BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

Front. Sports Act. Living

Sec. The History, Culture and Sociology of Sports

Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fspor.2025.1522861

This article is part of the Research TopicSkateboarding and Society: Intersections, Influences, and ImplicationsView all 7 articles

Collegiate Skateboarding in the United States

Provisionally accepted
Emrys  PeetsEmrys Peets1*Davis  RayDavis Ray2Takumi  BrittTakumi Britt3Boaz  AbramsonBoaz Abramson4Isabelle  AndersonIsabelle Anderson5Jesus  CubillaJesus Cubilla6Daniel  MunhozDaniel Munhoz7Thomas  SilvaThomas Silva8Monyell  SessomsMonyell Sessoms9Bryan  ZenBryan Zen4
  • 1Stanford University, Stanford, United States
  • 2Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona, United States
  • 3Los Altos High School, Los Altos, United States
  • 4Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, United States
  • 5College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia, United States
  • 6University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, United States
  • 7University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, United States
  • 8Towson University, Towson, Maryland, United States
  • 9Howard University, Washington, D.C., United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Collegiate skateboarding in the United States is experiencing unprecedented growth, fostering inclusive and creative communities that contribute significantly to university culture and student development. This study examines the dynamics of these communities through the National Collegiate Skateboarding Survey (NCSS), with responses from 32 organizations, and corroborative social media analysis. Findings highlight the resourcefulness of skateboarding clubs in navigating institutional barriers, with 41% of clubs reporting conflicts with universities and 28% with law enforcement and 29% of clubs having over 90% male membership, demonstrating persistent gender disparities. Statistical analysis reveals a synergistic relationship between the national rise in skateboarding participation, new club formation, and increased scholarship availability, as indicated by the statistically significant F-statistic of 10.22 (p < 0.05). This suggests that collective factors significantly influence scholarship growth, even as individual predictors, such as national participation, lack standalone significance. Beyond challenges, collegiate skateboarding enhances university environments by fostering diverse social connections, artistic expression, and academic engagement, as demonstrated by initiatives like the Collegiate Skateboarding Educational Foundation (CSEF), which has provided $217,000 in scholarships to 109 students between 2018 and 2024. This study highlights the urgent, and growing, need for institutional recognition and support to fully harness the creativity and cultural contributions of skateboarding communities, enabling them to thrive as a dynamic and enriching force within higher education.

Keywords: Skateboarding, college, athletics, club, Sport, Skateboard, Survey, Skateboarders

Received: 05 Nov 2024; Accepted: 16 May 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Peets, Ray, Britt, Abramson, Anderson, Cubilla, Munhoz, Silva, Sessoms and Zen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Emrys Peets, Stanford University, Stanford, United States

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