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. Originating in the United States, skateboarding has been shaped and influenced by many skateboarders throughout the years. A 2009 report found that the skateboarding market is worth an estimated $4.8 billion in annual revenue, with 11.08 million active skateboarders in the world. In 2016, it was announced that skateboarding would be represented at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, for both male and female teams.
A skateboarding trick, or simply a trick, is a maneuver performed by manipulating a skateboard, usually with one's feet, in a specific way to achieve the desired outcome – the trick.
An Indy grab, also known as an Indy air, is an aerial skateboarding, snowboarding and kitesurfing trick during which the rider grabs their back hand on the middle of their board, between their feet, on the side of the board where their toes are pointing, while turning backside. This trick is done only backside; the same maneuver done while turning front side, is called a front side air. The Indy grab is a generic skateboarding trick that has been performed since the late 1970s. This trick is performed mainly while vert skating, e.g. on halfpipes. Although this move can be done on flat land, it is much easier on a ramp. The Indy grab is one of the basic tricks in vert skating and is usually combined with spins, kickflips and heelflips.
Anthony Frank Hawk, nicknamed Birdman, is an American retired professional skateboarder, entrepreneur and the owner of the skateboard company Birdhouse. A pioneer of modern vertical skateboarding, Hawk completed the first documented "900" skateboarding trick in 1999. He also licensed a skateboarding video game series named after him published by Activision that same year. He retired from competing professionally in 2003 and is regarded as one of the most influential skateboarders of all time.
Steve Caballero is an American professional skateboarder. He is known for the difficult tricks and air variations he invented for vertical skating and for setting the long-standing record for the highest air achieved on a halfpipe. In 1999, Thrasher Magazine named Caballero the "Skater of the Century".
John Rodney Mullen is an American professional skateboarder who practices freestyle skateboarding and street skateboarding. He is considered the most influential skater in the history of the sport, being credited for inventing numerous tricks, including the flatground ollie, kickflip, heelflip, impossible, and 360-flip. As a result, he has been called the "Godfather of modern freestyle skating."
Christian Rosha Hosoi is an American professional skateboarder. He is also known by the nicknames "Christ" and "Holmes".
Tom Penny is a professional skateboarder from Abingdon, United Kingdom (UK). As of January 2013, Penny is sponsored by the Flip skateboard deck brand and his Cheech & Chong signature deck is one of the brand's highest-selling deck products.
Tony Alva is an American skateboarder, entrepreneur, and musician. He was a pioneer of vertical skateboarding and one of the original members of the Zephyr Competition Skateboarding Team, also known as the Z-Boys. The Transworld Skateboarding Magazine ranked him eighth in its list of the "30 Most Influential skateboarders" of all time.
The ollie is a skateboarding trick where the rider and board leap into the air without the use of the rider's hands. It is the combination of stomping, also known as popping, the tail of the skateboard off the ground to get the board mostly vertical, jumping, and sliding the front foot forward to level out the skateboard at the peak of the jump.
Nike Skateboarding, primarily known as Nike SB, is the Nike brand for its line of shoes, clothing, and equipment for skateboarding. Nike Skateboarding won the 2020 Webby People’s Voice Award for Best Home/Welcome Page in the category Web.
Brian Sumner is a British skateboarder, Christian pastor and a travelling evangelist, originally from Liverpool, England. He came to the United States at the age of 15 to pursue a career as a professional skateboarder. He resides in Huntington Beach, California. Sumner received notoriety in the UK for winning contests with his stair/handrail skating. After finishing his schooling and six months of art college in Liverpool, he made his way to the US at the age of 16 to further his skateboarding career.
A flip trick is a type of skateboarding trick in which the skateboard rotates around its vertical axis, or its vertical axis and its horizontal axis simultaneously. The first flip trick, called a kickflip but originally known as a "magic flip", was invented by professional skateboarder Rodney Mullen.
In skateboarding, grinds are tricks that involve the skateboarder sliding along a surface, making contact with the trucks of the skateboard. Grinds can be performed on any object narrow enough to fit between wheels and are performed on curbs, rails, the coping of a skate ramp, funboxes, ledges, and a variety of other surfaces.
A slide is a skateboarding trick where the skateboarder slides sideways either on the deck or the trucks.
Eric Koston is a Thai-born American professional skateboarder and company owner. He has been featured in the Tony Hawk's video game series and the Electronic Arts (EA) video games Skate 2 and Skate 3. Koston co-owns both Fourstar Clothing and the skatepark/website "The Berrics".
The Berrics is a private indoor skatepark owned by professional skateboarders Steve Berra and Eric Koston. It is also a website providing content filmed in the skatepark, as well other skateboard-related media. The facility's name is a portmanteau of the owners' names.
Street skateboarding is a skateboarding discipline which focuses on flat-ground tricks, grinds, slides and aerials within urban environments, and public spaces. Street skateboarders meet, skate, and hang out in and around urban areas referred to as "spots," which are commonly streets, plazas or industrial areas. To add variety and complexity to street skateboarding, obstacles such as handrails, stairs, walls, flower beds, bins, park benches, picnic tables, and other street furniture may be traversed as single tricks or as part of a series of consecutive tricks called a "line."
A wallride or wall ride is a maneuver in skateboarding in which a rider positions their skateboard parallel to a wall, putting the wheels on the side of the wall as they ride along it. The trick is noted for its particular grace.
Skateboarding Hall of Fame, founded in 1997, is a museum and hall of fame located in Simi Valley, California, United States. The museum documents the history of Skateboarding and the skateboarders, photographers, and other notable figures, publications and companies who have influenced its development.
