How to Pop Shove-It on a Skateboard

This is a guide designed for beginners in order to aid you while you are learning the second most basic trick in skateboarding, the shove-it. I'd like to start off by saying that this trick is much easier when you are moving, as opposed to practicing stationary. The reason for this is that when you are rolling forward on your skateboard at a decent pace, the board will smoothly slide off the tail when you perform your shove it.

First of all, there are two kinds of 'shove its' out there, the first being the 'pop shove it' and the second being the old school regular 'shove it.' The pop shove it is the one we'll be focusing on in this article, since it is the most fun to do, and also the most impressive to a spectator. It also feels great when you smoothly land a pop shove it down a set of stairs.

The Pop Shove-It

A prerequisite for this trick is that you need to be able to ollie reasonably well and consistently. If you don't already know how to ollie consistently, learning the pop shove it too early can interfere with your ollie and mess up your style down the line, and this is extremely frustrating as I know from experience. If you don't know how to ollie, please feel free to check out my article entitled How to Ollie on a Skateboard.

So what is a 'pop shove it'? A shove it is essentially an ollie where your back foot and front foot collaborate to spin the board in a one hundred and eighty degree motion, and then you proceed to catch the board with your feet in mid air.

How do you stand on the skateboard to perform a shove it? Start off by standing how you normally would for performing an ollie. Move your back foot a little off the side the board opposite your toes. You also want to make sure your foot is kind of on top part of the incline of the tail to increase pop and get a more solid rotation on the skateboard. Like when performing the ollie, make sure your front foot is located near the bolts, a little more towards the tail though, so maybe the sole of your shoe is aligned with the outermost set of bolts. This is your basic setup for performing this trick.

Next you want to slam your tail on the ground as if you were performing an ollie, however, you need to slide your foot inward so that if you are regular stance, the board rotates in a clockwise manner. You can also use your front foot to guide the board around. As soon as you get air, the board should begin doing a one hundred and eighty degree spin. At this point, you obviously cannot be standing on the skateboard the entire time you are airborne, like when performing an ollie. This is why you want to jump a little higher than you would when you ollie, or at least that is what I find helps. The next step is to catch the board in mid air when you are coming back down from the highest point in your jump. It will help if you watch the board under you in order to get the timing down for this. Catch the board in the air, land, and roll away smoothly.

Some common mistakes are that people jump off the board. This is very common for beginners because a lot of beginners do not have proper posture when skateboarding. Your shoulders need to be aligned with the board at all times. Another common problem is the skateboard may flip over in mid air. If this happens that means your feet are probably positioned off center or once again your posture is messing you up. Don't be discouraged if you cannot learn this trick for a couple days. I recommend you practice it daily (and don't be embarrassed because everyone was in the same position once) and after about a week you should begin seeing progress and begin landing 'pop shove its' on the norm.

Finally, I want to emphasize the POP in shove it. The higher you jump the more places you can incorporate the trick, such as UP a set of stairs. This is a unique way to add some flare to your style. I hope this guide will aid you on your way to becoming a dedicated skateboarder.