Welcome to Maxx Sports Guides
Extreme Sports Women Article
This is a selection made from among articles on Extreme Sports Women. For a permanent link to this article, or to bookmark it for future reading, click here.
Skateboarding to the Extreme
from: Maxx Sports GuidesExtreme skateboarding usually conjures up images of young boys wearing jeans and t-shirts skateboarding everywhere in the streets except in an actual skateboard park. It's even possible that some of those young teens live right in your neighborhood, or even in your own household.
Skateboarding has been around for a hundred years or so, dating back to the 1900s. At that time, creative kids decided to take apart their roller skates and then nailed, glued or taped these wheels to a couple of pieces of wood and they were off. Of course, their ability to move was limited and there was the ongoing problem of painful splinters from trying to hold on or when they happened to fall off, plus other injuries not limited to broken bones, scrapped knees and elbows and banged up toes.
The term that first became popular was "sidewalk surfing" probably resulting from increasing popularity of water surfing. So you had two ways to surf -- on the waves or on the sidewalk. Skateboards have gone through many modifications and these days they're much more sophisticated than back in the early 19th century. Skateboards now provide a smooth ride that makes any number of extreme moves and techniques to be accomplished.
The initial professional skateboard teams were formed in the 1960s and initial skateboarding tournament took place at a junior high school in sunny California. This may have been the start of the mass popularity that led to kids starting to skateboard on everything in site, including drained swimming pools. These types of swimming pools are still popular with kids who don't have a proper skate park available. In fact, it's quite possible the kids who started skateboarding in empty swimming pools were the ones to came up with the concept of extreme skateboarding.
There was a period of time when skateboarding started to get banned in cities all over the country because the powers that be decided the activity was a safety hazard. At that time skateboards weren't constructed as they now are, nor had the idea of safety gear enter the scene and, as a result, there were some fatalities. However, that started to change when innovative manufacturers of skateboards began experimenting and modifiying the boards until they'd perfected a much safer and slicker board, that quickly took over the hearts and minds of teenagers and even their parents everywhere.
Florida was the first state to built an outdoor skate boarding park, which is a bit ironic since the boom in skateboarding first happened on the west coast. However, skateboard parks quickly became the rage all over North America. By this time kids weren't content with just skateboarding horizontally, they began innovating vertical movements -- they wanted "air".
Skateboarders were now flying through the sky, and started connecting with the a new music craze called punk rock, which fuelled their passion even more, as well influencing their hair and clothing styles.
Extreme skateboarding continued to gain devotees, and with this popularity, the earnings of the top enthusiasts began to climb as well. Anyone who gained expertise in extreme skateboarding could actually earn several thousand per month. Extreme skateboarding moved into the realm of flying off specially built ramps including flipping several times and contorting their bodies and boards into all kinds of unnatural shapes -- the adrenaline rush and excitement becoming their addiction.
Extreme skateboarding reached its full force when it was included in the Extreme Games on ESPN2. There was no stopping these daredevils of the skateboard.
Over the years, skateboarding has waned in popularity, but like a fine wine, it doesn't seem to ever really go out of style. This extreme sport has rebounded a number of times and has now become the popular sport it is today. You'll find magazines, videos, movies, and even cartoons teaching kids how to perform different moves that are exclusive to the skateboarding world.
Skateboards and equipment has evolved to the point where you can choose from hundreds of shapes, sizes, and colors. So hop on board the extreme skateboarding train ... if you dare.
Extreme Sports Women News
No relevant info was found on this topic.