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History of Skateboarding

Skateboards have been around since the early 1900's but in those days, skateboards were just planks of wood attached to roller skates. Towards the late 1950's surfing became increasingly popular and people wanted to surf even on land. In 1959, the first Roller Derby Skateboard was for sale. The publisher of Surf Guide began to promote skateboarding and his company designed the first proper skateboard in 1963. By 1965, 50 million boards had been sold but they were poor quality - the wheels constantly locked and the boards didn't absorb shock very well. Skateboarding had faded out before the 1970's began.

In 1973 though, skateboards made a comeback with thinner boards, urethane wheels, and better trucks. By 1975, many more improvements had been made. Boards had a kicktail and pointed nose and they had better bearings. In the mid-80's skateboarding had a low point but it regained popularity in the early 90's and became even more popular when new, wider boards were designed symmetrically with a kicktail at either end and even better wheels, bearings and trucks. Skateboarding has stayed a massively popular sport until this day, let's keep it that way!