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. Skateboarding made its Olympic debut in 2020 and was included in the 2024 games.
A skatepark, or skate park, is a purpose-built recreational environment made for skateboarding, BMX, scootering, and aggressive inline skating. A skatepark may contain half-pipes, handrails, funboxes, vert ramps, stairsets, quarter pipes, ledges, spine transfers, pyramids, banked ramps, full pipes, pools, bowls, snake runs, and any number of other objects.
A funbox is a standard element of a skatepark. It generally consists of a box shape with a flat top and a ramp on two or more sides. A funbox may also include other elements that allow for more complicated skateboarding tricks.
The Skatepark of Tampa is a skatepark in Tampa, Florida, United States. It is considered one of the top skateboarding venues on the East Coast of the United States. The name is often abbreviated as SPoT, and it is well known for its annual Tampa Am and Tampa Pro competitions.
Mike McGill is an American skateboarder who is best known for inventing the trick entitled the "McTwist", an inverted 540 degree mute grab aerial.
Kerry Getz is an American professional skateboarder.
The Mid-Atlantic Skateboard Series is a skateboarding competition series started by former pro skateboarder Curt Kimbel. The series has been running every summer since 2003 and usually runs from July until late August. The series is meant to attract amateur skateboarders from all over the mid-Atlantic. Its format is quite simple. The contest tours skateparks in Maryland and Virginia nearly every weekend for about 6 weeks. Prizes are awarded to anyone who places 4th or higher in a variety of divisions. The points for each place are 5th Place-500, 4th place-750, 3rd place-800, 2nd place-900, and 1st place-1000. At the series finale, the points are tallied up for each skater and their overall points are matched against others to determine an overall placing for each division. Prizes for overall winners have varied by year. Most of the years the contest has been held, the divisions were divided into ages and also included divisions for longboarders, women, and up to 3 street divisions. Since its beginning, portions of the contest have been filmed and aired on Concretewave TV – a program on FUEL TV. With the exception of the first year, fees are $20 per contest. The event benefits the Surfrider Foundation. As of 2006 it is the largest contest series on the east coast.
A skateboard style refers to the way a skateboarder can ride a skateboard. Styles of skateboarding have evolved and are influenced by a number of factors including sociocultural evolution, mass media, music, technology, and corporate influence.
Pitcher Park Memorial Skate Park is a skatepark that was built in Carnegie, Pennsylvania. Members of the community of the South Hills of Pittsburgh undertook a grass roots effort to build this as a memorial to honor two brothers, Vincent and Stephen Pitcher, who drowned together on July 15, 2008, while on a camping trip at the Kinzua Dam next to the Allegheny Reservoir.
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."
Infinity Group is a private equity fund backed by China Development Bank and Clal Industries. The head of Infinity Group is Amir Gal-Or. Infinity Group manages RMB 10 billion and 100 portfolio companies, through 17 local RMB funds throughout China.
Coleman Playground is a public park on the border between the Chinatown and Lower East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City.
Nicole Hause is a goofy-footed American skateboarder.
Theodore Ward Barrow, also known as Ted Barrow, is an American art historian, writer, professor, skateboarding critic, social media persona, lecturer, and skateboarder.
The West Los Angeles Courthouse is a street skateboarding spot in Santa Monica, Los Angeles County, California. Once an illicit skate spot, this location became a public skatepark. Nike Skateboarding hosted a "Go Skateboarding Day" event in 2014 that led to a chain of events in which local skatepark advocates worked with the city to convert the space into a legal skate spot. Now, it exists as an aesthetically unique and historically rich skatepark, combining both the angular aesthetics of the courthouse's original design with a vibrant paint job that changes occasionally and a mural that also sees changes to mark contests or holidays in the skateboarding community.
Andy Kessler Skatepark formerly Riverside Skatepark is a skatepark located in Riverside Park on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York City. Riverside Skatepark is notable as the first full-sized public skatepark in Manhattan, designed and built by renowned skateboarder and skatepark builder Andy Kessler.
Pier 62 Skatepark is a public skatepark located in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. The skatepark, which opened in 2010, is located in Hudson River Park on Pier 62 overlooking the Hudson River. Pier 62 Skatepark is notable as it is the only modern full size vert concrete transition skatepark in New York City.
NYC Skateboard Coalition, established in 2017, is a community organization that advocates for New York City's skateparks and hosts NYC-based skateboard events. The NYC Skateboard Coalition supports the skateboarding community of New York City through hosting skate jams and skatepark clean-ups throughout the city.
A skate spot is a location used for skateboarding.
