Americans have become more accustomed to alternative sports such as skateboarding and snowboarding and other sports over the past three decades or so. These sports have been featured on television networks such as ESPN, who bills itself as the worldwide leader in sports. It is possible that Americans know an “ollie” when they see it.

Americans have been skateboarding for decades. The popularity of skateboarding can be seen in the reactions of those in the crowd during the “X Games” which is a popular skateboarding and alternative sporting event held and shown on ESPN every year for a number of years.

Skateboarders are regularly seen as outcasts but their crowds and acceptance show otherwise.

Skateboarding, if possible, grew in popularity due to the outcast and alternative culture surrounding the skateboarding legion of fans and participants. Skateboarding was seen as something the “cool” kids do; those with the long hair and the hoodies and the beanies and the skinny jeans. Because of that, popular songs grew up touting the appeal of skaters.

An example of one of these popular songs was by the Canadian pop artist Avril Lavigne, whose hit songs rose to fame in the early to mid 2000s. Her pop song titled “Skater Boi” was a well-received purveyance of American teenage girl love and fascination for the boys who skated. They were counterculture, rebels, and they had a cool persona.

The fascination with boys who skated possibly went far beyond the skating. It relied on the cultural notion that skaters were outcasts who would attract or appeal to girls that felt the same about their status in society. Skaters, if it were to be possible, became a thematic element in society, once popularized by Dean Martin; they were rebels.

The fervor surrounding these skaters influenced other men, most likely, to become skaters, building a total audience and passionate cause for skating among both girls and their attractive skaters to become figures at local parks. This led to more meeting at parks and places where the skaters could try out their skill sets in the park and public setting.

The skaters became well known in their suburban or urban locations, which led to the building of “skate parks,” which were initially fewer in number than there are today. The skate parks put skaters on a path to be able to compete for major televised events. Girls went nuts over these televised events.

To get back to the original purpose of this article, skateboarding became popular over time and amassed an audience that allowed skaters to compete for nationally televised events such as the X-Games, while the appeal of skaters led to an attraction for both girls and guys to skaters over a period of time. Skating itself developed as a pursuit.

The original design for the skateboard was a simple wooden board with a set of wheels. Both the set of wheels and the wooden board adapted over time. Wheels became thicker and larger, while the wooden board became made out of different types and became a different set of widths for different events.

Skaters most likely had the board of their choosing, which was reflected in personal preference to thickness and width of wood as well the type of wheels that were necessary for the different events taking place. There were mostly likely rules and regulations governing the width and thickness of wood and wheels at events that were competitions.

Fortunately, in time, more skate boards developed. There even became something called the motorized skateboard, which, while not for tournament use unless the event stipulated a motorized skateboard, had an appeal to those who might have wanted to go faster than the average skateboard or go off-road, as will be explained.

About 11 million people enjoy skateboarding on a regular basis. A core skater is someone who skates 26 times or more per year. A casual skater is someone who skates between one and 25 times per year. There are about 500 skating parks that exist in America today.

For those looking to try out a motorized skateboard, know that they also go by the names of power skateboard, off road electric skateboard, automatic skateboard, motor longboard and more. A motorized skateboard is a lot of fun, as you can go fast and take it off road.