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Skateboarding: Skaters
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Skateboarding was originally called "sidewalk surfing" and early skaters emulated surfing style and moves. Skateboards may or may not have evolved from "crate scooters." Crate scooters preceded skateboards, and were essentially similar except for having a wooden crate attached to the front, which formed rudimentary handlebars. In the film Back to the Future, Marty McFly is seen confiscating such a scooter from an unsuspecting 50s youth, and ripping the crate off to fashion an improvised skateboard.
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The focus was initially on vert ramp skateboarding. The invention of the no-hands aerial (later known as the ollie) by Alan Gelfand in Florida in 1976[6] and the almost parallel development of the grabbed aerial by George Orton and Tony Alva in California had made it possible for skaters to perform airs on vertical ramps. While this wave of skateboarding was sparked by commercialized vert ramp skating, a majority of people who skateboarded during this period never rode vert ramps. Because most people couldn't afford to build vert ramps or didn't have access to nearby ramps, street skating gained popularity. Freestyle skating remained healthy throughout this period with pioneers such as Rodney Mullen inventing the basics of modern street skating; the flatground ollie, the ollie kickflip, the heelflip, and the 360 flip, to name a few. The influence freestyle had on street skating became apparent during the mid-eighties, but street skating was still performed on wide vert boards with short noses, slide rails, and large soft wheels.
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The first recognized skateboarding competition was held in 1963 - ironically in a factory, which produced urethane wheels. It would be Frank Nasworthy who first saw the potential of urethane wheels versus the old clay wheels. Initially the skaters resisted the new wheels, but once people had an opportunity to ride the new boards resistance fell and a new era in skating was born.
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There are many female-only skate companies, sessions, and camps to help advance the female skateboarding movement. An alliance of professional female skaters has ... been established.[11] There have been two major skate films focusing on female skaters - Getting Nowhere Faster and AKA: Girl Skater.[12][13]
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