Skateboarding for Beginers - How to do a Kick-Flip

This article is for the skateboarders that haven't gotten their kickflips down yet. If you're not a skateboarder, you won't probably won't understand a word of this article.

Let's continue. So this is probably the second most important trick in skateboarding next to the ollie. The kickflip, if you didn't know, is when you ollie off the ground and flick your foot off the nose of the board, and it does a barrel-roll in the air, and you catch it in the air after it completes one complete roll.

So let's start with footing. You'll want your back foot on the edge of the tail, covering most of the tail. You'll want your front foot about two inches behind the front bolts, with most of your heel hanging off. Angle your front foot so that your toe is pointing towards the nose.

Next is the execution of the trick. Push once or twice, just get going at a somewhat decent speed. Then place your feet in the position I just detailed. Pop the tail HARD, then roll your front foot up like an ollie, but when your foot hits the nose, flick it off the board. After it rolls, and you see the griptape, stomp down on the bolts and land. The pop and flick should be one fluid motions. If it's not, you could end up doing a mobbed flip (where the board pretty much spins vertically), or it won't flip at all. It's good to remember to also jump as high as you can when you pop the board to give the board more air to flip.

Common problems people have are one-footed catching, mobbed flipping and over-rotation or under-rotation.

If you're only catching with your front foot or your back foot, then it's usually a commitment problem. I had this problem for months until a guy at the skatepark told me that I was being too scared to land on it. After a few days, I got the courage to try and land on it. I landed bolts. You can't be afraid to land on the board, or it's simple, you just won't land on it. Another reason why you're catching with one foot is that you may not be jumping high enough. Pop the board as hard as you can, and jump as high as you can, then do the motions. One more reason is that you aren't flicking the board. When you flick the board, your front foot should instinctively come back to it's original position. Flick with your ANKLE! DO NOT flick with your leg. Do not kick the board with your ankle either. Do a slight flick. Flick your wrist. See how easy that was? Now do the same thing with your ankle when you're on the board.

Mobbed flipping. Had these for a while after I got them down. They don't look good at all. Mobbed flipping is the act of actually spinning and catching the board, but it just looks very messy. Simply put, a mobbed kickflip looks like the board is spinning almost vertically, and because of that, it looks like the board is spinning on the tail. There's only one way I know of on how to fix it. Lift your back leg as high as your front leg. Suck your legs up to your chest to prevent this problem. When you ollie, or do any trick for that matter, the tail will follow your back foot. If you lift your back foot, the board will lift up with it. It's THAT simple.

Over-rotating and under-rotating. Even masters of the kickflips have this problem. It's simple to fix however. If you're over-rotating, flick the nose softer. If you're under-rotating, flick the nose harder.

As you can see, the kickflip is a pretty easy trick to learn, however it's a very important trick to learn as well. After you get them down consistently, take them over gaps, down stairs, or to other tricks. Start trying FS 180 or BS 180 kickflips, or varial kickflips, tre flips, then move onto heelflips. Keep skating!