Skateboarding is/was the fastest growing sport. In my view skateboarding is also the most challenging and creative sport. Skateboarding isn't even just a sport, it's a whole culture and above all, skateboarding is fun.



So you want to start skateboarding? Forget the baggy flame jeans, Osiris D3 2001's and XXXL tshirts... what you need is a skateboard. I will go through the basics.



Decks

The deck is the piece of wood, what your feet spends most time on. It is made of several layers of ply, usually 7 (although some companies make 6 ply and 8 ply decks). The nose and tail are concaved to allow for tricks. When you are starting out I wouldn't bother purchasing a £60 deck. Buy a blank deck, they cost half as much and to tell you the truth, are pretty much just as good as most pro decks. The only thing you need to decide upon is the width. Now if you are a small skateboarder (e.g. below 5ft) then you should purchase a mini deck, these are quite a lot smaller than normal decks but you may find them easier to control if you have smaller feet. Otherwise as a first deck I would advise getting a 7.75. After a few months you will know if you need to get a bigger or smaller deck.



Trucks

These are the things that let you turn. A decent pair of trucks are always useful as the cheaper ones offer less control. Venture, Indys, Destructos and my personal favorite Tensors are all good trucks.



Wheels

Wheels vary in width, radius and hardness. Larger wheels offer more speed and less likely hood of being hung up by stones, however they are heavier and not as good for flip tricks. Softer wheels give you less feel over your terrain whereas harder wheels are noiser and more prone to getting hung up. You'll have to experiment to find your perfect wheels.



Bearings

These allow your wheels to spin. Bearings come in a variety of "speeds". They are usually given different ABEC ratings, the most common being ABEC 3, 5 and 7. 3 are suppose to last the long, 5 are supposed to be the smoothest and 7 are suppose to be the fastest. I say 'supposed' because there is a lot of evidence that the ABEC rating system means nothing! A good budget set of bearings are Bones Reds.



Clothes

Whatever you do when you start up, don't wear clothes because you think others will percieve you as cool. Wear what you want. Just because your a skateboarder doesn't mean you have to wear the cliche clothes. On the other hand, hoodies are great because when you fall it hurts less and jeans also prevent cuts and bruises. Just remember to be yourself, skateboarding isn't about the image.



So I have my board, what do I do now?

Get out there and ride around. Before you try any tricks you need to master your board. Learn to ride down hills... learn how to turn corners. Before you bother with the ollie, make sure you know how to ride your board. This will help your style later on too.



The first thing you should probably learn after mastering the control of your board is to pivot. This is where you go onto one truck and pivot around 180. This allows you to change stances.



Stances

Stances are the different ways you are on your board. You can either be Regular (left foot forward, right foot to push off) or Goofy (right foot forward, left foot to push off). You will know pretty soon which stance you are as it is whichever feels more comfortable. There are other stances you will also need to know about. These are: fakie, switch and nollie. Fakie is when you are riding your board backwards. Switch is when you are riding in your opposite stance. Nollie is when you are in your normal stance but standing on the front of your board.



The Ollie

This is the most important trick you will ever learn. It is the basis to pretty much all other tricks including flips, spins, grinds, slides, air etc. Please check the trick tip section for help on achieving the ollie. It is best to learn at still first, then move it on to a gentle speed. Then you can learn to ollie up and down curbs etc.



Learn at your own pace

Don't rush the learning process, it will only damage your style... and style betters any trick you can do. Don't bother with kickflips until you have a good solid moving ollie. If people seem to be learning faster than you are, don't worry! We all learn at different paces... and remember skateboarding is for fun, not competition.



Injury

Injury is something that just comes with skateboarding. If you have the love for it, you will learn to accept it. The main injuries are bruised/cut shins and rolled ankles (twisted ankles). Don't be put off by this, if you skate within your abilities you will not suffer as much, but injury is inevitable, just be ready for it. The worst thing about injuring yourself is not the pain of the actual injury, it's the pain of not being able to skate (you will know what I mean).



The Future

You will probably find that skateboarding will dominate your life. You will not see anything in the same way ever again. For instance, simply walking through town will be a completely different experience. Things you haven't noticed in the past will make you think 'hey I could flip over that' or 'that handrail looks nice'.



Anyway, stop reading this bullshit (no joke, this is utter bullshit) and go out there and skate.