Skateboard Stance

Step 3 - Skateboard Stance: Goofy vs. Regular
Next you need to figure out your skateboard stance, whether you are goofy or regular footed. This means whether you should skate with your right foot forward, or your left. If one feels more comfortable than the other, then simply go with that!

The two different ways to stand are called stances - Goofy (skating with your right foot forward) and Regular (skating with your left foot forward).

Here are three tricky ways to figure out how you will most likely feel most comfortable standing on your board:

ONE
- go get a ball or something like that, and sit it on the ground in front of you. Now kick it. Whichever foot you kicked it with will likely be your back foot. You want the balancing foot in the front, and the kicking foot in the back.

TWO
- go to a staircase, and walk up it. What foot did you use to step up the FIRST step? That's likely your back foot.

THREE
- this one's hard, because once you read it you'll know the trick. So just read this first spot and then stop when I tell you to stop. Go find someone, stand with both your feet close together, and ask them to shove you from behind. Go do this now -- STOP READING! Ok, so hopefully you didn't just fall over. You should have caught yourself with one foot. The foot you used to catch yourself is likely the foot you'd put in back.

Just like most people are right handed, most people are regular footed. That's why it's called regular. Just remember that there's no RIGHT way to do it. If all of these tricks tell you that you are regular, but you just like riding goofy, then ride goofy!

Beginner skater step 2

Step 2 - Standing on a Skateboard
Now you should be ready to start learning to skate. First, before you try anything crazy, you need to get comfortable standing on your skateboard. If you borrowed it, or if you went to a shop and bought a complete skateboard already built, there's a chance that there may be some things about it that you might find uncomfortable.

Set the board either in some grass, or on the carpet in your living room, and try standing on it, jumping on it, whatever you want. Try balancing only on the front or back wheels. Standing on the board, move your feet into different positions. Get used to the feel and size of your board, and get used to standing on it.

Beginner skater

Step 1 - Beginner Skateboard Gear
So you've bought or borrowed your first skateboard, and you are wondering what to do with it. You've seen skaters at the park or on TV, and you know what skating's supposed to look like, but how do you get started? What sort of beginner skateboard gear do you need?

Well, the first thing you should do is get a pair of skate shoes (check out the Best Skateboard Shoes List). You can skate in regular shoes, but it will be a lot harder and even sometimes dangerous. Skate shoes are built with a large flat bottom, to better grip the board, and often with other features like reinforcement in areas where you'll likely wear the shoe down.

You should also get a helmet (check out the Best Skateboard Helmets list). You might see skaters not wearing helmets, and worry that wearing one will make you look weak or stupid, but don't worry about it. It's common now for skateparks to require helmets, and it's just plain smart, especially when you first start out.

Wearing other protective pads can be good too, but what you need totally depends on what you are doing (see the Best Skateboard Pads list). If you are trying to do tricks in your driveway, elbow pads might be a good idea, but you really only need knee pads if you are skating on a ramp, or trying some pretty crazy tricks. Wrist braces can be nice, but be careful not to get too used to using your hands to catch yourself when you fall.

Proskater Profile

Ryan Sheckler Basic Bio Information:
* Name: Ryan Sheckler
* Gender: Male
* Height: 5'4"
* Weight: 107 lbs
* Hometown: San Clemente, California
* Date of Birth: Dec. 30th, 1989
* Family: parents Gretchen and Randy Sheckler, brothers Shane "T-Bone" and Kane "Vol-Kane-O" Sheckler
* Occupation: Pro Skateboarder, Student
* Started Skating: 1993
* Started Competing: 1997
* Turned Pro: 2003
* Favored Discipline: Street / Park
* #1 Sponsor: Etnies
* Stance: Regular
* Setup: Almost pro model deck, Tensor 7.5 trucks, 52 mm wheels, Ninja bearings

