Skateboarding trick

A skateboarding trick

A skateboarding trick is a maneuver performed while skateboarding. Most skateboarding tricks are based on the Ollie (once called the Ollie Pop), which was invented by Alan "Ollie" Gelfand of Florida in the late 1970s. Skateboarding tricks can involve varials, jumps, flips, grabs, slides, grinds and stalls, and may even be combined with twists of various multiples of 180 degrees. Tricks which require some kind of ramp, sometimes a halfpipe, are known as transition tricks; the rest can be performed on flat ground or off of curbs and on rails and are known as street tricks.

Competitive skateboarding is primarily judged on the difficulty and success of such tricks.

Ollies

ollie

The ollie is a technique of jumping on a skateboard in a way that pops the board off the street by kicking the tail section (or the nose section in the case of a nollie). This action lifts the opposite end of the board, at which point the front foot (in the case of an ollie) will slide forward causing the rear end to level out. Once this is achieved the rider lands all four wheels on the ground and rolls away with their knees bent.

nollie

The nollie jump pops the board off the street by kicking the nose section of the skateboard. It follows the same principles as a regular 'ollie', but is more difficult because the front foot is used to pop the board. It is called a 'nollie' for two reasons.

1. Because it is a Nose Ollie.
2. Because it is a Natas Ollie, after its inventor Natas Kaupas

switch ollie

The same principle as an ollie, but it is performed switch stance.

fakie ollie

An ollie performed while rolling backwards. Equivalent to a switch nollie, but it was invented before the nollie.

frontside ollie

A Frontside ollie is a short term for a Frontside 180 Ollie also dubbed as F/S 180. It involves doing a 180 ollie towards either to the left or right(if the skater's right foot is on the tail, then they would spin left, opposite if left foot is on tail). The reason it is called a Frontside 180 Ollie is since when you execute the trick, you will be facing what is directly in front of the nose while in motion.

Ollie/Flip Tricks

pop shove-it

A pop-shove it is like a regular shove it, only the board gains more height. This trick can be used to form a compund with a kickflip, forming a varial kickflip.

360-shove-it

This trick is simply a shove-it execpt that the board is rotated 360 degrees instead of 180.

Kickflip

A kickflip is an ollie where you kick the board and make it spin under your feet before you land. The board flips such that the toe side of the board moves upwards initially.

Heelflip

A heelflip is a variant of the ollie in which the board spins towards the riders front while maintaining its direction of movement. Basically like a kickflip but the board spins the opposite way.The heelflip is sometimes deemed harder than the kickflip since that you are kicking the board with a much harder-to-control part of your foot.The trick involves the rider to ollie ,slide the front foot up at an angle and kick the board with your heel...hence the name.

Nollieflip

The Nollieflip flips the same way like the kickflip but you pop it with the nose (with your front foot). All variations you can do in regular or goofy stance are possible in the "nollie-way", too.

Varial kickflip

A varial kickflip is a trick which is a variation of a pop shove-it and kickflip. The board spins 180 degrees whilst flipping.

Varial heelflip

A varial heelflip combines a frontside pop shove-it with a heelflip.

Inward heelflip

An inward heelflip combines a backside pop-shove-it with a heelflip.

Hardflip

A hardflip combines a frontside pop shove-it with a kickflip. Due to the difficulty of this trick, a similar looking variation has been popularised which is similar to the pop shove-it, in which the board rotates as it would with a pop shove-it only at a higher angle, so the board rotates 180 degrees vertically rather than horizontally, like a pirouette. The former version was the original version, but the latter has become popular enough that it is performed by several professionals (e.g. Chet Thomas, Ryan Gallant and Kris Markovich), and appears in this form in a certain popular skateboarding video game.

360 Flip

A classic street trick first invented by technical freestyle legend, Rodney Mullen, and originally popularised as a street trick by pro-skater turned actor Jason Lee. This is the combination of a 360 pop shove-it with a kickflip. Also known as 360 kickflip, 3 flip or tre flip.

360 Heelflip

Also known as the Laser Flip. The origin of this trick is not clear though it was probably performed not too long after the 360 flip. This is in the same style as the 360 flip except that it is a combination of the 360 pop-shoveit and the heelflip. This is a much more difficult trick to perform than the 360 flip, but it is unpopular due to its low visual appeal.

