateboarding, amongst others. Skateboarding bizarrely has its roots in surfboarding. Back in the 1950s, Californian surfers came up with the quirky idea of "surfing the streets", so they took their boards to the streets of California and, well, skateboarding was born! The very first skateboards were curious inventions. A wooden board or box with roller skates strapped to it comprised of the very first, albeit primitive, skateboard, equipment for a sport in its infancy! In 1975 the very first skateboarding contest was held at the Ocean Festival in Del Mar, California. In 1978, Alan Gelfand invented a maneuver, called the "Ollie Pop". The ollie involves slamming the foot on the tail end of the skateboard in order to life the board and the skateboarder into the air. Today, most tricks are based on the ollie. Tony Hawk is another famous name in skateboarding; at age 16 he became the world's best skateboarder. The sport is still evolving and companies are now manufacturing high technology boards. Online shops like Skateboard.com and Skatewarehouse.com sell skateboards for girls, boards that are lighter and more flexible. In fact, Girl, is the name of a company that manufactures skateboards. Skateboard decks for girls are works of art. Skateboarding is a great sport and a great way to keep fit. It is technically challenging and involves all sort of tricks, such as varials, jumps, flips, grabs, slides, grinds and degrees. Some tricks require a ramp (transition tricks) others are performed on flat ground or off curbs (street tricks). Typing "skateboard tricks" into your favorite Internet search engine will bring up lots of websites with definitions, descriptions, tips and even videos to help you learn and perform skateboarding tricks. |
