How to Skateboard | Teen Ink

How to Skateboard

May 22, 2008
By Anonymous

Warning: these tricks may result in serious injuries!
Before you start skateboarding, you will need to know how to stand on your skateboard. There are two different ways to stand on a skateboard, regular, and goofy. You will have to choose the way that feels most natural for you.
The regular stance is where you stand with your left foot at the front of the board, and your right foot on the tail. Goofy is the exact opposite; you have your right foot at the front and left foot on the tail.
If you have ever been snowboarding or wakeboarding, you should already know which foot you like to have first. If you haven't, you can find out very easily. You can either just try pushing yourself along on a skateboard while riding regular and then goofy and choosing the one that is easier, or you can stand with your weight equally on both feet, and have someone push you from behind. This will cause you to put a foot out to stop yourself from falling, and the foot that you put out is the foot you should ride with at the top of the skateboard.
How to ollie
The first trick I’m going to teach you is the Ollie. The ollie is one of the more basic, yet most important, skateboarding tricks. It is when you push down on the back end of the board, and then when the front end comes up, you bring the back end off the ground by pushing down on the front. This sounds more difficult than it is, and even though at first it might seem impossible, with practice, and many failed attempts, it will become much easier. Once you know how to ollie, you will be able to move on to most other skateboarding tricks, which begin with ollieing. You can learn how to ollie by either standing on the board without rolling, or you can get going slowly and try to learn while moving. It may be more difficult to learn if you are moving, because it is easier to lose your balance, and if you fall, it might hurt more.
Begin by placing your front foot in the middle of the skateboard, with your back foot on the very back end of it. If you don't know which foot you should put first try out both regular and goofy stances. Stand with your weight on your toes, so that you can push down hard on the skateboard when you ollie.
Push down hard on the back end of the skateboard. As soon as the front end comes up, slide your front foot up towards the top end of the skateboard, and then push down on the front end. As you do this, try to crouch your legs so that the board will be free to come up, making your ollie higher. This will bring the back end up off the ground, lifting the board into the air.
Keep your feet resting on the board (back foot near back end of the board and front foot close to the top.) Crouch your legs as you land to cushion the landing.
How to kickflip
The next trick I’m going to teach you how to do is a kickflip. The kickflip is similar to the ollie, but is more difficult in that you have to spin the board around in the air. This is done by kicking down on the edge of the board with the toe of your front foot, but First you have to learn how to ollie.
Put your back foot on the tail and your front foot behind the front screws. Start doing an ollie, but slide your foot off and kick down on the edge of your skateboard to make it flip around. Bring your front foot back up and stop the skateboard from spinning once it has flipped around. Then, bend your knees as you hit the ground.
How to manual
The third trick I’m going to teach you is the manual. First, you have to learn how to ollie.
Put your back foot on the tail and your front foot behind the front screws.
Start doing an ollie, but slide your front foot off and kick down on the edge of your skateboard to make it flip around.
Bring your front foot back up and stop the skateboard from spinning once it has flipped around. Then bend your knees as you hit the ground.
Push off to get moving at a reasonably quick speed toward the object you are going to manual onto. Objects ex: Any flat objects curb wooden box bench ground etc. Ollie put one foot on the tail and one foot in the middle of the board.
Land on the back wheels put most of your weight on your back foot keeping your front foot at the middle of the board for balance.
Let the front wheels touch the ground again when you're finished. To manual without ollieing onto something, do the same thing, but instead of ollieing and landing on the back wheels, simply gradually shift your weight to the back of the board while riding. Allow the front of the board to come up, keeping your front foot at the center of the board to balance yourself.
How to heelflip
The fourth trick I’m going to teach you is the Heelflip. A heelflip is a trick similar to an ollie, but is somewhat more complicated. The skateboarder ollies off the ground, and once the board is in the air flips the skateboard with his or her heel, so that the skateboard rotates around completely. Then the skateboarder lands on the board again and continues on. (The heelflip is a lot like a kickflip, but the board is rotating in the opposite direction.) Set up your feet the same way you do for an ollie, because we begin this trick by ollieing.
Ollie off the ground as soon as the skateboard is in the air, kick out your top foot, so that your heel pushes down the edge of the skateboard. (If you ride regular, you will be pushing the right side of the board down with your left heel. Similarly, goofy riders will be pushing down the left side of the board, and rotating it around to the left.) Try to keep your feet free from the spinning skateboard, because if you hit it with your feet, it will stop spinning. The board should rotate around once, without your feet coming in contact with it until it comes back around to the normal position.
Once the board is wheels-down again, straighten your legs so that your feet come to rest on the skateboard and then land on the ground with your feet in the same position

Now you have learned how to do the basic tricks once you get these tricks down you can go on to more complicated tricks. Pretty soon after you get these you can learn how to do tricks like a 360 heelflip, 360 kickflip etc. Now go become a true skater.


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