Thursday, July 19, 2012

Four Basic Stances in Skateboarding

Photo credits to Gordon Gabrinez
One of the things that you have to know in skateboarding is the different stances for skateboarding tricks. These stances make a trick harder or easier but mostly, it depends upon you and your preferred tricks.

There are four basic stances in skateboarding: fakie, nollie, switch and normal. So for every normal trick, there are three other ways to do it. So if you learned a new trick, you can instantly try it on different stances to multiply your tricks. ;)



  • Normal stance. This is your preferred stance with your front foot on the front trucks and your back foot on the tail going forward. There are two kind of skaters out there: regular and goofy. Goofy skaters skate with their right foot forward and regular skaters use their left.
  • Fakie. A fakie is the exact opposite of nollie. This is where you place your front foot in the middle of the board and your back foot on the nose, going forward. For me, fakie is much easier compared to a nollie and are good for beginners like us.
  • Nollie. Nollie is fakie on switch stance. What happens is that your back foot is on the nose and your front foot is in the middle of the board. The weird thing is most skaters that are comfortable with nollie, struggle with fakie.
  • Switch. Switch is the exact opposite of either regular or goofy stance. For regular skaters, the switch stance would be goofy and vice versa. Switch is not for the faint hearted and is recommended that you be accustomed to riding a skateboard.

Get comfortable with each of these stances throughout your sessions. This will help you get accustomed with riding a skateboard. Start rolling slowly, especially for nollie and switch, then you can move up your speed and accomplish tricks.

For beginners, understanding these stances can be quite confusing. But I do hope this article helped you with any misunderstandings with the stances. If you have any suggestions, you can comment or contact us.

Skate safe and see you next post. :)

Friday, July 13, 2012

Know How to Kickflip the Easy Way

One of the basic skateboarding tricks is the kickflip. Though it might be basic, learning the kickflip is not as easy as it sounds. You have to gain control of your board and practice as much as you can to earn consistency and to perfect the trick.

But before learning how to kickflip, it is recommended that you learn how to ollie first. This is because you need to pop your board just enough to let it spin under you while you are in the air. Here are the steps on how to kickflip:

Local Skater Eric Perez with a kickflip down

  1. Pop the board with footing similar to an ollie.
  2. Extend and flick your brushing foot to flip the board.
  3. Let the board spin by synchronizing your movements with it. If you have to, move your foot up closer to your body to let it spin under you.
  4. Catch it and roll away.

If you have landed one first time or first try, tap yourself in the back and congratulations. But the kickflip is one of the hardest skateboard tricks for beginners. So here are some tips to guide you.

  • “Half baked” flips are usually because you are not flicking hard enough. Try putting on some force on your flips, not too much, just enough to make it spin.
  • If the board is shooting outward with one foot on it, jump forward and follow the board.
  • Landing it but you always slip? Try landing it with your foot on your trucks and gain balance as you practice.
  • Practice your kickflip while rolling rather than being stationary. This will help you learn the trick faster.
  • If you always land it on one foot without the board shooting out, don’t be afraid to step on it your next try. Be confident about your footing and if there is something you are not doing right, change that and try again.

Practicing a skateboard trick takes time and patience. Just have fun and feel the moment. Remember, all good skaters know what it feels like to practice, fall down and try again. That is why they are good at it, because they try and try until they have perfected a certain trick.

By the way, if you have any suggestions or helpful tips, you can contact me or comment on this page. Sorry for the late post, been really busy with work and other stuff that needed to be done. I’ll be posting videos soon enough so watch out for it.

See ya on the next post and skate safe!

:)

Monday, July 2, 2012

5 Basic Tricks on a Skateboard

Sorry for the sketch. :D
Skateboarding involves many different tricks depending on how “gnarly” you are on it. Basically, the gnarlier the better. For us beginners, let us reserve those gnarly tricks in the future and focus on basic yet essential ones that you would later find important in complex skateboarding tricks.

Learning basic tricks on a skateboard can come a long way than having to master a single one without going through the “trick ladder” as I’d like to call it. These tricks are easy and achievable for beginners if he/she has the perseverance to do so. Even though these are basic, safety always needs to come first since we are not yet accustomed to riding a skateboard.

Here are some of the basics in skateboarding that you can learn easily and is fit for beginners:



  1. Ollie. The ollie is one of the most basic yet important skateboard tricks. Flips and some shoves or perhaps the combination of both depend on how much you have mastered this trick.
  2. Shove it or shuvit. Though not as essential as ollies, shuvits are important if you want to master big spins, shoves and varial flips whether frontside or backside.
  3. 180. 180 refers to the angle in which your skateboard turns. If you have mastered this trick, you can head over to 360. Just like shuvits, this trick also has a frontside and backside.
  4. Nollie and fakie. Though not really a trick nollie and fakey refers to the  stance in which you are going to perform a certain trick. This increases the number of tricks that you have running in either regular, nollie or fakie.
  5. Manuals. Still considered as a trick, manuals are easy for beginners. All you need to do is run in 2 wheels whether lifting your nose or your tail. When you have mastered this trick, you can incorporate all sorts of tricks with it.

Tricks on a skateboard are constantly evolving because of many talented individuals that are contributing to the sport. If you are hoping to improve your skills in skateboarding, you would really need to work hard to master all the tricks that are mentioned above.

If you think that I have missed one or a couple of basic tricks, don’t hesitate to comment or get in touch with me. Everyone is welcome to share their feedback.

Thank you and see you next post!