Impossible

As the name suggests this is one of the most difficult skateboarding tricks. This was invented by skateboarding pioneer and legend, Rodney Mullen in the early 1980s, and has never really achieved popularity amongst professionals, except with Ed Templeton. To achieve this, the board does a complete backflip in mid air. The reverse of this trick the Front Foot Impossible, was also invented by Mullen.

Caballerial

This trick was first performed and named after pro Steve Caballero in the mid 1980s. This trick consists of riding backwards (or nollie) and then performing a fakie ollie followed by a 360 degree rotation, landing in switch again, or if performed on a ramp, as it was originally, landing forwards. The skateboarding trick the, half-cab, is a reference to the caballerial and as the name suggests it is a 180 rotation (either BS or FS) rather than the full 360.

Big Spin

As the name suggests a big spin has many parts "spining". One would spin their board 360 degrees, much like a 360 shove-it. In the same time the performer would do a body varial in th same direction, which is simply spining 180 degrees in the air. This trick can be executed in many different ways: Nollie, fakie, frontside, backside.

Grabs

Indy grab

This is a generic skateboarding trick that has been performed since the days of longboarding and 1970s "old skool" skateboarding. This trick is performed mainly while Vert skating e.g. on halfpipes. This trick is where the skater grabs the middle of his board, in the middle of his feet on the side his toes are pointing (frontside).Although this move can be done on flat land it is much easier on a ramp. This grab trick is the basic of all vert skaters and is usually combined with spins, kickflips and heelflips. Originally referred to only as a "frontside grab", and airing on a ramp frontside while grabbing in this was was called a frontside air. The name "indy air" was coined for airing backside while grabbing frontside. For some reason, people now call grabbing this way an indy grab regardless of which direction the air is performed.

Stalefish grab

Named by skateboarding legend Tony Hawk. The back hand grabs the heel side of the board behind the back leg. This results in a bending of both legs which can be emphasised to create more style. When this is done on a trick it is called a 'tweak'.

Airwalk grab

This trick goes way back to 1980s freestyle and has been made famous by legend, Rodney Mullen. Originally done on flat ground this is where the skater ollies quite high and catches the board in a nose grab. While in the nose grab, he holds it out beside him and spreads his legs apart so that it looks like he's walking in mid-air. Contrary to those who play Tony Hawk's Pro Skater this trick is very rarely performed on ramps.

Early grab

The early grab was widely used when vert skateboarding started out In fact, everybody used the early grab, until Alan "Ollie" Gelfand invented the ollie. The Early Grab is a very basic trick and can be carried out in the following way:

1. Ride up a ramp or to a ledge (using a small ledge to start with) at a comfortable pace to catch a little air.
2. Before you get to the top of the ramp or to the edge of the ledge, crouch down and grab your board any way you see fit.
3. Ride off the ramp or ledge. (Remember to keep the board under you.)
4. Let go of the board and stand up to get ready for impact.
5. Land.

Nose grab

For a nose grab one grabs hold of the front (nose) of one's skateboard whilst one's feet are in an ollie position.

Tail grab

A tail grab is like a nose grab except you grab the tail.

Rocket Air

Rocket air is much like nose grab but using two hands plus both feet are put together on the tail. It can be attempted on a ramp or a vert. On flat ground, it is an extremely difficult maneuver.

Cannonball grab

The skateboarder ollies then grabs both ends of the board (nose and tail) and holds them. This makes the skater crouch and appear small and round in shape, like a cannonball, hence the name. This trick can also be done as an early grab.

Gorilla Grab

Also known as the double handed indy grab . This is where the skater performs an indy grab but grabs the board with both hands, looking slightly like a gorilla , hence the name.

Benihana

Named after the restaurant chain, this trick was invented by the skateboarder Fernando Nieto. Andy McDonald then refined this trick. To execute, first you do an ollie, preferably on a ramp. Do a tail grab while extending your front foot along the board towards and over the nose. The trick looks like a tail grab but with the board held closely near the inside of the the front leg as it is extended. Once very popular in the early 1990s particularly when done down stair sets by pros such as Jamie Thomas, this trick is not as popular at the present time, and is indeed considered a bad trick by many people.

