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. Thank you and have a
nice day, bunghole.
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.
Frontside Fifty-Fifty
Learn to ollie onto the curb or obstacle,
or at least as high, and be able to andyour 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.
