trick tips

The 360 flip combines two tricks, the kickflip and the 360 shove-it. Even if you can't do a 360 pop shuvit, don't fret. You should, however be familiar with the plain ol' backside pop shuvit. To do a 360 flip, you should position your front foot like you would for a kickflip, with your foot slid back toward the heel-edge of the board and also further back lengthwise. Your rear foot should be positioned with your toe on the toe-edge of the tail. Rolling at a moderate to slow speed for learning, sweep your back foot behind you, pushing down just enough to get the tail to smack against the ground as you sweep. This will rotate the board around 360 shuvit style. Within the same motion as the sweep, make your front foot do a kickflip. The whole thing should take about the same amount of time a kickflip does, so you won't have to "hang" in the air any longer. When the nose comes back around and the griptape side shows upward, stick your feet back on and land it.

kickflip

Before you learn this trick you need to know how to ollie. The kickflip is an ollie variation: you jump into the air with your board, but your board does a flip before you land on it.

Step 1: Your back foot goes on the tail and your front foot goes in the middle of the board, but hangs a bit over the edge.

Step 2: Do an ollie, but rather than only sliding your front foot upward and forward, you must also slide your foot (shoe) to the heal side enough to start your board in a spin. This action requires you to actually kick your front foot off of your board. The spinning board hovers for a second between your sprawling, supple legs.

Step 3: "Catch" your board in mid-air once it has spun completely around, and land

the ollie

With both your feet on the board, lift up the heel of your back foot so your weight is on the ball of your foot and your toes. That part of your foot should be centered at the tip of the tail. Your front foot should be about 2/3 of the way up the board, angled slightly forward. Your toes should be near the toe edge of the board and, depending on shoe size, your heel may be hanging off of the heel edge. Smack the tail to the ground with your back foot and jump off of that back foot--getting the timing down is probably the hardest part. As you jump, your front foot slides up to your nose, pulling the board into the air. At the peak of your ollie, level out your board, then wait for the landing. Always land with your knees bent. When ollieing a gap, try not to think about clearing it; instead, think about popping a nice big ollie. The hardest part about ollieing most gaps is getting in the committed mindset. When you're in the air, spot your landing and keep those shoes on that grip tape until you roll away.

4/8/00

Needless to say, it is necessary to learn to ollie first. The frontside 180 ollie is basically an ollie with a 180 turn in mid-air. Setting up for it is essentially the same as for an ollie, but as you crouch down for the "pop"", wind up your body a little by turning your torso backside (your leading hand should "reach" across your stomach). As you hop into the ollie, unwind by twisting your torso frontside. By the time your tail smacks the ground, your torso should be "ahead" of your legs; when the board lifts into the air, your body is already turning frontside, pulling your legs along. Your legs, in turn, are pulling your feet along, which are guiding your board around. Voila! You're on your way. The board should remain directly beneath you the entire time. When you've turned all the way around and the board is lined up and drifting fakie, extend your legs and land. You will now be rolling backwards. It may seem strange to land this way, but get used to it. You will soon learn many tricks that will require landing backwards or switch-stance. One way to learn to land backwards is to try a rolling 180 body varial (jump and turn your body 180 degrees, landing on the board switch-stance). You will find that the frontside 180 ollie is a good set-up trick and that many variations are possible