When I was a kid, I always wanted to live in California because I liked skateboarding.”

Demetri Martin, Comedian

Advantages & Disadvantages of Skateboarding

advantages and disadvantages of skateboarding

Skateboarding is a quite popular sport in many countries all over the world.

Millions of people go skateboarding on a regular basis. Some of them are even able to make significant amounts of money from this sport.

Although skateboarding can have many advantages, there are also some problems with this sport.

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In this article, the pros and cons of skateboarding are shown in detail.

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Advantages of Skateboarding

  1. Skateboarding is a rather cheap hobby
  2. You can improve your coordination skills
  3. May give you a boost in confidence
  4. Skateboarding is considered to be cool
  5. You can make friendships with like-minded people
  6. You can take part in competitions
  7. Skateboarding may help you to become braver over time
  8. There will always be room for improvement
  9. Skateboarding can improve your fitness
  10. Can help to reduce stress
  11. Good skateboarders can earn money

Skateboarding is a rather cheap hobby

One crucial advantage of skateboarding is that it is a rather cheap hobby.

Yes, you have to get a board and some protection, yet those things are not too expensive.

For the start, you don’t have to get the best equipment.

Instead, don’t spend too much money on it. You may also be able to lend your equipment from a friend in order to try out if skateboarding is for you or not.

By doing so, you don’t need to spend too much money on skateboarding, which makes it a hobby for the general public since almost everyone can afford it.

You can improve your coordination skills

Skateboarding also gives you the opportunity to greatly improve your overall coordination skills.

Since the board is quite shaky, you have to improve your coordination quite a lot if you want to become better at skateboarding over time.

Especially if you want to learn some skateboarding tricks, you will urgently learn to improve your coordination since only then will you be able to perform those tricks in a successful manner.

May give you a boost in confidence

Another upside of skateboarding is that you can significantly improve your level of confidence.

Over time, you will see some progress and you will learn that you will actually be able to achieve things.

Moreover, skateboarders are also quite popular among girls and if you currently struggle to attract a significant other, you might want to learn skateboarding.

This will further improve your confidence, which will greatly help you in various parts of your life in the long run since confidence is the key to success.

Skateboarding is considered to be cool

Among teenagers, skateboarding is also considered to be quite cool.

Hence, if you are currently not the most popular kid in your class or even suffer from bullying, chances are that you might be able to increase your popularity by learning how to skate.

Therefore, especially for unpopular kids, skateboarding can also increase their coolness factor and thus also improve their overall quality of life.

You can make friendships with like-minded people

If you go skateboarding on a regular basis, chances are that you will also meet many like-minded people.

In fact, skateboarding is not just a sport but also a lifestyle for many people.

Hence, chances are that you will find many people who share the same values and attitudes towards life and you can make really good friendships with those people in the long run.

You can take part in competitions

If you get to an advanced level, you will also be able to join skateboarding competitions.

At a certain level, people often want to compete with the best and through those competitions, you can get to know the best skateboarding athletes and learn a lot from them.

Skateboarding may help you to become braver over time

If you practice skateboarding for a longer period of time, you will also try out many different things.

Among others, you may want to try skating big ramps.

However, in order to ride those big ramps, it needs plenty of courage since they often look quite intimidating and you really have to get out of your comfort zone.

Once you did that, you will really learn that you can do a lot if you practice hard and your overall level of courage significantly through those experiences.

There will always be room for improvement

The nice thing about skateboarding is that you will never stop learning.

There will always be tricks that you haven’t mastered yet and therefore, you can continue to work on your craft for the rest of your life.

Hence, skateboarding will never get boring since there will always be new challenges waiting for you.

Skateboarding can improve your fitness

Another benefit of skateboarding is that you can also significantly improve your overall fitness level.

Quite often, in our nowadays society, not only our children but also our adults don’t exercise enough anymore.

Many of us work for quite long hours and rather want to spend their evening on the couch instead of going to the gym.

However, this is quite unhealthy in the long run since we as humans need a certain level of exercise.

Therefore, instead of spending your evening in front of your TV or your computer, you may want to go to the skate park and practice some moves.

Can help to reduce stress

Since skating implies plenty of physical exercise, it can also significantly lower our overall stress level.

Many people in our society work in demanding corporate jobs and also have to take care of their kids somehow.

All this can lead to serious stress over time.

In turn, excessive stress levels can lead to serious public health issues in the long run.

In order to avoid those issues, go skateboarding from time to time!

Chances are that you will feel much more relaxed afterward.

Good skateboarders can earn money

If you become really good at your craft, you may even be able to earn some money from skateboarding.

However, becoming really good at something is quite hard and there may be many people out there who have the same goal as you.

Thus, make sure to have plans in place in case you will not be able to earn (enough) money from your skateboarding career.

Disadvantages of Skateboarding

  1. Skateboarding can be hard to learn
  2. Can be quite exhausting
  3. May lead to serious frustration
  4. Skateboarding is not a team sport
  5. May be hard to find a skate park in your area
  6. Injuries are quite common
  7. Skateboarding can be time-consuming
  8. Salaries are not high compared to other sports
  9. Many people give up rather soon
  10. You may not like the feeling on the skateboard

Skateboarding can be hard to learn

Apart from the many advantages of skateboarding, there are also some issues related to this sport.

