History of skateboarding

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Skateboarder

The history of skateboarding began in the 1950s on the southwest coast of California when surfers mounted wheels under small surfboards . The aim was to imitate the surfing movement on the street when the waves were not favorable. The prototype of the skateboard was accordingly called Asphaltsurfer .

Beginnings of skateboarding in California

The Asphaltsurfer was flatter, narrower and shorter than the later skateboards and the driving options were limited. The surfers on the south coast of California called Sunnyboys rode barefoot with their self-made sports equipment on beach promenades.

Further development in the 1960s

In the early 1960s, skateboarding was practiced as an independent sport, and industrial skateboard production began four years later. The first skateboard magazines appeared in 1965 and the first international skateboard championships were held in Anaheim, California. The first skateboard disciplines were slalom and freestyle , followed by downhill , high and long jump later. To make the competitions more attractive, courses with inclines and curves were used.

Skating was forbidden in many cities, public streets, paths and squares. Therefore, the skaters looked for other places to be able to skate without problems. For example, old swimming pools with rounded side walls were used. This created a new track: the vertical . With enough momentum and courage it was possible to drive up the walls to the top.

Boom in the 1970s

Skateboarding received a notable boom in the 1970s. The previously used metal roller skate rollers have been replaced by polyurethane rollers. This led to better grip and enabled higher speeds. In many places in the USA, skate parks, concrete landscapes with special skating pools, emerged. The side walls of these skate parks were higher than the swimming pools used previously, they were very popular with young people and better suited for driving.

Pool or vertical skateboarding soon became the most popular and spectacular skateboarding discipline, which was supported by acrobatic elements. The boards were built quite a bit wider (up to 25 cm instead of 19 cm). This increased the stability of the skater and made further tricks possible.

Breakthrough in Europe and Germany

The skateboard wave came to Europe in the mid-1970s. The disciplines slalom, high jump and a kind of freestyle were adopted. However, skateboarding was not recognized as a sport; it initially remained a fad.

From 1975 skateboarding came to Germany. The fictional documentary This Ain't California shows that Titus Dittmann smuggled the first skateboards from California in travel bags to Münster . He built up a small skateboard empire in the Federal Republic of Germany, was the first manufacturer of skateboards in Germany and organized the largest skateboard competition in Europe, the Münster Monster Mastership . The skateboard elite of America and Western Europe came to Münster every year to compete. So-called Monster Magazines were published in which, among other things, tricks were described.

In 1977 the first skateboarding magazines hit the market. The first skateboard professionals came from southern Germany, which is why the first German skateboarding championships took place in Munich in 1978, for which the first skate park was created. During this time, Munich developed into a stronghold of skateboarding. The umbrella association of German skateboarders (DDS) also settled there. But the DDS had to be dissolved, as many skaters switched to roller skating, which was emerging at the time .

End of skateboarding in the US in the 1980s?

At the beginning of the 1980s, skateboarding suddenly disappeared, skateparks closed, board production was discontinued and skateboard magazines no longer appeared because the new roller skating trend became fierce competition. However, individual skateboard freaks were not influenced by the trend, they continued to publish magazines, held competitions and invented other tricks. For these skaters, it wasn't about being dependent on artificial systems such as halfpipes , but rather using steps, slopes, benches and railings and applying the tricks there. They took over elements of the vertical skating and transferred them to the street. This was the street skating , from which developed a second competition discipline: the street style .

Further upswing in the USA and Germany

The halfpipe and street skating were the triggers for a second skateboarding boom in the mid-1980s. In addition to the two new disciplines, there was another one, the mini ramp , which brought numerous new tricks with it. In the USA, skateboarding has now finally established itself as a competitive sport, which has been confirmed by a greater response from the public. Stars of the American skateboard scene were Tony Hawk , Stacy Peralta, Rodney Mullen, Duane Peters, Steve Caballero, Mike McGill and Tony Alva.

1985 saw a renewed upswing in skateboarding in Germany. Street skating rose to become a mass sport, the competitive events were more popular than ever before. Münster was now the new stronghold of the skateboard. The Münster Monster Mastership has been held there every year since 1982 and has been the official world championship since 1989 and is attended by around 18,000 spectators. The star of the German skateboard scene in the 1980s was Claus Grabke.

The biggest skateboard contest to date , Euroskate 88 , took place in Prague in 1988, where East and West German skaters came together before the fall of the Wall . Numerous international spectators attended the competitions, as did stars from all over the world, such as Mark Gonzales .

Film and literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Film: This Ain't California
  2. Newspaper article on the film from the world July 31, 2012 (accessed February 18, 2014)