There was a time when skateboarding was merely a substitute for kids who couldn`t get to the ocean and do some real surfing.
They would cruise up and down sidewalks, occasionally trying a slick move or two; riding over a curb and landing back on all four wheels was about as fancy as it got. The novelty of skateboarding eventually wore off.
In the `80s, however, sidewalk surfing made a comeback and even made a splash in the Midwest.
The resurgence was prompted by kids who developed remarkable skills. They were able to execute wheelies, Ollies, kickflips, tic-tacs, circle spins and impossibles with such expertise that they virtually turned skateboarding into performance art.
Such Hollywood films as ”Back to the Future” and ”Gleaming the Cube”
helped spread the word, as well as some rock-`n`-roll-backed competition videos available through skateboard shops and magazines like Thrasher. And skateboard parks sprang up in unlikely places.
Last winter, Scottsdale-based Pantheon Industries produced ”License to Skate,” a series of five videotapes, targeted for the rental market, beginning with ”The Basics.” It offers tips on how to stand on the board without falling off, how to propel oneself, and the proper safety equipment.
”It`s for the kid who`s never stepped on the skateboard,” says producer Debbie Alexander, who estimates there are 45 million active skaters, an increase of 50 percent in two years.
The rest of the series takes you up the ladder into higher levels of skateboarding skills:
Part 2, ”Freestyle,” describes how to perform more than 50 athletic stunts.
Part 3, ”Streetstyle,” shows how to thrash up the streets without damaging property or becoming a blemish on an automobile tire.
Part 4, ”Vertical Style,” zooms inside the half-pipe (those large, U-shaped wooden ramps) that boarders can use to skate at speeds fast enough to propel them 8 to 10 feet in the air.
Part 5, ”Competition,” is for the advanced boarder who wants to know how to get involved in competitive skateboarding.
Pantheon has just updated the ”License to Skate” line, adding material and packaging it in a four-tape series designed for the ”sell-through market at a more attractive price”-$9.95 each, suggested list-says marketing executive Karen Solliday.
The new titles include ”Fundamentals,” ”Ramp Riding,” ”Street Master” and ”Freestylin.”` They were shot in Phoenix, Florida and Atlantic City, and feature many professional and amateur skaters.
While making both series, Alexander insisted on including one important message: ”Skate Straight.” Good skateboarding doesn`t have to include use of drugs, alcohol or any other chemically induced high just to have fun, she says.
”Little things like (the Skate Straight message) are going to make a difference” in fighting drug abuse among youngsters, she adds.
Alexander`s motivation for producing a skateboarding instructional series was to make the sport safe for her son, Aaron, 14. He wanted to try a trick he saw in the movie ”Back to the Future” in which Michael J. Fox latched onto the back of a moving car while riding a skateboard.
A babysitter offered to help Aaron try the stunt. As a result, he hurt his leg. Later, he tried to ride his skateboard up a ramp and fell off, breaking his arm. While the arm was healing, he fell off his skateboard again, breaking the cast and his arm in another place.
By this time, Mom had had enough. Someone was going to show him how to do it right.
The project became a family affair: Aaron got to meet professional skateboarders and help edit the tapes, and sister Julie got to narrate some segments.
One revelation for Alexander as she was filming the series was that many skateboarders are not the stereotypical hyperactive wayward teenagers. Many, in fact, are professionals who have a passion for skateboarding.
Chris Baukum, one of the skateboard professionals who helps narrate the video series, is a biochemist who rides a board in his spare time.
”It`s probably different than most (instructional) videos, because with most videos the proper thing to do is to gear it toward a certain age,”
Alexander says. ”I didn`t do that. I tried to make it simple enough for a 5- year-old to understand and entertaining enough that an adult would want to watch it.”
Pantheon, capitalizing on a lucrative industry that sold more than $300 million in skateboards and accessories last year, is distributing its tapes worldwide.
