It all began in the 1950s with the first skateboard ‘Roller Derby’ – a straight board on wheels, which actually had nothing common with the modern skates. Kids and teenagers loved the thing though they used it as a means of transport that required minimum skills of balancing and avoiding the obstacles on your way. But Larry Stevenson took it more seriously and displayed skateboarding as a new sport.

In the 1960s skateboarders organized into teams and fist skateboarding competitions took place. Some skateboarders performed great stunts and the skateboard went through great improvements that made performing the stunts easier and even more diverse. Nowadays the skate is not just a deck with truck and wheels; there are a lot of optional components that make skating more exciting: rails, slip tape, lappers and so on.

What considers the skateboarding tricks – they are numerous: riding on two wheels (“wheelie”), high jumping over a bar and landing on the board again (”hippie jump”), no-hands aerial (“ollie”), kickflips – almost anything you can imagine, up to jumping over a moving car like in this video.

Professional skateboarders invented their tricks and opened special skateboarding schools. In 1995 Extreme Games were opened and since that time skateboarding began to gain its popularity all over the world
The attitude towards skateboarding culture nowadays is very discrepant. Some people picture it as rebellious, non-conforming and highly dangerous; others think it to be the way of life of urban teens, which has nothing to do with drugs and crime.