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Freestyle skating

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Freestyle skateboarding was considerably different from street skating in both style and equipment. For a start the skateboard itself was different - a freestyle board was longer and narrower than a standard skateboard. And then the main difference was the style. I suppose the best way to describe this to a non-skater would be to compare ballet and breakdancing - both acrobatic and sophisticated dances but completely different in their style. Freestyle was more based around performing balancing tricks and acrobatic manoeuvres usually using just the board (i.e. handstands on the board whilst rolling along) and street skating would be using whatever was in the street to perform tricks (i.e. railslide on a park bench).

At one time freestyle skating was commonplace but now it is comparatively unheard of with street and ramp skating taking the mainstream.

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Do You Remember Freestyle skating?

Do You Remember Freestyle skating?

  • Dallgeier
    on
    I belioeve the guy pictured in the photo at the top of this message board is Russ Howell-a.k.a. Mr. Freestyle!! What a great skater and human being Russ is. He has been around and supporting and promoting the sport since the mid 1970's!
  • Anonymous user
    on
    It was originally 'Sidewalk Surfing' and one of the greatest innovative exponents was Tony Alva-Tony Hawke wasn't even BORN when we were gravel rashin'! Watch Dogtown&Z-Boys for the complete history. Then pass the knowledge on to keep the underground flag flyin.
  • Anonymous user
    on
    I started skating when I was 10, on a black knight with clay wheels. Then cadillac wheels came in and you were "The Man" if you had those!! When I was about 13 precision bearings came in and I got my first set of Power Paws, WOW!!! 30 years later, several E.R. visits later I am getting back into the sport. Now I can afford all those boards I lusted after as a kid. What a kick in the pants and a great walk down memory lane!!!
  • Anonymous user
    on
    i still freestyle too, guys. i do other types of skating and i dont even have a freestyle board but its still fun. use all of your board, stand on the trucks holdin the board up with your hand or whatever.FREESTYLE IS STILL ALIVE!
  • Anonymous user
    on
    do any of you remember when skating was about the love of skating and not about what board you ride. do you remember when people skated not to be famous but just because they needed to get awy from it all, do you remember when skating was a last resort more than a sport im talking about real love for skating........it is fading skating is dieing inside
  • Anonymous user
    on
    I was surprised to see no mention of Rodney Mullen who will no doubt go down in history as the best freestyle skater to ever live. I used to idolize him when I was young, but I just never had the knack to get really good at it. Ollie tricks were about the best I got, but I used to love watching the masters at it. I remember an appearance Rodney Mullen had on an old 80's show called "That's Incredible" which I taped and watched hundreds of times. Great stuff...
  • Anonymous user
    on
    I still freestyle. I started in 2001, and have been loving it ever since. It's my life, my art, and my job. I go round teaching kids how to do it, make parts for videos, and until the company went bust, was a sponsored freestyler. I am also a director of the British Freestyle Skateboarding Network, and we run demos, jams and competitions around the UK... We're coming back. Freestyle isn't dead... it's just the media would have you believe that. You should get a freestyle board, and try it for yourself. Check out www.uprisingmag.tk and www.freestyletricktips.tk for more info...
  • Anonymous user
    on
    I remember skate boarding in the mid to late 70's. They were made of either a light weight wood with hard plastic wheels (black) or plastic with urethane wheels. My skate board was plasitc, yellow with red urethane wheels. it was about 17 or 18 inches long with a point on the front and a kick tail on the back. It was only good for downhill and not very good for tricks. if you were brave you could tic tac, but usually you busted your rear.
  • Anonymous user
    on
    Got my first board for my 9th birthday. I thought I was so cool. Quickly bought some books about how to skateboard. Never perfected the technique sadly. But, I thought that it was cool for a girl.

Do you remember these?