via

-skateboarding grew from 5.8 million to 10.1 million participants between 1998 and 2007

also from the report in 2007 baseball participation was down 4.7% with 14 million participants, soccer down 1.3% with 13.8 million, basketball was down 9.7% with 24 million participants. skateboarding was up 4.2% year to year with the 10.1 million participants. this is odd that declining sports still get the same amount of support while a growth sport such as skateboarding is still considered a sport for hoodlums and should not be publicly supported.