So, you’ve seen all the tricks, stunts and maneuvers that world famous skateboarders such as Tony Hawk have pulled off over the years, and you’ve decided that you want to be a skateboarder yourself. Congratulations! Not only is skateboarding fun and a great way to stay in shape (really, it is), but, should you become good enough and talented enough, you can actually make a nice and profitable living as a professional street or trick skateboarder. Just imagine when you fill out an application form for a credit card, and you come to the box where it asks for your occupation – and you write in professional skateboarder. That sounds pretty cool, doesn’t it?

Now, before you embark on your skateboarding career, there are probably a few things that you should know about skateboards and the skateboard culture itself. Even though it’s only been around for approximately sixty years (give or take a few), skateboarding has simply exploded from an underground activity into a mainstream pop-culture phenomenon. Terms such as trucks, grip tape, decks, wheels and more are now understood by people who aren’t necessarily heavily into the activity of skateboarding. For the most part, people who skateboard are a fun-loving, easy-going sort who simply love life and don’t take themselves too seriously – even though they take skateboarding very seriously.

In its simplest and most basic form, skateboarding is nothing more than riding or pulling off stunts on a skateboard. That’s it, really. However, as with many other things in life, there is much more to skateboarding that simply standing on a deck and rolling along the street. Skateboarding requires a great amount of skill, strength and balance. Without having strong physical attributes, you won’t be able to skateboard for a great distance or for a great amount of time. In that sense, skateboarding is much like riding a bike – it’s all about practice, practice and more practice. You have to learn to twist and shift your body weight, how to stop, accelerate, turn and more. Remember, nobody picks up anything on the first try, so it’ll take some time before you really are able to master the skateboard. But, with a little practice and a lot of patience, you’ll be able to do it!

Another thing to remember about skateboarding is that the world really is your canvas. If you’re talented, skilled and daring enough, you and your skateboard can literally go anywhere and do anything. From navigating busy city streets to grinding down rails to everywhere in between, a top skateboarder never looks at anything in his or her way as a barrier. Rather, they look at obstacles as opportunities to expand their own limits and skills. And, over a period of time, you can too! The great thing about skateboarding is that, it doesn’t really matter if you’re young or old. If you have a passion for trying and learning as much as you can about it, then you’ll soon be able to – at the very least – attempt all the tricks and moves that your favorite skateboarders perform on a regular basis.