Skateboarding originated in the 1950s in California when surfers started riding wooden boards on the streets to mimic surfing. It grew in popularity in the 1960s and competitions emerged. Rodney Mullen was drawn to skateboarding because of the freedom of expression and lack of rules compared to other sports. When not being filmed, he experiments with new movements alone to improve his skills. The Melbourne Shuffle dance originated in the late 1980s from earlier dances in Australia and incorporated movements from breakdancing. Longboards are longer than typical skateboards and have larger, softer wheels, making them suitable for cruising and downhill riding due to easier carving. Their popularity increased in the 1990s as a board culture grew

2. Skateboarding is an action sport which involves riding and performing tricks using a
skateboard. Skateboarding can be a recreational activity, an art form, a job, or a method of
transportation. Skateboarding has been shaped and influenced by many skateboarders
throughout the years. A 2002 report found that there were 18.5 million skateboarders in the
world. 85 percent of skateboarders polled who had used a board in the last year were under
the age of 18, and 74 percent were male.

3. Skateboarding was first started in the 1950s, when all across California surfers got the idea of
trying to surf the streets. No one really knows who made the first board -- instead, it seems that
several people came up with similar ideas at the same time. Several people have claimed to have
invented the skateboard first, but nothing can be proved, and skateboarding remains a strange
spontaneous creation.
These first skateboarders started with wooden boxes or boards with roller skate wheels slapped
on the bottom. Like you might imagine, a lot of people got hurt in skate boarding's early years! It
was a sport just being born and discovered, so anything went. The boxes turned into planks, and
eventually companies were producing decks of pressed layers of wood -- similar to the
skateboard decks of today. During this time, skateboarding was seen as something to do for fun
after surfing.
In 1963, skateboarding was at a peak of popularity, and companies like Jack's, Hobie and
Makaha started holding skateboarding competitions. At this time, skateboarding was mostly
either downhill slalom or freestyle. Torger Johnson, Woody Woodward and Danny Berer were
some well known skateboarders at this time, but what they did looked almost completely
different from what skateboarding looks like today! Their style of skateboarding, called
"freestyle", is more like dancing ballet or ice skating with a skateboard.

4. What first drew you to skateboarding? And what keeps driving you?
Rodney Mullen - Skating first appealed to me because of the type of people that did it, plus
the fact it wasn't organized or coached. There was no "perfect swing" to master; everybody
did things their own way, and every way seemed "right." There was nobody telling me that I
wasn't good enough, or that I should be more like the other guy, or that I had to beat the
other guy... Even at contests, skaters didn't seem to be competing against each other;
everybody just did their own thing, together. What drives me is pretty simple: I love
skateboarding. It helps me be me; it's how I feel free.
When no one is filming, what’s your skating like?
Rodney Mullen - Embarrassing. I just cruise around and build on
movements that seem to offer promise for what's next for me, or
just simple motions that feel good depending on the spot. I'm
not that interested in repeating hard stuff that doesn't point to
something new; I try to keep my eye on what's weak about my
skating. Plenty of that to work with... I almost always skate alone,
in the middle of the night-- no cameras and stuff. It's my time.

5. I think the main influence is that if
everyone does it then people feel
they have to do it and then they end
up liking it quite a lot and they skate
by peer pressure and again end up
liking it

7. The Melbourne Shuffle (also known as Rocking or simply The Shuffle) is a rave and club dance
that originated in the late 1980s in the underground rave music scene in Melbourne, Australia.
The basic movements in the dance are a fast heel-and-toe action with a style suitable for various
types of electronic music. Some variants incorporate arm movements. People who dance the
shuffle are often referred to as rockers, due in part to the popularity of shuffling to rock music in
the early 1990s.
Shuffling originated from 'Stomping', which in turn originated from previous historical Celtic
dances. Stomping originally incorporated tap and traditional ballet -style foot shuffling. The
clog and sword dance can easily be matched to some earlier experimental rave and club dance
moves that evolved into Stomping.

8. In the late '80s, the Melbourne Shuffle began to emerge as a distinct dance, incorporating more
hand movement than its predecessor, Stomping. Break beat and techno music was gradually
replaced with the more hardcode forms of rave music, such as hard trance. When b-boys
started attending Shuffling dance events, they brought in their own set of hip hop dance moves,
for example, the running man and gliding. Ever since these hip hop influences became
predominant, the Melbourne Shuffle has also been practiced outside of raves (a characteristic
of hip hop dance culture).
Where the Melbourne Shuffle was originally danced, the places were not considered to be
named 'raves', but rather 'dance parties'.
A number of videos documenting the style during this era exist as the style increased in
popularity. There are many variations of this dance but the main heel-to-toe movement remained
the key motion, giving it the name "the Melbourne Shuffle". Notably arm-movements are much
more prevalent than in later renditions of the dance.

9. i think the main influences
I
would be peers and the pop
band lmfao for there song
everyday I'm shuffling. And
when you shuffle and put it to
music it looks cool as well

11. A longboard generally can be as short or as long as the rider desires; the most popular
range is about 36 to 60 inches. As well as being usually longer than a trick deck skateboard
longboards may also be equipped with larger, softer wheels which afford a smoother ride.
However, there are many different uses for longboards, as shown below. Since longboards
use softer bushings than a typical tech skateboard, carving is generally easier. Some trucks
use springs instead of bushings, such as Seismic trucks or Original trucks. Original trucks
also feature a wave-cam mechanism to control the lean and turn of the truck. The truck can
usually be slightly wider than the board but this is not always the case.
The most basic use of a longboard is travel. Commuter designs take many different
shapes, including long, wide cruisers as well as shorter hybrid type boards. Their trucks
are designed to be loose to allow for sharper turns. It is useful to have a kicktail on a
commuting longboard in order to corner on sidewalks and to lift the front of the board
when riding off curbs. Also, one may prefer a shorter board, around 24"-35" for
commuting, as well as medium sized wheels (65mm-75mm) which help commuters
manoeuvre bumps, cracks and other minor surface obstacles.

12. Longboarding, also referred to as "sidewalk surfing", is an offshoot of street skating
that combines surfing and skateboarding. It originated in Hawaii around the late
1950's and was further developed as a sport on the West Coast of the United States,
primarily in California in the 1970's. Surfers were seeking a similar ride in the streets
when the waves were flat. By the 1990's, a resurgence in board sports such as
skateboarding and snowboarding was seen, and the "board culture" grew significantly.
They would imitate the moves of surfing a wave by skimming their hands across the ground,
carving quickly, changing their positioning on the board and trying to keep everything flowing.
Longboarding or Skateboarding wasn’t what it was originally called. It was actually called
Sidewalk Surfing. It wasn’t until 1959 when longboarding/skateboarding hit the market place.
Skateboards were sold all over the place, toy stores, convenient stores, etc. Makaha, was the
first professional board distributor. Gordan and Smith made the first fiberglass boards, more
popularly they were also known as G&S. But, of course, these things were very dangerous at this
time in our history.

13. I think some of the main
influences would be peers and
just the thrill and rush of it
speeding down hills. Another
reason people ride them is
cause there cheaper then cars