When I first set out for a topic of interest, I was scrambling. I had no idea what I was going to do until I had a stroke of good luck and decided to do skateboarding. I have prior experience with surfing so I thought the skills might be interchangeable. I was dead wrong. Skateboarding was far more complex than I had originally thought. If I want to become knowledgeable on this subject, I need to practice and do my research. “Skateboarding is a form of recreation and sport, popular among youths, in which a person rides standing balanced on a small board mounted on wheels. Considered one of the so-called extreme sports, skateboarding as a professional sport boasts a range of competitions, including vertical and street-style events” (Hawk 2006). From learning how to …show more content…
Understanding the pieces are crucial because you can buy them separately and create a custom skateboard, or buy a full one and just purchase new parts when the old ones wear out (or break). The anatomy of a skateboard is composed of a deck, griptape, nose, rail, tail, trucks, wheels, and a wheelbase. The deck is the wood base (usually laminated maple). The griptape is the “sandpaper affixed to the top of the deck with adhesive, used to increase the friction between the deck and the skater’s feet” (Exploratorium 1993). A nose is the front of the skateboard. Rails are the edges of the skateboard. The tail is the rear of the skateboard while the trucks are “the front and rear axle assemblies that connect the wheels to the deck and provide the turning capabilities for the board” (Exploratorium 1993). “The truck [also] includes an axle, a hangar (which houses the axle), and a cushion that both absorbs shocks and provides flexibility for steering” (Hawk 2006). Wheels are what make the skateboard mobile and the wheelbase is the distance between the front and back