5 Best Tricks for Beginner Skateboarders
Other than knowing how to roll, these beginner tricks are essential to anyone interested in picking up a skateboard as a hobby.
1. Ollie
Learning how to ollie will teach you fundamental skills that you will need to master every other skateboarding trick out there.
While the movements for an ollie are pretty simple to understand, taking the time to perfect the muscle memory will help you out a ton in the long run.
How to Ollie:
- Pop the front side of the board upward with your back foot
- Jump once the board has lifted
- Slide your foot to the top of the nose
- Lift your back foot to level out the board
- Land after achieving lift
Practice this trick while staying in one spot at first. Once you have the movements down, start practicing your ollies while rolling forward.
The biggest piece of advice any skater will give you is to have patience and keep at it. Some people can learn to do a reliable ollie in a few weeks, others might need a couple of months. Being confident doing this basic trick in all different capacities will pay huge dividends later on when you are trying to learn something like a pop shuvit or kickflip.
Even if you find yourself struggling early on, it’s important to remember that different people are better at different tricks. The extra time you spent learning how to ollie might be saved later on when you find you are a natural at a more advanced trick.
2. Fakie Ollie
Once you are confident in your ability to ollie while rolling forward, mastering the ollie while rolling backward will help you feel even more comfortable moving around on the board.
Learning curves are drawn out when skaters are too nervous to hurt themselves.
How to Fakie Ollie:
- Start rolling
- Position your feet on the back of the board as if you were rolling forward
- Pop the front side of the board upward with your back foot
- Jump once the board has lifted
- Slide your foot to the top of the nose
- Lift your back foot to level out the board
- Land after achieving lift
It might take some time to get comfortable rolling backward, especially after spending so much time practicing while moving forward, but this trick should come a lot easier since you already know how to do the ollie movements.
Make sure you are utilizing the grip tape on the board properly — it will give you the friction you need to pull these tricks off without putting in too much force. If your board is lacking effective grip tape, there are some good grip tape options out there that you can get for less than $15.
3. Pop Shuvit
While a pop shuvit looks way cooler than just an ollie, the movements you need to make for an ollie are actually a little more complex.
But since the board is actually spinning, it can feel a little more intimidating — this is where the confidence from spending weeks on the ollie can come in. Don’t be afraid to get out there with an aggressive start.
Essentially, a pop shuvit is making the board do a horizontal 180-degree spin. Your back foot will be doing most of the work here, you will only be using your front foot to catch the board from spinning past the 180-degree point.
How to Pop Shuvit:
- Pop the front side of the board upward with your back foot
- At the same time, scoop the board backward with your back foot
- Keep your front foot in the air until the backside of the board has turned 180-degrees
- Land both feet after completing the spin
Once you’ve put in the hours to master this trick, you will finally have a little flair to show off for all your hard work.
4. Kickflip
The kickflip is probably one of the most iconic skateboarding tricks around. It is also the point where a little bit more skill and finesse on the board is needed to pull it off.
There are two major components to this trick: the pop and the kick. Spend some time visualizing the trick and going over the movements in your head before even stepping on your board.
If you don’t understand the movements of the board, you will only get frustrated by a lack of technique.
How to Kickflip:
- Keep your front foot slightly angled at the nose of the board
- Pop the front side of the board upward with your back foot
- As you pop the front of the board upward, kick your foot upward and outward toward the nose (this causes the “flip” motion to occur)
- Wait for the board to fully spin, then catch it with your front foot
- Land on both feet after completing the spin
5. Heelflip
Once you understand the mechanics of a kickflip, the heelflip is essentially the same trick — you are just positioning your foot a little differently and kicking out the opposite way.
For this trick, you want your front foot to be positioned similarly to how you would set up an ollie, except that you want your toes to slightly hang off the board.
How to Heelflip:
- Keep your front foot in the ollie position with the toes of your front foot hanging slightly off the board
- Pop the front side of the board upward with your back foot
- As you pop the front of the board upward, kick your foot upward and inward toward the nose (this causes the “flip” motion to occur)
- Wait for the board to fully spin, then catch it with your front foot
- Land on both feet after completing the spin
Once you have any of the tricks figured out, the next step is learning how to do them from different starting points — rolling, drops or any other starts you can think of will help you become more and more comfortable on your board.
- Lifestyle Staff
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