Kick flip
HOW TO KICKFLIP – There is a lot of hype surrounding the kickflip and it is probably the most popular trick in skating today. The kickflip is a lot easier than many think. A KICKFLIP IS VERY, VERY SIMILAR TO AN OLLIE. Stand on the board as you would for an ollie, but have your front foot slightly more on the edge of the board.
Start the kickflip just as you would an ollie and drag the front foot straight up the board from it’s starting position. (Just by doing this the board should flip in the air) When your foot reaches the kick drag it off the edge off the board to allow the deck to rotate freely. Once the deck has flipped over once, use your back foot to catch the deck. From here the front foot should be stomped back onto the deck, evening out your weight between both feet. Hit the ground and roll away! Catch the sequence above to get the idea.
Heel flip
How to Heelflip – The heelflip is a great trick. A heelflip is flipping the board in the opposite direction to a kickflip. This trick is relatively simple however many people do it wrong and end up getting no where near. First things first. The heelflip requires exactly the same action as a kickflip but in the opposite direction. The only difference is where to place your feet when beginning a heelflip place your feet in exactly the same position as you would as ollie. Initiate the trick as you would an ollie however when dragging your foot up the board, drag your front foot OVER the board and up towards the nose. This should cause the board to flip and level out in a fluent motion ready to be caught with the back foot and rode away.
There are many errors that people make when trying this trick but here is the main two. DO NOT place your heel on the opposite side of your board. This will cause the board to flip behind you with no chance of pulling the trick off.
The second is that people don’t concentrate on levitating the board into the air but focus all their efforts on getting the board to flip. Do this and the board will FLIP INTO YOUR BUTT. The ollie factor and the flipping factor are equally important in this trick. Flip on!
Hard flip
How to hardflip – this is trick is perhaps one of the most popular new skool “tech” tricks. The trick involves the board flipping through the skaters legs, simultaneously performing a backflip and a half rotation. The motion for this trick is similar to one method of the frontside flip. 1 – To perform this trick roll at a slow to moderate pace with your feet in a ‘forward’ stance, that is pointing more forward than usual. Begin the hardflip by jamming down the back kick and dragging the front foot upwards. As the front foot is moving up the deck drag it off the side as you would in a kickflip.
2 – If you are just starting this trick the importance of the ‘forward’ stance comes into play here. You need to open your legs to allow the board to flip through them (a mistake here could hurt) without rotating your body 180degrees as is done in the frontside flip. Your bad foot needs to ‘circle’ to avoid the tail of the board. This trick can either be caught with the front or the back foot depending on the skater but for the learner I’d suggest the front. I suggest this because the board will be easiest to see at that point and your back foot will be avoiding the tail. Catch the board, stomp it and roll away.
3 – With the board itself: the board performs a backflip and a half-twist and it is important that your feet engineer each of these movements. When you pop the tail it needs to be popped quite hard to send the board into the backflip.
4 – In addition to this, when your front foot is dragged up the board, it should be moved ‘gently’ off the side of the board, that is, not trying to flip it fully as you would in a kickflip, but giving it enough force to rotate halfway around. All this seems fairly complex for a relatively simple motion but perhaps that is why it is called the “hard flip”
Nollie
HOW TO NOLLIE- I’ll describe this trick in stages
1)In order to learn this trick, you must fell confident with your ollies, because the nollie requires exactly the same concepts.
2) To begin, place your comfortably on the nose and your back foot just over the middle board.
3) Push down on the nose to get the best pop;the harder you push, the higher you go. Now your back foot helps you come off the ground by sliding it up the board.
4) When you feel like you have reached maximum hight, your board should have levelled out, parallel to the ground
5) Now wait until you hit the ground, and like everybody says, roll away smoothly.
NOTE: If you are trying this trick over an object, you must start to nollie a little bit sooner to allow the nose can clear it.