A skateboard is typically a specially designed plywood board combined with a polyurethane coating used for making smoother slides and stronger durability, used primarily for the activity of skateboarding.
It appears the first skateboards to reach public notice came out of the surfing craze of the early 1960′s, probably just wooden boards with roller-skate wheels attached. The surfing group Jan and Dean even had a minor hit called “Sidewalk Surfing” in 1964. In time, it became a pastime for surfers when the waves were lax. By the mid 1980s skateboards were mass produced and sold throughout the United States.
A skateboard is propelled by pushing with one foot while the other remains on the board, or by pumping one’s legs in structures such as a pool or half pipe. A skateboard can also be used by simply standing on the deck while on a downward slope and allowing gravity to propel the board and rider. If you ride with your right foot forward, you ride “goofy”; if you ride with your left foot forward, you ride “regular.” If you are normally regular and are riding goofy, you are riding “switch,” and vice versa.
Recently, electric skateboards have also appeared. These no longer require the propelling of the skateboard by means of the feet; rather an electric motor propels the board, fed by an electric battery.