Ninth International Conference on Sport & Society

Abstract

Professional street skateboarders interpret urban obstacles as places to perform tricks and progress the discipline. These tricks are documented and disseminated to the rest of the subculture via numerous media platforms. This process increases a riders’ reputation and thus subcultural capital leads to actual currency, in the form of sponsorship and royalties. This model differs significantly from the competition based professionalism of ‘vert’ skating in the 1980s, however, in recent years, skate contests have become more prominent. Corporate contests with significant prize money are at the intersection of what skaters call “core vs. corporate.” While the level of skating at contests like Street League has been impressive, there is worry among skaters that the codification of skating as a competition based pursuit, will destroy the subcultural networks and independently owned skateboarding industry that has existed for the last three decades. This article shows the process of professional street skating and analyzes the role of competitions to this overall practice; culminating with an ethnographic description of Street League Skateboarding; a plaza-based competition held in arenas, with major corporate funding. This contest is a template for the inclusion of skateboarding in the 2020 Olympics and is for now, owned and operated by skateboarders.