Types+of+Skateboarding

= __**Category of Styles **__ = toc There are numerous different types of skateboarding in this world, as new ones are constantly popping up. Basically, any activity that involves a person riding a wooden board with wheels attached to the bottom is considered skateboarding. Since this term is incredibly broad, skaters have conveniently created different categories for all the different types of skateboarding. The styles of skating that will be explained on this page includes street, freestyle, vert, and downhill. This is not by any means all styles of skating. It is however, a pretty solid list of the most popular ones. From the way skateboarding is progressing and evolving, there will always be new styles.

Street:
Street skateboarding is the most popular style among the skaters of the modern generation. It involves the act of skating on the streets or paved roads within city or town limits or within a street skateboarding plaza. Whichever the case may be, street skating requires the skateboarder to utilize objects which are found in urban settings, such as curbs, ledges, handrails, stairs, and other obstacles. The more creative the obstacle that the skater utilizes is, the more hype and recognition will be given to the skater. Street skateboarding is the most common type of skateboarding you will see.

Here's a great example of what street skateboarding looks like, demonstrated by a great japanese skater:

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 **Freestyle:**
 Freestyle skateboarding is considered the oldest style of  skateboarding, and was popular from the 1960s until the early 1990s. Freestyle focuses on technical flat ground skateboarding. Often a freestyler will only need a board and a flat surface, and create a routine that is supported by m usic and choreography. Freestyle in the 1950s was a direct result of the lack of surfing when the waves weren't breaking. Surfers would imitate their surf moves and on skateboards. Over the years, freestyle progressed into more technical, fluid and creative routines. Some influential skateboarders of this era included Russ Howell, Rodney Mullen , Joe Humeres. Freestyle skateboarding significantly dropped in popularity around the 1980s, when ollies and ollie based flip tricks were invented that allowed skateboarders to pop off the ground.

Here's a video of what Freestyling Skateboarding looks like from the iconic Rodney Mullen:

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** Vert: **
Vert skaters specialize in skating on ramps of all sorts. They skate on halfpipes, quarterpipes,vert ramps, and bowls or any variations of these. The skater usually uses the ramp to project themselves into the air and do flips, spins, grabs, or combos involving all three of these elements. Tony hawk got his fame through vert skating, and is one of the most famous skateboarders of this era.

** Cruising: **
The cruising style usually involves riding a skateboard from place A to place B. This style is a representation of people who enjoy skateboarding just for the sake of riding around, without thinking about tricks. It also consists of people who enjoy downhill skateboarding and participate in the sport just for the speed. These skateboarders usually use cruiser skateboards or longboards. Cruiser and longboards are different than the regular street skateboards in shape. These boards have bigger wheels, longer board shapes, and faster bearings so the rider can maximize on the board's speed component.

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