Melon grab

Also known as a backside grab. This trick is quite a difficult trick to perform and as a result is considered very impressive when performed on vert ramps. This is where the skater grabs the back of his board, in the middle of the two heels and then the legs are extended forwards creating a stylish "layback" look to it.

Method

This grab originates from snowboarding and was made popular by pro vert skaters such as Tony Hawk. This is similar to the melon grab only when the board is grabbed the knees are bent so the board is raised backwards and the skater appears to be kneeling in mid-air.

Madonna grab

This grab was invented by skateboarding legend Tony Hawk in the 1990s. The trick involves grabbing the board like a nosegrab and then the front foot is taken off and extended like the skater was standing. The back foot remains on the back of the board. The original trick then involved tapping the tail of the board in the lip of the ramp as it was landed, and was only called a madonna when performed frontside, but since a certain video game became popular, this is now considered the name of the grab.

Judo grab

Again this trick was invented by Tony Hawk. Similar to the Madonna grab the board is grabbed like a nosegrab and then the front foot is taken off and extended outwards away from the skater while the back foot and the board are brought behind the skater so the skater almost appears to be doing a martial arts, Judo kick in mid air, hence the name.

Mute grab

This trick has caused much confusion in the past as it is a quite complex trick to understand. Many believe it is an indy grab but grabbed with the oppsite hand. This is false. A mute grab is where the skater grabs the board on the heelside of the board( backside) just ahead of the front foot but not quite on the nose. It is done with the furthermost hand so that the arm is brought across the body to grab the board. This trick is often confused with the seatbelt air grab due to this concept.

Christ Air

This trick has also caused confusion thanks to the inclusion of it in the Sony Playstation game series, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. Although unclear as to the origins of the trick is is closely related to the vert trick, the varial. The trick involves grabbing the board and then assuming a crucifixion stance, like Jesus Christ, hence the name.

Slides and grinds

The bench to the lower right shows the characteristic marks produced by slides and grinds.

A slide is on the board; a grind on the skateboard trucks.

50-50

This trick's name was originally given to a freestyle trick where the skater stands on the truck of the board while the board balences on the tail. However it has given way to the name "truckstand" and this popular grind trick has taken the name 50-50. When you 50-50 you ollie towards a rail or ledge, in the hope of landing with both trucks on the rail or ledge.

Links:

• slick description from a magazine

Nosegrind

A nosegrind consists of a grind on the front truck of the skateboard. Similar to the nosemanual, except grinding.

Boardslide

A boardslide consists of a slide on the middle of the skateboard. A boardslide must be when the front trucks are placed over the rail/ledge as it is approuched. Not to be confused with the lip slide which is when the back trucks are placed over the rail/ledge first. Note that a backside boardslide involves sliding forwards, while a frontside boardslide involves sliding backwards.

Lip slide

Similar to a boardslide only the skater turns 90 degrees so that the back trucks are placed over the rail/ledge and the skater slides on the middle of the board while facing forwards. It is harder than a boardslide. Note that in this case a frontside lipslide involves facing forwards while a backside lipslide involves facing backwards.

Noseslide

A noseslide is performed by riding parallel to an obstacle (ledge, rail, etc...) with your toes facing it. The skateboarder then does an ollie and turns the board 90 degrees so that their toes turn towards the ledge. They then land on the ledge with the nose of the board sliding on top of it. The skateboarder can then come off the ledge either regular or fakie (backwards).

Tailslide

Similar to the noseslide only when turning 90 degrees the tail of the board is landed on the edge of the ledge/rail. This trick is often flipped into and out of.

Blunt slide

A blunt slide consists of a slide between the underside of the tail and the back wheels sliding sideways.

Noseblunt slide

Same as a blunt slide only performed with the nose and the front wheels. This is probably one of the hardest slides to perform and so often done by pros on handrails.

5-0 grind

In this maneuver, you first ollie onto a rail or ledge, then put all your weight on your back foot so that the back truck is grinding. This move is similar to the manual.

Smith grind

This grind is especially impressive out of all the grind tricks as it requires a lot of skill and style to pull off. When ollie-ing onto the rail/ledge the board turns to that the back trucks land on it and the front of the board hangs down to the nearside of the rail/ledge. This makes the trick appear sort of crooked. Usually considered a bit harder than a tailslide. It is kind of like a cross between a lipslide and a 50-50.

