Skateboarding discipline
Street
Street skateboarding centers on performing tricks over obstacles like stairs, rails, ledges, and gaps that mirror features found in urban environments.
Overview
Street skateboarding is built around the features of everyday urban terrain, such as sets of stairs, handrails, ledges, banks, and gaps, whether found in public spaces or recreated in skateparks and competition courses.
Skaters link flip tricks, grinds, and slides across these obstacles, and the discipline places a strong emphasis on creativity, timing, and how individual tricks are combined.
Street is one of the two skateboarding disciplines contested at the Olympic Games, where athletes perform on a course of street-style obstacles.
What defines it
- Centered on obstacles inspired by urban architecture, including stairs, rails, ledges, and gaps.
- Emphasizes flip tricks, grinds, and slides, and how they are strung together into sequences.
- Generally judged on factors such as difficulty, execution, variety, and consistency rather than speed.
- Competition formats commonly combine timed runs with individual best-trick attempts.
- Rewards creativity and personal style in the choice and linking of tricks.
Getting started
- 1Get comfortable simply riding, turning, and stopping on flat ground before approaching any obstacle.
- 2Learn foundational tricks such as the flat-ground ollie, which underpins most street tricks.
- 3Practice on low, forgiving features first and progress gradually as your balance and control improve.
Other Skateboarding disciplines
The forms of Skateboarding sit alongside each other — explore the rest.
Explore across the knowledge base
Follow the threads that connect Street to the rest of SocialSportHub.
Sports
- SkateboardingA creative board sport of rolling, balancing and learning tricks on streets, paths and skateparks.
- Ice HockeyA fast team sport on ice that combines skating skill with quick passing and goal-scoring.
- Ice SkatingA graceful winter activity of gliding across ice on skates, from casual laps to disciplined skating.
- Figure SkatingAn artistic ice sport combining glides, spins, jumps and footwork into flowing routines.
- WeightliftingA technical strength sport built around lifting a loaded barbell overhead with speed and control.
Coaching concepts
- Transfer of TrainingWhether practice carries over to real performance — and why game-like, varied practice tends to transfer better than isolated, repetitive drills.
- Small-Sided GamesPractising in scaled-down versions of a sport — fewer players, smaller area — so skills and decisions happen more often in a game-like setting.
- Repetition QualityThe attention and intent behind each repetition matter more than raw volume — focused, well-executed reps build skill faster than mindless numbers.
Healthy living
- Taking the StairsChoosing stairs over the lift as a simple, no-cost way to add a little more effort to an ordinary day.
- Weekend ActivityUsing the extra time at weekends to be active in ways that feel more like fun than exercise.
- Healthy CookingCooking more at home gives you simple control over what goes into your food — and it is easier than it looks.
- Active Daily ChoicesThe many small choices in a day that quietly add movement — taking the stairs, standing more, and picking the more active option when you can.
Facilities
- Sports hallA large indoor hall with multi-sport line markings, used for court sports like basketball, volleyball and badminton.
- Ice rinkA sheet of prepared ice, usually rink-boarded with rounded corners, used for skating and ice sports.
- Swimming poolA water-filled basin, divided into lanes for competition, used for swimming and other aquatic sports.
- Volleyball courtA rectangular court split by a high net over which two teams rally the ball, played indoors or on sand.
Exercises
Goals
- Build muscleChallenge your muscles with regular resistance training and steady recovery to build strength over time.
- Improve flexibilityLengthen your muscles and widen your range of motion through regular, gentle stretching over time.
- Improve coordinationSharpen how smoothly your body works together — like tracking and hitting a ball — through skill practice.
- Build confidenceUse sport and steady progress to feel more capable, comfortable and self-assured over time.
Skateboarding