There are many sports and hobbies that require a certain amount of effort to get into, some are harder and the participants more stubborn while others have more open participants and a shorter learning curve. One such hobby/sport is skateboarding, it has many friendly and open participants that are always welcoming to new members joining in and helping people step up their game. But before you can even meet with any skateboarders you'll need an actual board, one that can take all of the falls and crashes you'll be making on your first go at it.
Instead of taking on the park in a scrappy little penny board (unless you're very short) you'll want to get one of two boards. The shortboard and the longboard, their names describe their sizes and their sizes show you exactly what you can do with them, namely you can't go as fast with a shortboard and you can't do any tricks on a longboard. So deciding between them is deciding weather you're going to cruise the city on a longboard or take on the skate parks with various tricks and stunts.
So once decided you can either order skateboards online or speak with friends who do skate on how to get your best beginner board (that won't also break the bank). There are numerous boards that can cost half a fortune, but that's usually only due to brand recognition, for beginners a simple Almost, or Anti-Hero board will do. But you need to remember that in the beginning these boards won't last you long, especially if you've chosen to do tricks since your board will have to take on a lot of stress. This also applies to your clothes, make sure they're able to protect you when you hit the dirt.
There are several components that are universal to the skateboard and have fairly important parts to play in letting the board go forward smoothly. The wheels are simple enough, they house the barrings which connect to the trucks that can tilt allowing the skateboard to go left and right, and finally the deck itself which also has some grip tape depending on the type. Usually there's also a graphic taped or painted on the board, it adds style but doesn't make any difference in how the board performs under your feet. There are many different factors that one needs to consider but the ones listed above are essential especially when you order skateboards online which is the simplest way one can get a skateboard.
