joshthecool
on
Rage Against The Machine is the best

I'm 14 years old, from Canada.

The Ollie
By Josh Mongeau (me)



The ollie is the basis for almost every skateboard trick. Nine out of ten
tricks require an ollie of some sort. If you have the ollie mastered then you
are not far from mastering streetstyle. The ollie itself is the act of jumping
into the air while keeping your board on your feet. So if you are skating
down the sidewalk and all of a sudden an old lady were to fall in front of
you and block your path, you would want to ollie over her and keep going
on your way.

Step one: Place your front foot in the middle of the board and your back
foot on the tip of the tail (or back). This is your preparatory foot
placement, it will help you to go higher.

Step two: With your back foot you want to "tap" your tail onto the
ground. Do this by smashing your tail downward while jumping up. Once
the tail has "popped" off the ground, slide your front foot up from the
middle of your board toward the nose (or front). The secret to this trick is
timing your "jump" with your "tap," and your "tap" with your "foot slide" -
this takes practice, so be patient and you will improve. Tip: You are
jumping off of your back wheels, before your tail actually hits the ground.

Step three: Leveling off. Once airborne, the "foot slide" levels your board
out. The "foot slide" is the process of scraping your foot (or more likely,
your shoe) upward and forward across the grip tape toward the nose.
You do this just after the tail tap and jump. Fact: The tap and the foot
slide combined are the ollie's essence, your jump determines its height.

Step four: Land. Tip: A good thing to remember with any trick is what I
call the "box." Imagine yourself in an invisible box the size of your
skateboard. Always keep your body centered above your board and in
this box. I find it helps you to land tricks because a common mistake is to
lean too far forward or backward. Thank you and have a nice day,
bunghole.



The Ollie Flip
Also By Josh Mongeau



Well, as you can tell from the name of this trick you need to learn the ollie
first. The ollie flip is an ollie variation: you jump into the air with your
board, but your board does a flip before you land on it.

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

Step two: Do an ollie, but rather than only sliding your front foot upward
and forward, you must also slide your foot (again, probably your shoe) to
the heel 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 three: "Catch" your board in mid-air once it has spun completely
around, and land.