Directors of the board

Skateboarding is thriving now, but it's taken the hard work of dedicated and bruised practitioners to build up momentum, Xing Wen reports.

A low rumble, punctuated by the rhythmic "click, click, click" caused by the grouting between paving slabs. A scrape, a sharp "CLACK", silence, and a clatter, followed by the return of that monotonous rumble ... It's a soundtrack heard on nearly every street in almost every corner of the world.

It is the music of defiance and rebellion, of freedom and youth. It's a song that parents hate and that evokes dollar signs in the minds of osteopathic doctors.