Trick Tips
The Basics
The Ollie
The ollie is the basis for almost every skateboard trick. Nine out of ten tricks require an ollie of some sort. If you have the ollie mastered then you are not far from mastering streetstyle. The ollie itself is the act of jumping into the air while keeping your board on your feet. So if you are skating down the sidewalk and all of a sudden an old lady were to fall in front of you and block your path, you would want to ollie over her and keep going on your way.
Step one: Place your front foot in the middle of the board and your back foot on the tip of the tail (or back). This is your preparatory foot placement, it will help you to go higher.
Step two: With your back foot you want to "tap" your tail onto the ground. Do this by smashing your tail downward while jumping up. Once the tail has "popped" off the ground, slide your front foot up from the middle of your board toward the nose (or front). The secret to this trick is timing your "jump" with your "tap," and your "tap" with your "foot slide" - this takes practice, so be patient and you will improve. Tip: You are jumping off of your back wheels, before your tail actually hits the ground.
Step three: Leveling off. Once airborne, the "foot slide" levels your board out. The "foot slide" is the process of scraping your foot (or more likely, your shoe) upward and forward across the grip tape toward the nose. You do this just after the tail tap and jump. Fact: The tap and the foot slide combined are the ollie's essence, your jump determines its height.
Step four: Land. Tip: A good thing to remember with any trick is what I call the "box." Imagine yourself in an invisible box the size of your skateboard. Always keep your body centered above your board and in this box. I find it helps you to land tricks because a common mistake is to lean too far forward or backward.
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The Ollie Flip
Well, as you can tell from the name of this trick you need to learn the ollie first. The ollie flip is an ollie variation: you jump into the air with your board, but your board does a flip before you land on it.
Step one: Your back foot goes on the tail and your front foot goes in the middle of the board, but hangs a bit over the heel edge.
Step two: Do an ollie, but rather than only sliding your front foot upward and forward, you must also slide your foot (again, probably your shoe) to the heel side enough to start your board in a spin. This action requires you to actually kick your front foot off of your board. The spinning board hovers for a second between your sprawling, supple legs.
Step three: "Catch" your board in mid-air once it has spun completely around, and land.
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Backside Noseslide
Approach the obstacle at medium speed, parallel to it. Ollie with your body swinging frontside. Press down on the nose when it hits the top of the obstacle so that the front truck is hanging over the edge. Your weight should be centered over the nose and slightly to the rear. Do not lean forward. Slide until you slow down or feel ready to land it. Push your body away from the obstacle with your front foot. Push down on your back foot and turn your body backside as the nose slides off the obstacle. Land your back wheels and pivot the nose away from the obstacle until you are again rolling alongside it.
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Frontside Fifty-Fifty
Learn to ollie onto the curb or obstacle, or at least as high, and be able to land your axles on its edge. Approach almost parallel to, but slightly at it. Ollie and try to level the board as you guide your back truck toward the edge. When your back truck makes contact with the edge, set your front truck down in the fifty-fifty position. Try to land on top of the curb or obstacle with just the two heelside wheels hanging over the edge. Remain totally on top of the board. Grind along until you start slowing or until disengagement is desired. Lift your front truck and pivot away from the edge. Push against the edge with your back foot as the board pivots off of it. Level the board as you descend for a smooth landing.
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Heelflip
The heelflip is like the ollie flip, except that the board spins toward the toe edge rather than the heel edge. It would be wise to learn the ollie flip before attempting the heelflip. Once having mastered the ollie flip, the heelflip is but a variation.
The heelflip entails ollieing and kicking your leading foot towards the toe-side edge of the nose, rather than towards the heelside edge as you would for an ollie flip. Your leading foot should be placed just behind the front bolts, not in the center of the board as for an ollie. The combined motions of ollieing upwards by pushing down with your trailing foot and kicking forward and to the toe-side edge with your leading foot will make the board spin. As it spins around, "catch" it with your feet once the topside is up again.
These are a few of the basics. For more trick tips, check out Growing Pains. There will be more soon, but until then, work on these!
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Email: cmmosier@yahoo.com