Skateboarding trick

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A skateboarding trick (Inward Heelflip)

A skateboarding trick is a maneuver performed on a skateboard while skateboarding. Most 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 half-pipe, are known as transition or vert 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.

Most of these skateboard tricks were named before the release of the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater video game. Some were named afterwards, and some were actually made up for the game.

Contents

1 Ollie
2 Flip Tricks
3 Aerials
4 Grabs
5 Grinds
6 Slides
7 Lip tricks
8 Freestyle tricks
9 Miscellaneous tricks
10 External links
11 References

Ollie

Main article: Ollie

The ollie is an aerial skateboarding trick which is the basis for most tricks and is an essential trick to learn. While performing an ollie, the skateboarder does not grab his board with his hands, toes or accessories attached to the skateboard. The ollie is usually performed by "popping," or stomping, the rear end of the skateboard with the back foot while jumping and sliding the front foot, all at the same time.

Various types of ollie include the nollie (stomping the front of the board with the front foot), switch ollie (changing the foot position and doing an ollie), and fakie ollie (a switch nollie, or changing the foot position and doing the nollie like one would do an ollie in the regular foot position).

This trick was invented for vert by Alan Gelfand in 1976. It was later that Rodney Mullen, experimenting with some freestyle routines, discovered a different way to ollie, effectively opening the trick up for street skateboarders.

Flip Tricks

Main article: Flip tricks (skateboarding)

A flip trick is any trick where the board flips or spins in the air. Many tricks cause the skateboard to flip end-over-end or upside down. Many simple tricks, such as a kickflip (flipping the board towards your heels with the front foot) and heelflip (flipping the board towards your toes with the front foot, usually with the heel), as well as a pop shove it (spinning the board 180 degrees; there are different versions), can be combined to form more complex flip tricks. Flip tricks are an essential part of street skateboarding.

The best way to learn about what tricks are actually named is to either read a skateboarding magazine and/or talk with someone who has been skateboarding for at least a few years. Many tricks have several names, or their names are shortened or abbreviated to avoid tediously long trick-names (ex: "backside 180 kickflip" is usually called "backside flip").

Aerials

Main article: Aerials (skateboarding)

Aerials, or more commonly 'airs', are tricks usually performed on half-pipes, pools or quarter pipes where there is a vertical wall with a transition (curved surface linking wall and ground) available. Aerials usually combine rotation with different grabs. Most of the different types of grabs were originally aerial tricks that were performed on vert ramps before flatground aerials became common. Aerials can be executed by ollieing just as the front wheels reach the lip, or can be executed simply by lifting the front wheels over the coping (or lip). The former is preferable on shallower ramps where the skateboarder has less speed to lift them above the ramp.

Grabs

Main article: Grabs (skateboarding)

Grabs are different ways to hold the skateboard during an aerial trick. Grabs usually combine aerials with rotation as the skateboarder grabs and holds the board. Grabs are also less commonly done in flatground skateboarding.

Grinds

Main article: Grinds (skateboarding)

The bench to the lower right shows the characteristic marks produced by slides, grinds and the use of wax.

Grinds are tricks where the skateboarder slides on the hangers (the part of the truck that holds the axle on which the wheels are attached) of the trucks. Grinds are performed on any object that is smooth enough to allow the truck to slide. They are commonly performed on handrails or the lips or edges of objects such as benches or ledges. Wax is often used on the surface or object that is being ground in order to help the trucks slide freely.

Slides

Main article: Slides (skateboarding)

A slide is a trick or a method of slowing down.

Riders wear special gloves with plastic attached to the palms. At higher speeds, riders will put their hand on the ground, and the wheels will slide sideways because the rider's weight is off the board. This is also the technique for drifting a corner at high speeds in downhill racing.

This trick can best be compared to a skid on a bicycle. With enough speed, you turn sideways and lean back, and the back wheel slides out. You can still steer the bike by transferring your weight to different sides.

When the wheels are sliding sideways, this causes friction and slows the rider down. But if a rider is sliding fast enough, or with the right technique, they can perform trick slides. Slides can also be performed without gloves, while standing up, but these slides are much more difficult.

Lip tricks

Main article: Lip tricks

Lip tricks are performed on half-pipes, quarterpipes and mini ramps. They consist of tricks that require different varieties of balance on the "lip" of the ramp.

Freestyle tricks

Main article: Freestyle skateboarding tricks

A freestyle skateboarding trick is done while one is freestyle skateboarding. Freestyle skateboarding was pioneered by many skateboarders back in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The one of the most significant pioneers of the sport is Rodney Mullen, who invented many tricks commonly seen today, such as the Ollie Kickflip (originally called the Magic Flip). The aim for early freestyle was to carry on a series of different tricks choreographing the skateboarding to a soundtrack. Many tricks such as the Wheelie, Casper, Tic-tac and the Spacewalk were used to link tricks together. In competitions, points were awarded for style and variation of tricks choreographed to music. Most modern tricks were developed from these freestyle variations.

