{"id":52805,"date":"2015-06-29T09:00:22","date_gmt":"2015-06-29T16:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/?p=52805"},"modified":"2017-08-31T15:28:40","modified_gmt":"2017-08-31T22:28:40","slug":"omahoney-mondays-the-first-handbook-of-freestyle-skateboard-tricks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/omahoney-mondays-the-first-handbook-of-freestyle-skateboard-tricks\/","title":{"rendered":"O’Mahoney Mondays: The First Handbook of Freestyle Skateboard Tricks"},"content":{"rendered":"

The First “Handbook of Freestyle Skateboard Tricks” was published in 1975 by James O’Mahoney.<\/p>\n

WORDS BY JAMES O'MAHONEY<\/pre>\n
1975 was the beginning of non-stop skateboarding action. The U.S.S.A. was the first sanctioning body for the sport and was flooded with media and contest requests, so we had to produce. We began constructing the first skateboard contest kit, which enabled anyone in the world to put on a standardized skateboard contest with both disciplines: freestyle and slalom.<\/p>\n
First, it was slalom racing, which was basically the same as snow skiing competition. The racer began at the starting gate, either single or head-to-head, and passing through the timing light, then through a series of spaced cones to the finish line and timing light. The freestyle was a little more difficult. We followed the standard guideline for freestyle competition, where the competitor was allotted a time to do the freestyle routine, scoring maneuver points on: amount of tricks, degree of difficulty and professionalism. No mistakes!<\/p>\n
The common area for a freestyle event was basically the flat ground and props were added like tables, ramps, high jumps, cones, bodies to jump over, etc. We started to write down all the tricks that were known at that time for the guide. The lame part about this was that every week someone would pull some new trick out of the bag and we saw that it was endless and we had to go to print. The tricks in the handbook were performed by Russ Howell, the current National Champion, who had invented a lot of them. Naturally, when we went to the printer, there were at least ten new tricks that had been invented and it didn’t stop.<\/p>\n
40 years later, they are still sucker-punching you with new tricks and it will never end. Progress… Here is the cover of the first “Handbook of Freestyle Skateboard Tricks.”<\/p>\n
\"handbookoffreestyleskateboardtricks\"<\/a><\/h3>\n
ABOUT JAMES O’MAHONEY<\/h3>\n
JAMES O'MAHONEY \r\nINTERVIEW BY DIBI FLETCHER\r\nPHOTOS BY JAMES O'MAHONEY,\r\nSUSANNE MELANIE BERRY,\r\nTERRI CRAFT, DAN LEVY\r\nAND SCOTT STARR.<\/pre>\n