Skateboarding In The 1960's

Skateboarding evolved in the early 1960’s as a way for Surfboarders to have a feel for the waves in the off-season. Many people do not know much about the sport besides the fact that it only seems like troublemakers are participating in it. There is a lot to learn including the origin, about the professionals, stereotypes amongst the skaters, lack of parks, injuries, and salaries given from sponsors. Skateboarding is a gateway to freedom to most people. It is not something we do because we want to cause trouble or we like to get hurt; it allows us to just freeze time and clear our minds. You can feel so tiny in this world but as soon as you step on that board, you feel like something. The world of skating started in the early 1960’s.
Early professionals like Tony Hawk, Tony Alva, Mike Valley, and actor Jason Dill showed young skateboarders the new lengths that they can take with their boards. Hawk is ultimately known as the best vert rider to ever live. Some of his gravity defying stunts will forever be questioned to this day. Dill, on the other hand, showed that the skateboard could be taken to the streets. Curb skating evolved around his era, which consisted of finding a painted curb and doing grinds or slides on it. This became very popular and eventually became the front covers on magazines like Thrasher and Transworld. Although it is unknown, someone thought to dig deeper into the streets. Stair sets, handrails, guardrails, bumps, ledges, gaps, and more were being skated and skateboarding was evolving as a sport. It was no longer contained to a handful of obstacles; skaters got to choose what they wanted to skate and how hard they wanted to. With all these newfound stunts that were being pulled off, the chance of going professional in this sport grew; with that, skateboarders hopes dropped. Although this sport should just be for the fun of it, these skaters wanted to make a career out of something that they loved to do. Luckily, they still had some hopes of opportunity. Sponsorships allow one to receive free product in return of representing the company and hopefully attracting new
Punks? Juveniles? Scum? Think again. Skateboarding actually keeps kids off the streets (from activities like gangbanging, obviously, since we kind of skate there) and actually reduces violence in that skater. Even though tricks that skaters perform can and most times will vandalize obstacles does not put them in a position to be judged for what they love to do, skateboarding! Most skaters are not troublemakers, drug abusers, or violence probed pricks. We do it because we love to skate. Most people will describe skateboarding as the best thing to ever happen to them. Others will go to lengths to say that it actually saved their life. Don’t think of skateboarders as these stereotypes tell most to do; most skaters are actually the kindest people one could ever meet. There is no judging in this sport. We do not judge people on their skin color, what kind of clothes they wear, how much money they have, what tricks they can or cannot do; everyone is like a brother to each other in this sport. There is so much support going around to each other that it is hard for a non-skateboarder to fathom. No stereotypes, just