Miscellaneous tricks

A note to all editors:

Before adding a trick to the list, ask on to see if your trick is notable enough to add. Please keep all tricks in alphabetical order.

This is an [Incomplete listsincomplete list], which may never be able to satisfy certain standards for completeness. Revisions and additions are welcome.

Acid drops, Bomb drops: These are slightly different street tricks but more or less used in the same fashion. 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. Vert variation: A roll-in on vert from riding on the platform somewhat parallel to the coping, then rolling over the coping and dropping in. Not to be confused with a disaster in. The middle of the board never touches the coping. Popularized by Duane Peters who did the trick with an even harder variation: rolling straight in - perpendicular to the coping! Vert Bomb Drop - A drop-in done from above or on the coping. Stand on the object (extension, railing, etc.), and grab the board (any grab) and jump off and into the ramp, pool while placing your feet on the board. In 2006, Danny Way set the world record for bomb drop height, when he jumped 28 feet off the Hard Rock Cafe guitar in Las Vegas into a 56 foot high ramp (82'3 total height).

Boneless One: This classic trick, invented by Gary Scott Davis, dates back to the freestyling era of skateboarding. Variations include rotations, varials, and hand flips. 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. Since the 1980's the Boneless has lost much of it's popularity, however, there are still some cult skateboarders, such as Peter Vlad and Ali Boulala, that keep the trick alive.

Bean Plant: Like a boneless, but the skateboarder grabs the nose or grabs lien (heel-side of the nose) with his front hand.

Coffin: Similar to street luge. While skating at speed, the skateboarder moves to the front of the board. They sit down in the middle of the board, knees bent sharply, holding onto the sides of the board with both hands. They lean back until laying straight, and extend both feet ahead of the nose. Before the 1970s, this trick was performed like the early longboarders of the time, where the rider turns around and lays down backward/head first.

Fast plant: The skater ollies and grabs frontside (back hand on the toe-side of the board) while taking his back foot off the board, planting it on something, and jumping back on the board. Often used while launching out of quarter pipes or other transitions over an object.

No-Comply, Step-Hop, No-Hand Boneless: 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 skater jumps with his/her front foot back on. The No-Comply was commonly used by street skaters in the mid to late 80's, most commonly being done off parking blocks by bumping the tail off of them. This trick has many variations, including 180's, 360's, shove-its, flips, finger-flips, impossibles, reverts, etc.

Figure 4, Calf Wrap, Flamingo, Pretzel Plant, Brain Surgeon: This is an odd looking trick. The rider snaps the skateboard up scooping the back tail like an ollie impossible while the front foot slips off to the ground like a no comply. At this moment the back foot should scoop up the board and pin it to the backside of the calf on the planted leg. The griptape should be touching the backfoot (and inner side of the back knee *originally*) and the graphic side of the board should be wrap the back of your calf of our front leg. With a fluid forward motion your board 'unwraps' your back calf and your board falls back into place. If done straight and fast It should look like a 'parking block no-comply off your front leg.' It is most commonly done backside on banks and mild transitions with a more exaggerated twist at the lower body and legs. Invented by Derek Belen, made popular by Rey Gregorio, then perfected by Dorian Tucker, and Kris Markovich.

Flamingo: The Flamingo is a freestyle footwork maneuver that involves riding forward, spontaneously doing a 180 slide with the nose of the board and lifting your back foot off of the board. So you ride, slide the 180 and you slide one footed like a figure skater does when she jumps, spins 180, and lands riding one footed backwards. Popularized by Pierre Andre and Natas Kaupas

G-Turn: A nose wheelie/manual while carving. Gets its name from the path of the board when seen from above - shaped like a letter "G" due to the carve spiraling inward. Varitaions: One-wheeled, grabs

M-80: This trick is fun and simple. This trick works different for different boards that are different heights. Essentially, when a curb is the perfect height in relation to the riders board a very loud pop sound can be made. the rider simply rides off a curb bearing all his/her weight behind the back wheels, not quite on the tail, but RIGHT BEHIND the back wheels. When the front wheels leave the curb, all weight continues to bear down behind the back wheels. like a 'level' manual. Once the rider gets to the edge he/she snaps down hard at the end of the board. (like ollieing off the curb .9 seconds too late) a loud POP should be heard when done correctly.

Sal Flip: Invented by Salvador Lucas Barbier (Sal Barbier). in motion this trick mimics a fingerflip and 360 pop shove it. While riding forward, the rider mildly hits the tail like a backside pop shove it. at about 45 degrees into the rotation with the leading hand, catch the nose with the palmside of the hand touching the grip tape (thumb underneath) with an ELBOW motion, flare the board forward and outward for the rest of the rotation (315 degrees) with the feet up and out of the way until the rotation is complete . depending on air time the feet may 'catch' the board in mid air or casing the trick at touchdown. on flat ground this trick may not 'flare' as much and may look similar to a (palmside) finger flip that 'pirouts' vertically using more of a wrist motion as opposed to an elbow motion. the higher the rider goes the more exaggerated the movement can be, IE instead of a wrist or elbow rotation the rider can actually 'flare' the board with a shoulder motion.

