SAN FRANCISCO - Skateboarding appears to be as strong as ever. Skaters are raking in endorsement deals, going on tour, starring in video games and creating their own lines of equipment. But one fact still lingers.

They're getting older.

At the 2000 X Games, the average age of the Skateboarding field is 24. For Aggressive In-line it's 18. Obviously in-line is still in the early stages while 'boarders have generations of history, and there is a noticeable lack of young riders on the circuit.

In their defense, skateboarders say their sport has an older bent.

"You would be surprised how many good young skaters there are. It's just the level of skating now, it's so hard to be good," says Omar Hassan. "Unless you are just naturally some kind of wonderchild, you just have to wait until you get to that level. And usually that doesn't come until you are about 21. It's just a matter of time for the kids."

With the recent retirement of Tony Hawk, a living legend in the world of skateboarding, the question has been raised as to the future of the sport and who will pick up where Hawk left off.

"I'm really stoked on the future," says Australian skater Tas Pappas. Just because one person is retiring doesn't mean the sport is changing. People retire in all kinds of sports and the sport still goes on. And that's if he's really retired. I'm not sure I believe him."

Pappas says part of the problem is talented young skaters not getting a chance to be seen by pros, sponsors and others who hold the key to the future of the sport.

"There are a lot of young kids coming up, but they don't hold amateur contests anymore," says Pappas. "It's hard for these young kids to get noticed. They just need to hold more amateur contests to keep it going."

Fellow skater Chris Gentry thinks kids are the future of the sport but it may take time for the world of vert to experience a youth movement.

"There aren't a lot of vert ramps around the country that kids have access to. With Vans opening up parks all over the country and some of the public parks opening, it will help. But it will be a couple years before we get some kids who are really pumping vert," says Gentry. "Vert is one of the most popular things on TV right now but not a lot of kids are doing it."

And you can forget about the excuse of not having any places to hone their skills, despite the increased difficulty skaters encounter every day in the real world.

"Dedicated skateboarders make their own ramps," says a confident Pappas.

Most are happy with where the sport is headed and the added exposure the sport has received in recent years. The question is one of staying power.

"I've seen a lot of times where skateboarding has been up and down," says Hassan. "It's new for a lot of people now so I just hope years from now it is still as cool to them as it is to us."

In the meantime, not everyone is lamenting the absence of Tony Hawk from the competition field of this year's vert competition.

"It feels great," says Gentry. "Now all we have to do is get rid of Bob Burnquist and Andy Macdonald and I'm in there."

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