Trick tips

THE OLLIE

1. Find a flat surface - a driveway, a smooth parking lot, a basketball court, a quite street - any smooth, flat surface will do.

2. Push a few times, so that you're rolling with moderate speed. (the faster you're traveling when you ollie, the farther you will go. Physics? Yep.)

3. As you're rolling, position the ball of your back foot on the tail, and place your front foot in the middle of the board.

4. Bend your knees

5. Here's where the trick is: You must simultaneously (at the same time) smack the tail on the ground, jump, and slide your front foot up the deck. (smacking your tail allows the front of the board to raise up off the ground, jumping allows your body to break the confines of gravity, and sliding your front foot up the board allows the deck to level out, thus raising the back of the board from the ground.) Sound simple? Well, it's not at first. But, practice makes perfect.

6. Stay over the board. At the peak of your ollie you should be centered on the board, your knees bent again ready for landing.

7. Important note: keep your shoulders in line with the direction you're travelling. (the ollie requires you keep shoulders in line, or will certainly lose balance.)

8. When you land, keep your knees bent to absorb the impact with the ground. (this will save your lower back.)

9. Upon landing, your back foot should be on the tail, though slightly closer to the back truck bolts (so as not to break the tail), and your front foot should be directly over the front bolts.

POP SHUV-IT

1. Pop shove-its are easier off of your nose, so ride your skateboard backward to start.

2. Ollie, and at the same time, use your back foot to shove your board 180' degrees. The more you exaggerate this movement, the quicker the board will shove-it around.

3. Keep your eyes on the board as it rotates. It's easy to land wrong.

4. Once your board has gone 180' degrees, use your front foot to stop the rotation and "catch" the board. It sounds strange, but you'll understand when you try it.

5. Before landing, make sure your back foot has found its way back to the tail.

6. Land with your knees slightly bent and roll away.

THE NOLLIE

1. In order to learn this trick, you must feel confident with your ollies, because the nollie requires exactly the same concepts.

2. To begin, place your front foot comfortably on the nose and your back foot across the middle of the board.

3. Push down on the nose to get the pop: the harder you push, the higher you go. Now your back foot helps the board come off the ground by sliding up the board. What helped me was learning switch ollies while I was learning nollies.

4. When you feel like you've reached maximum flight, your board should have leveled out flat.

5. Now wait until you hit the ground, and like everybody says, roll away smoothly.

Note: If you're trying this trick over an object, you must start to nollie a little bit sooner so the nose can clear it.