Now that you have graduated from your skateboarding school of hard knocks and you are ready to compete against any one who can skateboard, there are a few rules to follow. Many people do not consider skateboarding a legitimate sport. Many people associate skateboarding with teenage thugs who use skateboarding as a cover-up to smoke cigarettes. Actually, many skateboarders do the exact opposite. Many people have developed skateboarding ministries to attract young people to keep them from taking drugs or engaging themselves in premarital relationships.



In order for skateboarders to gain the respect of people and capture young people's attention on a positive note, there a few rules that must be followed.

- Do not skateboard in a mall parking lot where there are shoppers and parked cars in the midst. A person who is skateboarding is setting themselves up to receive negative stares, rolling eyes and murmurs. The best thing for a skateboarder to do is select a vacant part of the shopping mall parking lot to skateboard.

- If you live in a town or city (especially in a heavy populated area) where there are side walks...that's considered a bad location. If you are trying to skateboard around people as they walk back and forth during rush hour morning or evening, you will receive angry stares and to top it off, you might even get reprimanded or even yelled at. Remember, do not skateboard in high-traffic areas or where there are a lot of people, especially when people are rushing to go to and from school or the office.

- One pet peeve of many people are skateboarders who take public transportation such as a train while carrying their skateboard under their arms without a cover. Before traveling with your skateboard, make sure that you purchase an attractive skateboard cover. You are not only covering your skateboard so that railway passengers do not give you funny looks, you are protecting your skateboard from harmful elements such as rain, sleet, snow and etc.

- Do not assume that a vacant piece of property is abandoned or is not owned by anyone. Do not skateboard on residential or commercial private property. That's considered trespassing.

- While skateboarding do not suddenly whip out your cell phone to call a friend or answer an incoming call. Your eyes must be focused on what's ahead of you. Staring at an incoming caller can cause a skateboard to run into a sign, a pedestrian or even worst, on going traffic. If you need to answer a phone or make a phone call or make a cell phone call either stop and wait on the side where it is safest or purchase a hand-held free cell phone so that you can answer a call right away.

One way to impress people who may not be too keen on skateboarders, purchase the latest in skateboard gear.