Skateboarding courses for kids

Skateboarding is a popular adventure sport, a recreational activity, a fun way of getting around on flat stretches and a cultural identity. It was first practiced in the 1940s but only took off when skateboards were manuafctured on a commercial scale after 1959. Skateboarding is considered an urban pursuit, associated with counterculture and quite different from other sports due to its emphasis on creativity and individuality rather than rules. Professional competitions feature classes such as vertical skating (aerial acrobatics performed in half pipes) and street style (tricks performed using stairs, rails, ledges and other elements you would expect to find in an urban environment). These categories (titled park and street) were debuted at the Tokyo Summer Olympics in 2020 and Japan perhaps unsurprisingly, took home 3 out of the 4 medals available.

The best age to have a child learn to skateboard is above 3 years of age when they are old enough to respect the need for safety equipment and have more a more developed sense of balance.

The benefits of skateboarding for children include

• being a great way to get kids that may otherwise be reluctant to exercise, outside and sweating
• acting as a whole body workout by engaging muscles from arms, abs, lower back, glutes, hamstrings, quads, and calves
• encouraging an active lifestyle which establishes healthy practices for adulthood
• enhancing cognitive development
• improving social skills and teamwork. This is contrary to the fears of many parents who presume that skateboarding promotes anti-social behaviour, however studies have shown that skate parks actually promote group learning and co-operation.
• protecting against future cardiovascular disease, cancer and metabolic diseases
• increasing engagement levels and confidence
• better quality sleep which improves a child’s resiliency and concentration
• learning how to deal with success and rebound from failure, and build character when participating at the level of competitive skateboarding