Feeble grind

Not unlike the Smith grind. Only when ollieing onto the rail/ledge the back trucks land on it and the rest of the board hangs down over the far side of the rail/ledge. This is kind of like a cross between a boardslide and a 50-50.

Crooked grind

Also called crooks, or the K-grind after the man to whom the trick is most commonly accredited (although nobody can say for sure who really invented it), Eric Koston. This is similar to the nosegrind only the board is turned at an angle, towards the side of the rail/ledge that the skater came from. It's kind of a cross between a noseslide and a nosegrind. Backside crooked grinds are significantly easier than backside nosegrinds.

Overcrook grind

Similar to the crooked grind only the board is turned over the other side of the rail/ledge the skater came from, hence the name. This name is commonly used, and is in a certain skateboarding video game. However, you will also hear/see it called ollie over to crooked grind, or the rather strange "noseblunt grind".

Salad Grind

This is very similar to the 5-0 only at a slightly crooked angle, such that the front wheels go over the obstacle on which the grind is performed. Like the "overcrook" grind is like a crooked nosegrind the Salad grind is like a crooked 5-0. This trick has been invented by Eric Dressen, hence the name (dressen, dressing, salad dressing).

Hurricane/Sugarcane

This is a very hard trick to describe and perform. When approached from the frontside (toes facing the rail/ledge) a hurricane is best describe as a "backwards smith grind". The board is turned 180 and the front of the board is now hanging over the far side of the rail while the back truck grinds forwards. The sugarcane is the same concept only it is more like a "backwards feeble grind" where the front of the board now hangs over the nearest side of the rail/ledge.

Crail Slide

This is a tailslide only the skater grabs the nose of the board with his back hand while sliding. Usually performed on a ramp.

Dark slide

This was originally performed by Mark Gonzales in 1991. He grabbed his board upside down, jumped and placed his board onto a rail upside down and slid down it like a boardslide, but sliding on the griptape side of his board, and then flipped his board the right way up at the bottom of the rail, landed on the board and rolled away. The trick in its modern form, however was invented by Rodney Mullen back in 1993. The dark slide is the same as a board slide (though has also been performed like a lip slide , except that it is performed on the top side of the board. (The side with the grip tape). Often performed on a highly waxed ledge but Rodney Mullen has alos been known to perform this on a hand rail.

Lip tricks

Lip tricks are performed on halfpipes, quarterpipes and mini ramps. They consist of tricks that require different varieties of balance on the "lip" of the ramp (this is the metal coping at the top of the curved ramp). Stalls and inverts are performed to link tricks together and also allow a great deal of innovation and style.

Nose stall

Fernando Nieto, a professional skateboarder of 15 years invented this trick. To perform this trick, skate at a moderate speed, do an ollie but keep your foot on the nose. Land the nose on an edge and you have now performed nose stall.

Axle stall

An axle stall is a stall on both trucks of a skateboard. It is used commonly to regain composure before performing another trick or to "drop in" on a ramp.

Tail Stall

Similar to a nose stall only the board is turned 180 degrees and the tail is placed on the lip. The most common form of "dropping in" on a ramp is to start off in tail stall.

Rock to fakie

This is a quick, common and easy lip trick performed mostly to link trick together on mini ramps. The front truck is placed over the lip of the ramp and then the board is "rocked" slightly before coming back down backwards (fakie).

Rock and Roll

Similar to the Rock to Fakie only a quick 180 is done as you come off the lip so that you don't ride fakie.

Blunt Stall

More commonly known as a Blunt to fakie. This is a very hard trick where the back truck is placed over the lip of the ramp and the tail is placed on the lip, appearing like a stationary blunt slide, hence the name. As small ollie is then performed to come off the lip and ride back down the ramp in fakie. You can also do a small 180 ollie out, if you ollie out frontside you get a frontside blunt stall, and likewise for a backside 180.

Nose blunt stall

Like the blunt to fakie, only a 180 degree turn is done at the top of the ramp so the nose is used in the same fasion as the blunt stall. A nollie is then done to come back into the ramp.

