How to Become a Better Skateboarder

Do the aerials, flips and glides of Tony Hawk and Tony Alva send blood pumping furiously through your veins? And do you wonder if you could ever do the flips and glides like those smart kids on the street? Well you very well could! All that is required is the correct knowledge of the skateboarding tricks, a few tips and the right attitude.

Skateboarding Tricks

So you are a fairly good skateboarder! However as the famous basketball player Tim Duncan's inspirational quote goes "Good, better, best. Never let it rest. Until your good is better and your better is best", there is always room for improvement. A better understanding of the skateboarding tricks could help you polish your skills. Let us concentrate on a few of them.

• The Ollie: Ollie is an important trick for skateboarders as it forms the foundation of many other tricks. To get a perfect Ollie, keep the front foot near the center of the skateboard deck and the ball of the back foot on the tail. Then bend your knees and snap the back foot on the tail. As the tail hits the ground, jump off your back foot and almost at the same time, roll your front foot inwards and "drag" the skateboard with the outer side of your foot. As you jump higher bring your knees as close to your chest as possible. Get both your feet at the same level and bring the skateboard down on all the four wheels.
• Kickflip: It is the most difficult of the basic skateboarding tricks. However, it makes sense to learn the Kickflip before the other flips. This trick involves the Ollie, but the difference is that instead of just dragging the front foot along the board one has to flick it along the heel edge of the nose with the toe. While doing this, the back foot has to be raised above the board so that the board can flip and one must also remember to jump in the air for a better kickflip.
• Heelflip: It is a variation of the kick flip with the exception that instead of flipping the board with your toes you have to flip it with your heels
• Pop Shove - It: In this trick, the feet placement is the same as in Ollie. However, the ball of the back foot is placed slightly further back. Also, instead of hitting the board straight downwards, the tail has to be pushed down and backwards while you take your weight completely off the board. This will make the board turn under you. While you are in the air let the board hit your front foot. Then bring down your back foot on to the board as the feet would be when in the peak of an Ollie and then land on the ground.
• 50- 50 Grind: Start rolling from a little distance away from the object (rail or ledge) at a comfortable speed and at an angle so that you neither smash into the object nor you shoot past it. Ollie yourself and land on the object with the middle of the trucks on the ledge or the rail. Neither hunch over nor lean back. Maintain your balance and keep your knees bent while 50-50ing on the ledge or the rail. At the end before landing, give a small pop to the tail of the skateboard and be sure to land on all the four wheels.

These are a few simple skateboarding tricks which, if perfected could add lot of style and fun to your skateboarding. Although little variations in the placement of the feet can be made as per one's comfort, maintaining balance, posture and proper timing are crucial.

Skateboarding Tips

• Have the right attitude: Don't stop from trying out new tricks for the fear of getting hurt. Skateboarding is a freestyle sport. Getting scared can only prevent you from enjoying the true spirit of the sport. Also, learning new steps is unavoidable as you may get bored of doing the same tricks every time.
• Have the proper gear: Go for skateboard shoes that have a wider flat bottom to provide larger area to grip the skateboard deck, deep sole patterns for better grip and proper reinforcement in the areas where the shoes are prone to wear off. Skateboarding helmets, elbow pads and knee pads should be worn to protect oneself from serious injuries.
• Practice: As in any field, practice holds the key to perfecting the tricks. The more you practice the faster and better you learn the new tricks. This enables you to learn more tricks, as lots of tricks are combination of others.

Skateboarding is a sport that is limited only by the lack of one's enthusiasm or the athletic abilities. Because of all the thrills associated with the sport, it has found a large fan-following amongst the youth right since its beginning. However, to enjoy it to the fullest, it should be performed with proper safety measures.