Wall ride: This is a difficult, impressive trick where the skater places all four wheels onto a wall and rides along vertically until ollieing or rolling off. A "wallie" is performed on a corner or short wall when the skater combines an ollie and wall ride, quickly riding up the wall and launching off into the air, as if the wall were a ramp. If the skater grabs the board and kicks against the wall with his foot it is known as a "wallplant".

Wheelie, Manual: The original definition of manual is often mixed with the Wheelie and very often a regular Wheelie is called a manual. Most often a manual is performed by doing an Ollie or another trick up onto an obstacle, rolling in a wheelie all the way to the other side of the obstacle and then either dropping straight off the obstacle back onto all four wheels or performing a trick out of the manual. A variation of the wheelie is the nose-wheelie, wherein the skateboard balances on the front two wheels. There is also the One Wheel Nose Wheelie, One Footed Wheelie, One Footed Nose Wheelie, Trans Wheelie (Wheelie on both sidewheels - in direction of motion backward) and Can't Wheelie (Wheelie on both sidewheels - in direction of motion forward). Of course all of the tricks above are to have "Manual" substituted instead of Wheelie, if you got into the Wheelie trick by the way above that qualifies it as a "Manual". Some Wheelie tricks are near impossible to get into by Ollieing because they are part of Freestyle and were derived without the care for an Ollie entrance in. An example of this includes two wheelies, the Swedish Wheelie and Swedish Nose Wheelie. The Swedish Nose Wheelie is done by doing a regular One Footed Nose Wheelie, except your back foot has to be hooked under the tail as you're riding out the Wheelie. In a way, this makes the Wheelie much easier because you can pressure the board in between both feet. It must be tried to realize the advantage. The Swedish Wheelie is a One Footed Wheelie on the back foot, going forward, but the front foot must be hooked under the nose of the board. The opposite of the Swedish Nose Wheelie. From both variations, it is possible to do a Varial (Shove-it) out.

In modern skateboarding, one will often hear about a "fakie-manual", which is essentially a switch nose manual. Fakie manual and switch manual are interchangeable, but usually if the skater does a fakie ollie/trick into the manual, it will be called fakie manual, and vice-versa.

Caveman: A caveman is simply holding your board in one hand, jumping into the air, landing on the board, and rolling away. It was commonly used by street skaters in the mid to late 80's as a way to boardslide handrails that were otherwise unskateable.

Firecracker: This trick should sound like a string of Chinese of firecrackers igniting when done properly. The Firecracker was invented by Rey Gregorio. Its a variation of a few tricks. 1) A trick simply called an M-80, where the rider literally slaps the tail down onto the edge of the curb eminating a loud POP. 2) Another precedent is an old trick of simply riding down stairs on all four wheels. However, this trick was stumbled upon when Rey realized he couldn't ride down stairs while going fast using all four wheels (without ollieing of course). Out of necessity he realized that you can actually manual down a set of stairs, and in doing so, creating a loud slapping noise with the tail each time it comes in contact down each step, like a succession of very loud M-80s going off.

French Maid: This Trick is an old pool trick. Basically a Big backside carve *all four wheels* in a pool while grabbing your front rail of the board with both hands_no bend at the knees. Rendering yourself upside down while looking like a naughty housekeeper. Made popular by Jeff Grosso and Duane Peters.

The Loop: Trick where you must skate in a loop. Currently, there only 13 known skaters who have landed it, such as Tony Hawk, Bam Margera (the first street skater to land it successfully), and Bob Burnquist. Duane Peters was the first and only person to do the loop for 20 years until Tony Hawk. Special note: Bob Burnquist has modified his own backyard loop with a removable top section from approximately 11:00 to 1:00, enabling him to air across the gap upside down. He has also completed a "corkscrew".

Natural Loop: This loop differs from the regular Loop in that the normal loop has a roll-in ramp and exit ramp, and the overall shape is like a Hot Wheels racetrack. Speed is gained from dropping from the top of the roll-in. A natural loop is done entirely within the cylinder itself, with all the necessary speed gained from pumping the fullpipe. To date, Bob Burnquist is the only person to have done this successfully. After breaking one foot and twisting the ankle of the other at an attempt at legendary Mt. Baldy fullpipe, he purchased a 14-foot metal fullpipe for his house, where he successfully pulled it.[link]

Texas Plant or Tex Plant: Go up to the lip frontside and take the back foot off and plant it on the coping, while grabbing like a slob air and extending the front leg. Possibly invented by John "Tex" Gibson.

Thruster: A fakie tail grab foot plant, where the back foot boosts off the coping. Can be done straight up and down, or moving across the coping. Popularized by Craig Johnson.

External links

References

Brooke, Michael (1999). Concrete Wave: The History Of Skateboarding. ISBN 1-894020-54-5.

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