One problem with skateboarding is that it is not easy to learn.

In fact, it takes a lot of practice to learn to stabilize yourself on a skateboard and at the beginning, chances are that you will also fall from the board a lot.

Thus, make sure to wear proper protection so that you can protect yourself against grazes.

Can be quite exhausting

Even though it often looks quite relaxing, skateboarding can be a quite exhausting sport.

Especially at the beginning, you will often experience significant charley horse since your muscles are not yet trained for the movements that are necessary for skating.

Also if you want to get to a professional level, skateboarding can become quite exhausting since you will need to become a professional athlete and steel your body in order to be able to compete on this high level.

May lead to serious frustration

Especially at the beginning, skateboarding can also lead to plenty of frustration for many people.

Since it is not easy to learn and people fall from the board on a regular basis, chances are that many people become unhappy with it since they don’t see any progress.

Hence, if you are a person who becomes easily frustrated, chances are that skateboarding is not the right way to go for you and you may want to engage in other hobbies instead.

Skateboarding is not a team sport

Another downside of skateboarding is that it is not a team sport.

Even though you will meet some people over time, there will not be this feeling of community like in sports teams where everyone has his or her role in the team in order to succeed.

Instead, through skateboarding, you are often on your own and you will not learn how to be a team player.

Yet, this is quite an important skill in many parts of our life and not learning this skill can lead to serious problems in the long run.

May be hard to find a skate park in your area

Depending on where you live, you may also face serious problems when it comes to finding a skate park in your neighborhood.

In fact, in many countries all over the world, skating is not that popular and if you live in one of those regions, chances are that you will not be able to find a skate park nearby your home.

Therefore, it may become quite hard to practice this sport.

Injuries are quite common

Although you can wear some protection, chances are that if you go skateboarding on a regular basis, you will suffer from injuries sooner or later.

Skateboarding is not a safe sport and especially if you skate in big ramps, chances are that you will fall from the board at one point in time.

Hence, make sure that you are prepared and willing to suffer a little bit for your sport before deciding for skateboarding.

Skateboarding can be time-consuming

If you really want to become good at skateboarding, you will have to put in the work.

Even if you are talented, you will have to practice on a regular basis since otherwise, other people who practice harder than you will become better than you in the long run.

Hence, especially in case you want to become a professional skateboarding athlete, you will have to practice long hours every week in order to get to this level.

Salaries are not high compared to other sports

Another downside of skateboarding is that the salaries for professional skateboarders are not quite high.

In fact, most professional skateboarders even have to work in at a side job in order to make their living.

Hence, if money is what you aspire, you should definitely go for other sports instead.

Many people give up rather soon

Since skateboarding is quite hard to learn, many people will also quit far too soon.

It will take a while until you learn the basic skills and if you are a person who gives up easily, you may quit before you actually see real progress.

Therefore, if you decided to give skateboarding a try, make sure to stick to it for a while, even if you don’t see any results at the start.

You may not like the feeling on the skateboard

Many people actually also don’t like the shaky feeling on a skateboard.

Some people may even get sick while standing on the board since their body can’t deal with this shaky feeling at all.

Hence, if you are one of those people how can’t handle the feeling on the board, you should definitely go for other hobbies instead.

Top 10 Skateboarding Pros & Cons – Summary List

Skateboarding ProsSkateboarding Cons
Skateboarding can give you a confidence boostSkateboarding can lead to injuries
Can improve your fitnessCan be hard to learn
Skateboarding can be good for your healthSkateboarding has potential to frustrate people
Good to release stressCan be exhausting
You can learn balanceNot a team sport
Improvement of coordination skillsCan be time-consuming
Skateboarding is a rather cheap hobbyMany people give up fast
Good skateboarders can earn moneySome people don’t like the feeling on the board
You can meet like-minded peopleProfessional salaries are rather low
Skateboarding can increase your popularityHard to find skate parks in some areas

Should You Go Skateboarding?

We can see from the previous analysis that there are many pros and cons of skateboarding.

You should evaluate all the advantages and disadvantages so you can decide in a profound manner whether skateboarding is a suitable sport for you or if you want to go for other sports like baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer, tennis, surfing or rugby instead.

If you think skateboarding is for you, make sure to get your first skateboard right now!

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skateboarding

https://thrillspire.com/skateboarding-tips-for-beginners

https://www.skateboardershq.com/skateboard-tips/

About the author

My name is Andreas and my mission is to educate people of all ages about our environmental problems and how everyone can make a contribution to mitigate these issues.

As I went to university and got my Master’s degree in Economics, I did plenty of research in the field of Development Economics.

After finishing university, I traveled around the world. From this time on, I wanted to make a contribution to ensure a livable future for the next generations in every part of our beautiful planet.

Wanna make a contribution to save our environment? Share it!

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