One could argue either “yes” or “no” for days on end. But since I am the writer of this article, it should be stated right away that I do not believe skateboarding to be a sport. Why? There are a multitude of reasons, and I will cover some of them, and hopefully make well thought out and convincing points along the way.

Throughout the entire history of skateboarding, it has always remained an individualistic activity. Sure, skateboarding with your group of friends is always fun whether it be at a skatepark or throughout the city, but what is unique about skateboarding is you don’t need a team or anybody else but yourself to have fun. Because although you can hit a tennis ball against a wall, and can shoot hoops by yourself, etc., it gets old pretty quickly.

Skateboarding, if anything, is a lifestyle. Once you start skateboarding (unless it is just a phase, which for some people it is), you become sucked into the whole culture. Skateboarding’s culture is a beautiful mess of D.I.Y. philosophy, artistic visionaries, and people who although often seen as “outsiders”, are probably more in touch with themselves than the rest of the world. And once you get immersed in the culture of skateboarding, you never want to go back.

If it wasn’t for skateboarding, I wouldn’t listen to half of the music I do today. I’ll never forget watching skate videos back when I first started skateboarding, hearing a song in the video I thought was cool, and frantically fast-forwarding to the credits, hoping the name of the band or artist and song title was listed there. Young and innocent days.

Skateboarding doesn’t have any coaches. Skateboarding doesn’t have rules. Let me repeat that. Skateboarding doesn’t have rules. You want to go and ollie onto the hood of that car? Go for it. Want to grind the waxed-up ledge near the front entrance of the high school? Go right ahead. But be careful, you may get kicked out.

That is one of the major differences between skateboarding and sports. As mentioned earlier, skaters are often seen as “outcasts” who have nothing better to do with their time and/or life. And because so many handrails and ledges and stairs and walls of buildings and business look so appealing from the eye of a skateboarder, corporations take it upon themselves to “skate-proof” these objects by putting metal brackets or rivets onto them, rendering them un-skatable. Because any corporation’s biggest concern is being sued.

But skateboarders see the world from a different point of view. We fantasize about banked slopes, waxed ledges, gaps, and rails. We spend most of our time in the car looking for new spots, diligently scanning the area around us at stoplights, and driving back behind businesses to see if there are any spots we may have missed. “Lurking”, as one might call it.

Most importantly, besides being a lifestyle, skateboarding is also an art. Yes, I went there. As a skater, you can contribute skateboarding in so many ways. Inventing a new trick, skating where nobody has skated before, etc. With actual sports, there’s not much you can do besides follow the rules and hope you break some records and statistics. With skateboarding, it’s as if it’s a living, breathing thing. It’s constantly evolving, for better or worse. Skateboarding, even only five years ago, is nowhere near where skateboarding is today. Because while new technology in the future may help athletes achieve a better batting average or run faster, as long as skateboarders have their board and the love, I think they’ll be happy for many years to come.