1980's

In the 80's the plywood ramp and streetstyle revitalized skateboarding just as the urethane wheel had revitalized the sport in the 70's. Forced to take an underground, do-it-yourself attitude, skaters began to create their own wooden skate ramps in backyards and empty lots and turn previously unrideable street terrain, such as walls an handrails, into free-skate parks. Skater-owned companies became the norm and innovations in board and truck size allowed the trick envelope to be pushed even further. This generation had its own group of skate stars, some of whom still compete today including Tony Hawk and Steve Caballero. Towards the end of the 80's the focus shifted to street skating and Vert riding became less popular, it was the era of the first street stars like Mark Gonzales, Natas Kaupas and Mike Vallely.

With all this grass-roots action taking place it was inevitable that skateboarding would go through another growth phase. This time the cycle peaked around 1987 after skateboarding had directly influenced international culture ranging from the hard-edged punk style of music that most skaters preferred to the baggy, earth-tone clothes and retro tennis shoes that skaters wore.

The current cycle of skateboarding has been fueled by many items including new companies, more varied and difficult terrain, a new, more hard-core, almost dangerous attitude, and most importantly by a new generation of kids who have discovered the exhilaration feeling of rolling along of a board with wheels. Some of the people who exert heavy influence on the sport are former pros who have started companies like Steve Rocco of World Industries. The ollie has come into its own as the foundation for 80% of street tricks and about 60% of vert tricks, with the focus being on more technical and larger tricks.