How to Ollie on Your Skateboard

Hey everyone, today I'll try to give you some quick tips on how to ollie. I'm assuming that by the time you're reading this, you already know what an ollie is. While I can't give you any secrets to magically learn this trick, I can at least give you some insight on how I do my ollies and hopefully another perspective that may help you out. I would say the only requisite to learn an ollie would be knowing how to ride and control your board comfortably because bouncing and shifting weight is a big part of doing tricks, especially in the ollie.

-Skateboard

-Flat Ground

-Skate Shoes (optional)

Foot placement is vital for an ollie. You need to be comfortable on your board and know if your goofy or regular. If you're regular, you have your left foot forward and your right foot back. When your goofy (like me), you have your right foot forward and your left foot back. So, for your feet positioning, your back foot should be on the tail with the ball of your foot right there. Next, your front foot is not quite center, just a little bit up from the center of the board. Your front foot's toes should never overhang from the board but stay aligned.

Next, you want to "pop" your board which is a term in skating when you slam the tail onto the ground. This is what brings you into the air so the harder you pop, the higher you get. When popping your back foot, your foot should leave the board just for a second until coming down. When practicing this motion, you can pop the back tail then step off the board and repeat. This way, you can build up the muscle memory of that certain motion.

Now, in my opinion, this is the most crucial and important step that every beginner has trouble with, but it will come to you with more practice put into it. Basically, you slide your front foot all the way up the board, rubbing your shoe against the grip tape right after you pop your board up. When you pop your board, all your wheels are in mid-air but your back wheels aren't very far off the ground. However, when you do this motion, it allows the board to be leveled out flat in mid-air.

Once you are in the air, you want to land both feet on the hardware which are the screws on the skateboard. You can practice this by jumping on and off your skateboard to get more comfortable on the board.

Of course like anything else, practicing is the key to success. Without it, there is no way you can get this trick down. There are no shortcuts to this and at the end of the day, it all comes down to effort and dedication you put into when practicing.