Skateboarding soars - Phenomenon reaches peak across America

cene: A crowded skate park in Overland Park, Kan. Dozens of kids on skateboards swoosh down, over and around curved concrete blocks like so many human Hot Wheels.

A basketball court not 100 feet away stands deserted.

Scene: a new skate park in Lenexa, Kan. Countless more skateboarders ride up, jump down and whip through a series of ramps, rails and half pipes.

A nearby baseball field is in no danger of having its perfectly manicured infield messed up.

More than ever, the skateboard is on a roll.

Once the underground province of bored disaffected urban youth, skateboarding has crawled out from its seedy subculture beginnings and exploded into the mainstream with the help of a hefty stamp of approval from corporate America. It has not only hit the big time with TV, movies and video games, but it also dares to dream of a day it might snare a spot in the Olympics.

In case you've missed the skateboard's pop culture ascendance, here are a few examples:

"Ultimate X," a movie about skateboarders and other extreme athletes, is showing at theaters.

The success of the X-Games was built largely on extreme skateboarding competitions.

A Nickelodeon TV cartoon called "Rocket Power" features a group of kids obsessed with skateboarding.

In his latest cereal commercial, Sonny the "Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs" bird swoops around on a skateboard.

When Nickelodeon viewers picked their favorite athlete of 2001 they didn't pick Shaquille O'Neil or Tiger Woods -- they picked skateboarding champion Tony Hawk.

Hawk has sold millions of his self-titled skateboarding video games, making it one of the most popular video game titles in history.

Net-savvy skaters are downloading old videos of Rodney Mullen, the street skating pioneer from the '80s.

Sales of skateboarders' favorite shoes, such as Vans, DCs, Circas and Air Walks, have now skyrocketed into mainstream popularity, as have clothes from labels such as Blind, Spitfire and Toy Machine. Clothing with skateboarder themes is even being sold by such corporate heavyweights as Abercrombie & Fitch.

Skate parks are being built so rapidly today that even the sport's biggest advocates can't keep up. TransWorld Skateboarding magazine counted 741 skate parks in the United States in 2001.

In 1996 there were 12.

But wait. The skateboard has been around since the `60s. Why is it so popular now?

"I think a lot of it comes from the video games," said Thomas House, who was skating recently at the Lenexa skate park. " 'Cause after the video game came out it just exploded in popularity. And having it on the X-Games also escalated it."

Andrew Vega, 17, of Lenexa said skateboarding's an addictive challenge.

"It's like you have a sense of power over your board," he said. "You can tell it what to do, and if does it then you've conquered it."

Cody Boyd, 19, came all the way from Lee's Summit, Mo., to do his thing at the Lenexa skate park.

"That's how dedicated I am," he said.

Boyd doesn't call skateboarding a sport. He thinks of it as an art -- an art, he said, that keeps him in shape and out of trouble.

Drew Dieterich, the owner of Let it Ride, a skateboard and snowboard shop in Overland Park, knows why kids are taking to skateboarding.

"All you need is a flat space and your skateboard, and (you) can develop your game," he said. "You don't need a team or a set of obstacles. You don't need a net. You've got it all. And because it's so difficult, when you do succeed there is this incredible sense of personal accomplishment."

The result: a skateboarding boom the likes of which this country has never seen. The Sporting Goods Manufacturing Association says skateboarding has doubled its participation in the last five years. It's largely a young man's activity. Of the 12 million to 18 million estimated riders, two-thirds are younger than 18. It's 90 percent male and largely middle class.

And here's a stat for all you parents out there who worry that your child will be hurt riding a skateboard: A 1997 National Safety Council report showed you are less likely to be hospitalized or injured skateboarding than by playing baseball, football, hockey or volleyball. Only one in 171 participants suffers any injury that requires medical attention.

Safety experts recommend helmets and pads. Few at skate parks wear them.

But helmets are not the most controversial issue in skating today. On one of the countless skateboarding Web sites, riders sounded off on whether their passion is being co-opted by corporate America.

Said one: "Skaters have been setting trends for years .. .but now skaters are begging to let corporate America exploit them ... I used to love that my friends and I could have conversations about skateboarders like they were gods, and the average kid didn't know what we were talking about. Now 35-year-old ex-frat boys know who Geoff Rowley is." (For those of you still out of the loop, he's a famous skateboarder.)

Said another: "Who cares. Just skate and have fun. That's it."

Know the skateboarding lingo

Powerslide. Turning your skateboard 180 degrees without stopping or leaving the ground.

Ollie. The most basic maneuver. Press down on the back of the board and jump, bringing the skateboard up with you -- seemingly defying gravity.

Kick-flip. You ollie, then kick the board so it flips under your feet before you land again.

Truck. The aluminum hardware that connects the board to the wheels.

Grind. Jump onto a rail, curb or other object and slide along the skateboard axles.

Board slide. Like a grind except instead of sliding on the axles you turn 90 degrees and slide on the middle of the board.

Fakie. Riding a skateboard backward.

Regular footed. Riding left foot forward.

Goofy footed. Riding right foot forward.

Switch stance. Changing your natural position of your feet on the board.

Backside. Approaching an obstacle for a trick with your back to it.

Tailslide. A type of board slide done behind the rear wheels.

SSBSTS. A switch-stance backside tailslide. Figure it out yourself.