This is for those who are just learning to skateboard, and I am here to help you get off on the right foot. The first thing you will have to learn when it comes to skateboarding is balance, this is essential. You must have balance on the board, as this is everything when it comes to riding, cruising, tricks and other cool stuff.
Some people skate right foot, others will skate left-footed, also known as skating “goofy” foot. So instead of hopping on a skateboard for the first time and trying to Ollie, because you seen it in a video or read an article on how easy an Ollie is to learn, you need to have balance. You should be able to skateboard fast through a street, you should be able to turn left and right, and maneuver with ease, you should practice this until it becomes second nature. Once you have control over yourself and your skateboard, as one, THEN you are in the perfect position to learn how to Ollie, you will find that the Ollie will be much easier to learn once you have total control over the skateboard.
There are many tutorials that are on the internet on how to Ollie, including this blog, along with some really easy to follow videos to I might add. You will see in most of these, that the next trick you should learn would be the kickflip, I think that this is pushing it a little too far for the average skateboarder. Notice I said average, this meaning some people are meant for skateboarding and they pick up and learn tricks a hell of a lot easier than other people do, trust me I know, I was “average”, my best friend whom I skateboarded with had the skill to become pro.
Back to the hand at subject, now you should Ollie until you have it mastered. Once you are comfortable with the Ollie, try to do an Ollie up and down a curb, put a skateboard up sideways and try to Ollie over the board, once you have that down, try to Ollie over 2 boards.
By this time you should have great balance, you should be able to Ollie fast – and efficient. So let’s learn how to grind on a curb. The best place to find a good curb to grind on would be a skate park. If you cannot access a skate park, then there should be plenty of “street curbs” somewhere near your residence unless you live in the boondocks. Any curb can grind with the appropriate “surf was application”, although it is highly illegal in many cities to grind on their curbs and destroy other peoples property.
Old parking lot stumps make a great starter for learning how to grind, but they will need a lot of curb wax applied to them. If you are uncomfortable with grinding a curb, you could try an attempt a board slide on one, or get a small rail and position it off of the ground a couple of inches to make it a rail slide.
Then from there you can go on to nose slides, tail slides, nose grinds, back grinds, and the list goes on. Once you are comfortable with the board slides, nose slides, and 50-50 grinds on rails or boards a couple of inches off of the ground, then you have your balance down. Now….would be the best time to move onto flat street tricks that are appealing to the eye such as kick flips, heel flips, variels, 360 flips and more.
Comments on this entry are closed.