What not in the modern world! There is a finger skateboard. Perhaps, this contraption will seem to someone something new, but in fact the fingerskate has been known to the world for as long as 20 years. During this time, he changed very slightly, but his popularity has grown several times.
Skateboard and Fingerboard
The world of sports is vast and limitless. Someone loves football, someone - hockey, and someone needs extreme sports. For such lovers, there are many directions for realizing their potential. Probably most people at least once in their life saw a skateboard - a 4-wheeled board. The first skateboards (which is exactly how this word is translated from English) differed from modern models, but the principle of their work was absolutely identical.
Over time, they transformed into more compact and lightweight designs, and with this the popularity of this sport grew. But not everyone decided to stand on the board. This activity, although it looked impressive, was quite traumatic.
To the great joy of such people, a finger-type analogue of a skateboard appeared (photo above) - a fingerboard. Outwardly, he looked the same as his older brother, but he was executed in miniature. The same 4 wheels attached to the board, with the same non-slip coating.
History of occurrence
Fingerboard (photo above) as an object has been known to the world for at least 20 years, but it has recently grown into such a fashionable and popular “disease”. This is due to the founding of TechDeck. This company is the largest manufacturer of plastic fingerboards. The idea of the fingerboards themselves was prompted by bad weather, in particular rain.
Heavy rain once did not allow the young skateboarder Stephen Asher to go for a drive. Then he decided to make a model of his board in a reduced form, and then tried to do the same tricks on it, but now with the help of two fingers. His father, Peter Asher, the famous "toy" tycoon, liked the idea of his son, and he realized it on a production scale. Here is such a romantic story of occurrence.
Later, when fingerskates became popular, TechDeck began to manufacture its products with labels of well-known skate brands (Element, Birdhouse, Blind, Zero, Alien Workshop, Santa Cruz, Black Label and others).
Perhaps the idea of creating a mini-skate came to the minds of many children, but not every one of them had a father in the toy industry, and their ideas remained on the bookshelves and in the garages.
Fingerboard for beginners: what you need to know?
Firstly, in spite of their small size, microskates are full-fledged sports equipment. On fingerboarding, both local competitions and world championships are held, which all lovers of "indoor extreme" are eager to get into. In recent years, the fashion for such entertainment has reached Russia.
Fingerboard (literally "a board for fingers") is a small skate on which two fingers "ride". Modern models are miniature copies of the world brands of their big brothers.
The principle of riding on such a board is simple at first glance, but requires patience and perseverance in mastering. Fingerboards (wooden or plastic) are not much different during use, but plastic models are more popular, possibly because of their affordable price. Moreover, these boards are harder to break, so they are ideal for beginners. Fingerboard tricks are no more difficult to perform than on an ordinary skateboard, and perhaps even easier.
As a rule, when buying a microskate, spare wheels, a small screwdriver and a sheet of stickers are attached to it in a set. There are also sets of three boards.
True sport
What is fingerboarding? This is a sport where fingers replace skateboarding feet. The device necessary for such a ride is a small board, the size of which ranges from 95-101 mm in length and 26-36 mm in width, 4 wheels are attached to it. A microboard resembling a skateboarding shell comes close to it in functionality. To control using the middle and forefinger, it can do tricks of varying degrees of difficulty.
What does fingerskate consist of?
This sports equipment, in addition to the deck (main board), has a suspension in its composition, which is a platform (base) for it with shock absorbers of varying degrees of hardness, nuts and bolts that attach the board and suspension to wheels made of plastic (sometimes polyurethane). In addition to these elements, the surface of the board is covered with a rubber sandpaper or soft sandpaper. All boards are divided into two types according to the material from which they are made.
Plastic Microskate Models
There are 4 types of such fingerboards:
As mentioned above, this is the most famous brand in the micro-board market. Their fingerboards are made of plastic and feature the best pendants. They are extremely durable and diverse.
Typically, these boards are sold with Stimorol chewing gum, but they are also offered to be bought separately. At a price they are quite a bit lower than TechDeck, but their quality is poor. These boards are durable, but the skin, like the graphics, peels off after a couple of weeks, and the plastic suspension is not adjustable.
The second highest quality plastic fingerboards after TechDeck. They differ only in the absence of concave, therefore such boards are completely flat. Yes, and to find such models on sale is much more difficult, they are not even in every major skate shop.
The cheapest and most unreliable option. It is virtually impossible to do tricks on them. They break down extremely quickly. They are sold in souvenir stalls, often look like key rings. For people who want to master the real art of fingerboarding, such boards are not suitable.
Wooden models of fingerboards
Microskates made of wood are less popular. Their price is always higher than plastic models, and finding them in stores is sometimes very difficult. They are also divided into four types:
Some of the best boards. Both amateurs and professionals ride them.
These are the best wooden fingerboards that are on the modern market. They are very difficult to buy, and the price is higher than others by an order of magnitude. But if you are lucky to find them on sale, you are ready to invest in their purchase, then these boards are ideal in everything. Especially they are suitable for those who plan to master serious fingerboard tricks.
Good and relatively inexpensive fingerboards. Their main feature is pronounced concave.
These are handmade boards. For example, they can be made from a solid wooden ruler. Of course, such boards cannot compete with the above, since they are much inferior to them in everything. Although it also happens that a handmade board is so good that they even compete with it. But for beginners it is best to give preference to ready-made company boards.
Fingerparks: what is it?
Are real skateboarders going to special parks for training, and where do fingerboard enthusiasts train? No, to hone your skills, you do not need to leave the house at all. You can simply choose any flat surface, whether it is a table, floor, windowsill, and train directly on it, or you can supplement your finger sports equipment with finger parks - special figures that help you practice your tricks. Among the whole variety, there are several most popular elements:
- obstacles in the form of steps;
- handrail;
- semicircular ramps;
- benches;
- plastic or concrete park figures;
- pool shapes.
Such devices help to learn to do tricks on a fingerboard much faster. Although there are such elements, as a rule, much more expensive than the board itself.
Various fingerboard tricks
So, you decided to do finger skateboarding, bought a board, fingerpark and ... But what to do next? The next question is how to do fingerboard tricks.
The tricks that a skateboard allows you to perform (you can find the photo in the article) are not very different from what you can do on a fingerboard, the only difference is that on a micro skate they are performed using hands. And if you look at the fingerboarder from the side, it may seem that it is easy. All you need is to put your fingers on the board and make a couple of clever hand movements. But this is far from the case. Nobody will be able to perform such tricks on the fingerboard on the first attempt, because first you need to train your fingers.
It’s worth starting with mastering basic tricks. The very first and main one is ollie. This trick involves the ability to jump and jump different objects onto the board.
The middle finger should be placed on the “tail” of the fingerboard, and the index finger should be placed in the center. With a quick and sharp movement, we press on the tail, make a “click”. At the same moment, the index finger tends up to the bow of the board. These movements should tear the board from the table and lead him forward to the obstacle that needs to be overcome. It is better to start with small obstacles (pen, felt-tip pen, etc.).
Following the ollie, it is better to learn rotations - flips, sliding along the sides of objects with a deck - slides, as well as combined elements - grades. If you seriously decide to master fingerboard, training will not take so much time.