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Freestyle skateboarding (or freestyle) is one of the oldest styles of skateboarding and was intermittently popular from the 1960s until the early 1990s, when the final large-scale professional freestyle skateboarding competition was held. [1]
The emphasis in freestyle is technical flat ground skateboarding. Often a freestyler will need little more than a board and a smooth, flat surface. Music and choreography have always been an essential part of the professional freestyle routine. [2]
Freestyle in the 1950s was created by members of the surfing culture who sought an alternative during times when conditions were not conducive to surfing—surfers would imitate their water-based maneuvers on skateboards when ocean conditions were poor. In the 1960s, many freestyle tricks were derived from gymnastics and dancing. [3]
The following two decades were defined by a progression towards technical, fluid, and more creative routines. Influential freestyle skateboarders of the 1970s and 1980s included Russ Howell, Rodney Mullen, Joe Humeres and Per Welinder. The style changed significantly in the 1980s, when ollies and ollie-based flip tricks were invented and introduced to the discipline, with Mullen playing a significant role in this process. [4]
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California Amateur Skateboard League (C.A.S.L.) was founded in 1982 by Frank Hawk with the help of two other "skater parents", Sonja Catalano and Jeanne Hoffmann. C.A.S.L. is where most of the top professional skateboarders from around the world started competing and is still run today. In 1995, professional freestyle skateboarder Stefan "Lillis" Åkesson started the International Network for Flatland Freestyle Skateboarding (INFFS) and, with Daniel Gesmer, produced Flatline and the online version Flatline Online. Following the inception of these initiatives, freestyle skateboarders connected and interacted on a global scale in a manner that had not been experienced previously. The World Freestyle Skateboard Association (WFSA) was then founded by Bob Staton, Åkesson, and Gesmer in the year 2000, thereby attracting further interest in freestyle skateboarding.
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.
Boardsports are active outdoor sports that are played with some sort of board as the primary equipment. These sports take place on a variety of terrains, from paved flat-ground and snow-covered hills to water and air. Most boardsports are considered action sports or extreme sports, and thus often appeal to youth. Some board sports were marginalized in the past. However, many board sports are gaining mainstream recognition, and with this recognition, they have enjoyed wider broadcast, sponsorship and inclusion in institutional sporting events, including the Olympic Games.
The kickflip is a skateboarding trick, in which the rider flips their skateboard 360° along the axis that extends from the nose to the tail of the deck. When the rider is regular footed the board spins counter-clockwise if viewed from the side.
John Rodney Mullen is an American professional skateboarder who practices freestyle skateboarding and street skateboarding. He is considered the third most influential skater in the history of the sport, just behind Tony Hawk and Mark Gonzales. Mullen is 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."
A half-pipe is a structure used in gravity extreme sports such as snowboarding, skateboarding, skiing, freestyle BMX, skating, and scooter riding.
A longboard is a type of skateboard typified by longer decks and wheelbases, larger-diameter and softer (lower-durometer) wheels, and often lower riding height compared to street skateboards, though there is wide variation in the geometry and construction of longboards. Among the earliest types of skateboards, longboards were inspired by surfing, with early longboards drawing from the design of surfboards, resembling and mimicking the motion of riding a surfboard, but adapted to riding on streets in a practice known as sidewalk surfing.
Longboarding is typically defined as a variation of skateboarding that involves a larger board and softer urethane wheels. Longboards vary in shape and size. Compared to skateboards, longboards are more stable at speed and have more traction, due to larger wheel size and lower wheel durometers. A standard skateboard is typically between 28-34 inches long, whereas a longboard may exceed 50 inches. Many longboards use trucks that have different geometric parameters than skateboards. The skateboards use "traditional kingpin trucks" while longboards often use "reverse kingpin trucks." This hardware change is the key element in the increased stability that longboards offer.
Alan "Ollie" Gelfand is an American skateboarder and the inventor of the ollie, one of the most foundational skateboarding tricks.
Skate shoes or skateboard shoes are a type of footwear specifically designed and manufactured for use in skateboarding. While numerous non-skaters choose to wear skate shoes as they are popular in fashion, the design of the skate shoe includes many features designed especially for use in skateboarding, including a vulcanized rubber or polyurethane sole with minimal tread pattern or no pattern, a composition leather or suede upper, and reinforced stitching to extend the life of the upper material. The most important aspect of skate shoes is that they have flat soles which allow the skater to have better board control.
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.
Per Nils Welinder is a Swedish entrepreneur and former professional skateboarder. During the 1980s he achieved international fame as a freestyle skater and was a leading member of the Powell-Peralta skate team known as the "Bones Brigade". He had a number of influential video parts with Powell during the 1980s, a series of signature models, and roles in several Hollywood movies. Welinder also has the unique distinction of being the only person to have ever beaten Rodney Mullen in a professional skate contest.
A freestyle skateboarding trick is a trick performed with a skateboard while freestyle skateboarding. Some of these tricks are done in a stationary position, unlike many other skateboarding tricks. The keys to a good freestyle contest run are variety, difficulty, fluidity, and creativity. This is an incomplete list, which includes most notable tricks.
A slide is a skateboarding trick where the skateboarder slides sideways either on the deck or the trucks.
Flatland skimboarding is a form of skimboarding practiced on non-coastal waters, such as a river, lake, stream or puddle. It uses a wooden board about three times as wide as a skateboard and one and a half times as long. The board is thrown across a thin film of water. While the board is still moving the rider jumps on and skims across the water to perform tricks.
Ty Scott Page was a professional skateboarder and a leader in the skateboarding scene during "the golden era" of skateboarding in the early 1970s. He is best known for creating a freestyle trick called the Ty Hop, which nowadays is known as the "shove-it."
A fingerboard is a scaled-down replica of a skateboard that a person "rides" with their fingers, rather than their feet. A fingerboard is typically 100 millimeters (3.9 in) long with width ranging from 26 to 55 mm, with graphics, trucks and plastic or ball-bearing wheels, like a skateboard. A fingerboard can be used to do traditional skateboarding tricks, such as an ollie and kickflip.
A skateboard style refers to the way a skateboarder prefers to ride a skateboard. Skateboard styles can be broadly divided into two different categories: skateboarding to perform tricks and skateboarding as a means of transportation. Styles of skateboarding have evolved and are influenced by a number of factors including sociocultural evolution, mass media, music, technology, corporate influence and individual skill level.
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."
Reginald Barnes Jr., aka Reggie Barnes is a retired American professional freestyle skateboarder and the founder/CEO of Eastern Skateboard Supply, the largest skateboard wholesale company in North America. Known as a "virtuoso" teen amateur, Barnes skated professionally from 1980 to 1991, with the Pepsi-Cola Pro Skateboard Team, Walker Skateboards, and Dogtown Skateboards. By 1986, Barnes was one of the top five American freestyle skateboarders in the United States and was featured demonstrator at Expo 86, the world's fair held in Vancouver, Canada. He placed third in freestyle at the World Cup in 1987.