By Alexandria
Recently, I have picked up a new hobby! I’m learning how to skateboard! Turns out I actually really enjoy it. I learned that there are some really incredible benefits of skateboarding. Some of my favorites are:
- Pain tolerance – Bruises and bumps and scrapes and scars. Aches and pains. They’re all a part of skateboarding. The fun and excitement of skating is far greater than the pain involved. Most small injuries will eventually go away. You will forget about them. We fall and we will get up. We try it again with even more determination.
- Stress Relief – Most physical activities are good at alleviating anxiety, but skateboarding can be especially powerful. Some patients use skateboarding as a replacement for traditional therapy counseling to reduce stress. Part of the reason that skateboarding works as a stress reliever is because it allows you to free your mind, and doing tricks builds confidence.
- Builds Endurance – It takes a good amount of effort to ride a skateboard and this starts to add up over time. The more sessions you complete, the more you’re able to do on a daily basis. This is where professional skateboarders start to stand out because of their ability to ride for longer periods without showing fatigue.
Skateboarding is an action sport that involves riding and performing tricks using a skateboard, as well as a recreational activity, an art form, an entertainment industry job, and a method of transportation. Skateboarding has been shaped and influenced by many skateboarders throughout the years.
Skateboarding, as we know it, was probably born sometime in the late 1940s, or early 1950s, when surfers in California wanted something to do when the waves were flat. This was called “sidewalk surfing” – a new wave of surfing on the sidewalk as the sport of surfing became highly popular. According to my research, skateboarding was popularized around 1986 by skateboarding movie Thrashin’.
Did You Know?
- The United States Marine Corps tested the usefulness of commercial off-the-shelf skateboards during urban combat military exercises in the late 1990s in a program called Urban Warrior ’99. Their special purpose was “for maneuvering inside buildings in order to detect tripwires and sniper fire”. It was in the late 90s when the US military tried mixing things up and brought in skateboards to move around tight areas where other solutions couldn’t get in (i.e. military trucks). These went away after a while as it became hard to manage in combat situations.
- Originally, skateboarding was known as sidewalk surfing before the term skateboarding took off as a major success, it was seen here and there around local neighborhoods. Most people were creating boards and calling them sidewalk surfers. The idea was to recreate the feeling of surfing on land. Initially, people would be barefoot while “surfing” down the sidewalk.
- There are roughly about 16-million skateboarders in the US as of 2019.
- Skateboards were originally shaped like a rectangle. Not as round as we know it today.
- The net worth of skateboarding is $4.8 billion dollar in the market today. About 11 million people self-report that they enjoy skateboarding on a regular basis.
Just remember practice makes perfect!!!!
“You take a crash, you get back up and the next time you succeed and that’s a great feeling.” – Shaun White