How to Do a Nollie on a Skateboard

The nollie essentially requires the same techniques used in performing the ollie, however the only difference here is that the foot you will be popping off with is going to be your front foot. Therefore, I recommend you consistently be able to ollie before attempting to learn this trick.

First of all you may be wondering how to correctly stand for a nollie. To start off, begin standing on the board like you normally would for an ollie; your default stance, which may be regular or goofy footed. Now, your feet should be positioned at a small angle in the direction you want to be travelling. So, if you are regular footed, your feet will be slightly angled towards the left, and vice versa for those goofy footed skaters.

Now, for the nollie we want to reverse the direction that our feet are angled in. This means that now, if you are regular footed, your foot will be facing the right, and vice versa for goofy footed people. So your front foot is now facing the direction we are going to be travelling in. This may feel a bit awkward or you may have trouble balancing, and this is completely normal. I have confidence that you will get used to it with a little bit of practice.

Now that we have our feet positioned correctly, it's time to learn the trick.

1. Bend your knees; get about half way down to max height

2. Pop the front of your board as hard as possible and jump

3. Drag your back foot towards the tail to level out the skateboard while in mid air

4. Absorb the board at the apex of your jump, sucking your legs in to get maximum height

5. Land level and roll away smoothly

There is nothing special to this trick. Perfecting the nollie is just a matter of getting used to skating with your front foot on the nose of the board. Try the trick while rolling slowly, and if you feel comfortable, start by giving a small push to get a little speed and then attempt again until you are able to perform the nollie as well as you can ollie.

This trick took me about a week to get down to the point where I felt confident enough to do over obstacles and sets and what not. The main problem I foresee you having is balancing the board and keeping it under your feet. Read my article on how to ollie if you are not feeling comfortable with this trick.

The nollie serves as a great foundation for other tricks to come, and learning how to consistently land a nollie will be beneficial if you look to expand your arsenal of tricks.