Nose pick

This is often confused with the nose blunt stall and vice versa. The only difference is that the nose pick is done with the front truck on the lip and is often grabbed to help the skater back into the ramp.

Disaster

This trick is where the skater rotates 180 degrees and lands in the centre of his board with the front trucks facing towards the ramp and the back trucks over the lip. The skater then leans forwards to return back in the ramp.

Inverts/Handplants

This is a complex lip trick where the skater grabs his board and plants a hand on the coping so that he is balencing upside down on the lip of the ramp. Many variations as to where the board is grabbed and how the legs are arranged make for a number of different ricks of this type. Examples are: Eggplant, Andrecht Invert, Gymnast Plant, Sadplant, Burntwist, One Foot Invert etc

Miscellaneous tricks

McTwist

The McTwist is a 540-degree backside rotation in a vert ramp. Originally performed with a mute grab, but now any old 540 grab is called a McTwist.

Rodeo

Like a McTwist, except performed frontside.

Wall ride

This is a difficult, impressive trick where the skater places all four wheels onto a wall and rides along vertically until ollieing off. This ollie is known as a "wallie". If the skater grabs the board and kicks against the wall with his foot it is known as a "wallplant".

Boneless

This classic trick dates back to the retro freestyling era and the longboarding days of skateboarding. This includes many variations such as the beanplant and the fastplant, but basically the principle is where the skater grabs his board while simultaneously stepping off the board and jumping with one foot. The skater then replaces the board under his feet and lands. It is commonly used to gain more height or performed down stair sets.

Another variation of this trick is as a lip trick on a ramp. The skater ollies out of the ramp and then grabs the board, takes their front foot off and puts it on the ramp, then jumps off their foot and puts it back on the board and rolls back into the ramp.

No Comply

The front foot slides off the side of the board. with the body weight on the back foot over the tail, the board 'snaps' up and can be guided with the back leg/knee. To ride away the skate jumps with his/her front foot back on.

Acid drops/bomb drops

These are slightly different street tricks but more or less used in the same fasion. An acid drop is where the skater uses his board to ollie off an object e.g. a wall, from a tail stall position onto a lower surface. A bomb drop is similar only the board is usually held and then placed under the feet, mid jump.

Casper

This trick is a freestyle trick that was invented by Rodney Mullen in the early 1980s. It can be used while moving or to link a chain of freestyle tricks in one combo. It involves sliding or standing with the board upside down, so the griptape on the tail is in connection with the floor while the front foot holds the rest of the board above the ground. The reverse of this is the Anti-capser which is the same principle only applied to the nose of the board.

It's easiest to learn to casper while standing still. To get into casper: (note your stance needs to be like kickflip stance, but you are on your toes with your front foot and the front foot has to be at the top bolts, the further your foot is up the board the easier it is).

You tap down after you have popped the board this will cause the board to half flip on to your front foot and you then land you back foot on the tail which shoud be upside down, using your front foot to hold the rest of the board above the ground.

When you have perfected the casper while you are still you can then try it moving. This is more difficult but can be achieved with practice. After a while when you can do it moving you will find that you will catch it and be able to get a slide out of it. Exiting casper can be achieved in many ways but keep it basic and just flip it back with your front foot. The casper can be time consuming to learn and the slide is the hardest part but after much practice you will get it.

Freestyle tricks

Freestyle skateboarding was pioneered by many skateboadrers in the early days of skateboarding back in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The most notebale of all was Rodney Mullen who's innovation and unquie, mind boggling skill has led him to invent most of the basic tricks we see around us today. Freestyle in its hayday was performed on flat ground and required a lot of balence and co-ordination. The aim was to carry on a series of different tricks in one continous combo without landing all four trucks on the ground (signalling the end of a trick). In this way a skater could balence on two wheels or on the end of his board while still flipping into and out of tricks. Many tricks such as the manual, casper , tic-tac or the Spacewalk were used to link tricks together without ending the combo. In competitions points were awarded for style and variation of tricks. Although not as popular today as vast majority of street tricks done today would not have been possible without freestyle.

External links

• Smith and Feeble Trick Tips
• Simplesam7's Skate Tricks Tips Page
• Bob's Trick Tips
• Transworld Skateboarding