How to Ollie on a Skateboard

How do you Ollie on a skateboard? I will attempt to explain how to ollie on a skateboard in this article. If you are having trouble or if you are just starting out then hopefully you can learn something here. First of all, you may have heard that doing skateboarding tricks is easier when you are moving on a hard surface. This can be true but it is not always the case, I learned to kickflip, ollie, and heelflip on a carpeted surface. I will explain how I went about doing this in a little bit. First I want to discuss what you need to start doing some skateboard tricks.

Equipment

First of all and most obviously, you need a skateboard. I recommend getting a very lightweight one with some nice pop (this means that the concavity of the tale of the board is designed to give you maximum height, when you push of the ground to do air tricks, or "pop the board"), this will help you out in the long run if you learn how to do tricks with a proper board.

Second of all I have heard someone say that risers or pads that go under the trucks are good. I have simply found risers to be a waste of money since I bought some for myself to see if it made any difference, it made my trucks stiffer and definitely took away from the height I was getting out of each ollie.

Next, we want small wheels and lightweight trucks. You can find my other article about choosing the right wheels for your style, but the ultimate truth about it is that the smaller the wheels, the easier it is to do technical tricks. If you have small wheels, lightweight trucks, and a solid board with some decent pop, you will definitely be good to move on and start learning the very basic skateboarding trick: THE OLLIE

Learning how to ollie

I personally learned how to Ollie in the grass, but this isn't ideal for your bearings as dirt can get in there and screw things up easily... therefore I recommend going to a carpeted area of your house or basement. You can learn on the street if you think you're up for it, but you will most likely fall down a few times. Before we get started though, place your board down and run up to it and jump on it. Whichever way you jump on the board, this will determine whether you are switch stance (feet facing left) or regular (feet facing right). This matters because even though inevitably you will learn how to do tricks in both stances, we want to start out feeling comfortable. Place the board down and don't worry about which way the tail is facing (the tail usually has more concavity than the nose, which is how you will tell). Next, start with your feet over the bolts of your boot, move your front foot (left foot if you are regular stance) a little to the right so that it is off the bolts. Next, move your back foot so the toes of your feet are in the middle of the tale, a little bit more elevated than your front foot due to the tail of your board. (see picture, ignore lack of artistic abilities).

This is the motion you go through when you Ollie (and NOTE this is ALL ONE FLUENT MOTION):

1. Bend your knees and sort of get down in a little crouch type position this will help you get pop. Make sure your posture is good though and your shoulders are over the board. If not you're going to have trouble with balance.

2. Jump by coming out of your crouch/bent knee position and while you are doing this slam your back foot to tail of the board. You can practice a few times without pushing down on the tail to get familiar with the motion.

3. Due to laws of physics, the front of your board will obviously now be off the ground. Next is the most difficult and important part of the Ollie. You will need to slide your front foot upwards on the grip tape towards the bolts. This will allow your board to get off the ground. Ultimately, this step is crucial for you to EVEN the board out so you can proceed to land on the board and roll away fluidly.

4. If you have done everything right, you may have got your board to pop off the ground a couple inches.

Conclusion

Please note that while this is the most basic skateboarding trick and the foundation for nearly every other one to follow, it still takes practice. The more you practice it now the less frustrated you will be later, trust me. Some common problems I faced when learning how to ollie is that I would jump off the board and fail my ollie. This was because I was slamming my foot down at the wrong time, you need to do it as your begin to posture up from being in the crouched position. This is a great motion. Again, crouch, begin to jump + slam back foot, slide front foot to even board out, LAND. This is all there is to it. One tip I can give you is the lower you crouch the higher your pop will be. Please practice until you can comfortably do one a couple of inches off the ground, and then you can proceed to learning on the street. I hope this has helped you understand the concept of ollies because once you understand the concept you will most certainly be able to do one. Remember to wear a helmet when you first start out, little pebbles could ruin your day.