6 Important Skateboarding Rules

There are different skateboarding rules to know, from the safety of the skater to the scoring system in competitions. We'll tell you more in this article.

We were surprised to learn that skateboarding was going to become an Olympic sport in Tokyo 2020. As we wait for the greatest event in the sports world to take place, there are lots of doubts and questions about skateboarding rules.

Skateboarding is a sport that’s basically riding a skateboard while doing different tricks or stunts. In this sport, you use a skateboard, a flat wooden board, bent at the ends, with four wheels and two axels.

History and types of skating

The skateboard was born in California in the sixties and seventies, an important time for so-called extreme sports such as surfing. The idea of skateboarding from the beginning was to use a board similar to a surfboard but on land.

In 1972, the first skateboards made with clay and rubber started being manufactured, but they weren’t very resistant. By the 1980s, skateboarding moved beyond the United States and became quite popular with young Europeans.

As for types of skateboarding, there are different styles. For example, there’s freestyle, the oldest and with choreography, slalom (cone tour), downhill (skating down at high speeds), vertical (walls with an incline), street (in public places), and city (in special skateparks).

The main skateboarding rules

Preparing in advance for the Tokyo Olympics, it’s worth learning the main skateboarding rules from World Skate. Then, you’ll understand what happens during the competition.

1. Organization of participants

Each group of five participants has 30 minutes to “go on stage.” Out of these minutes, half is for non-scoring warm-ups and the other 15 minutes are for the scored competition.

2. One participant at a time

During the competition, only one participant may skate at a time. The next skater can begin if a trick fails or if the participant does more tricks than allowed.

3. Skateboarding rules: scoring system

The judges have to rate the skaters during their performance. The score will range from 0-100 points, and the final score will be an average of what the judge’s rate, as long as there are three judges. If there are five, the highest or lowest score isn’t taken into account, and they average the three middle scores.

4. Skater safety

Each skater must use a skateboard endorsed by the federation and they must wear safety equipment. In fact, helmets are mandatory for skaters under 18 years of age.

Also, in order to identify each skater, vests, numbers, or name tags must be worn. Official jerseys are only for World Skate competitions.

5. Skateboarding rules: competition rounds

In the skatepark discipline, the three rounds are qualifying, preliminaries/semifinals, and finals. Then, each one competes for between 40 and 60 seconds.

In the street discipline, there are also three rounds: qualifying, preliminary/semifinals and finals. In the beginning, skaters compete in turns of up to seven participants.

6. Timekeeper

The role of a timekeeper is fundamental in competitions. That’s why you also have to talk about it when going over the main skateboarding rules. The clock starts when the skater places both feet on the board, starting his turn. For all rounds, they have five seconds to settle in before starting.

Then, the horn sounds when the time is up, which is when the clock reaches zero. The tricks within that period will be scored, and those left out will not.

Skateboarding rules: main tricks

Finally, within the rules of skateboarding, we can also talk about its main tricks. At the very least, you can learn their names: Ollie, Nollie, Flatground, Lip (or Stall), Fifty-fifty, Kickflip, Laser Flip, Grinds, Frontside, Heelflip, Caballerial, Bigspin, Bigflip, Half Cab, and 360 Flip. They’re all cool and fun!

A good idea to start becoming familiar with skateboarding is to search the internet for competition videos and learn about its techniques. You’ll be amazed by the tricks. Without a doubt, it’s a fascinating sport!