Ryan Sheckler Skateboarding Style and Strengths: As the youngest pro skateboarder on the circuit, Ryan Sheckler has blown away the crowds with his ever increasing skill and variety of skateboarding tricks. Ryan Sheckler skates fast and hard, rarely bails, and has strong technical skateboarding skills.
Ryan Sheckler Favorite / Signature Skateboarding Tricks: In an interview for the X Games, Ryan Sheckler says, "I normally like to skate a good ramp over something, so last year at X Games (2004) when they had the jump over the bush, that was fun. And good set of 9-stairs is good too. Right at the moment, I'm doing good at everything I'm skating, spinning, flip tricks, it should be better for me at X Games (2005)."
Ryan Sheckler Skateboarding Career Highlights:
1996 - won CASL 10 & Under State Championships (at 7 years old)
1997 - won CASL 14 & Under State Championships (at 8 years old)
2003 - turned pro after winning 5th at Globe World Cup in Australia
2003 - won gold at X Games (street)
2004 - began to focus purely on street skating, traveling and filming for videos
2004 - Took first in US Skateboarding Championships, Pomona, California
2005 - repeatedly took first in Dew Action Sports Tour
Ryan Sheckler Personal History: At the age of 18 months, Ryan Sheckler found his dad's old school pool riding skateboard. Soon after that, Ryan began to push around on one knee, and eventually stood up on the skateboard. Ryan Sheckler is now a teenager, still in school, who also happens to be a professional world famous skateboarder. Ryan was home schooled through 7th and 8th grade, and attends Futures High School (a one-on-one school program for athletes and actors). Ryan loves riding moto-X along with skateboarding.
Ryan Sheckler Interesting Fact: Ryan Sheckler is the youngest pro skater to ever win gold at the X Games (2004)

Skate Trick (tre flip)

How to Tre Flip


The tre flip is a 360 degree kick flip that might take a little bit of time to get just right. Before you take this trick to the streets, see how to tre flip, and how you can best practice doing it.

Tre Flip Position
For a tre flip, what you want to do is you want to put your back foot - and you want to put your toes hanging off a little bit - right where it starts to curve. When you first learn, you want to put your front foot close together so you actually get the spin. And once you start getting them down you want to move your foot up more and more - and the higher your foot is up, the more control you have over it. You might flip a little bit slower but it's easier to control it.
How to Tre Flip
As you're popping down, the whole thing's with your back foot - just scoop back behind you with your back foot, and you do a little kick out the front. You don't need to kick too hard - just your ankle - and it will start to rotate like that. It's pretty much like a scissor kick: once your back foot goes behind you, your front foot goes in front of you. And then you land it.
How to Practice a Tre Flip
Don't ever practice them stationary. Just practice it moving - because once you get them moving, then you'll get them stationary. It's weird, but that's what happens.
Common Tre Flip Problems
A problem that a lot of people have is that either the board goes in front of them or the board goes behind them. It's usually because you're leaning too far forward or too far back, and if it over-flips, just don't kick as hard. When you first learn them you might just start doing varial flips and it will keep hitting you - you just have to work out how to scoop with your back foot to get it all the way around. You don't even have to worry about the flip, just worry about the scoop until it spins all the way.

skateboarding trick tips

Rock and Roll - Learn how to Rock and Roll - skateboarding trick tips
Rock and Roll Skateboarding Trick Tip
The Rock and Roll is a cool skateboarding trick to learn. The Rock and Roll is where the skater rides up a ramp and, right at the top, rocks his or her front trucks over the edge. Then, the skater pivots on his or her back trucks doing a kickturn, and rides back down the ramp.

The Rock and Roll is very similar to the Rock to Fakie, another skateboarding trick. Before you learn how to rock and roll, you really should learn how to rock to fakie. You also want to have kickturns down, and feel comfortable doing them on a ramp.

Like with every other skateboarding trick tip, make sure you read though all of these instructions before you head out and try it. Make sure it makes sense to you, and that you can picture yourself on the ramp, doing it on your skateboard.

Skate Trick : OlLie Down stairs

How to Ollie Down Stairs

Ollying off of stairs is a sweet skate trick - it looks cool, and is very useful. The same principals behind ollying down stairs can work with other things too, like ledges or off tables.

Before you attack a set of stairs though, there are a few things that you need to know how to do:

* Skate - I'm not being sarcastic here - you need to really know how to skate. You need to be comfortable, and pretty good on a board. Don't rush too fast into this trick - make sure you have excellent board control and balance. Otherwise, you can eat it pretty hard on this trick, and though watching someone face plant might be fun, it's never fun to be the guy wearing pavement.
* Ollie - of course, you should already know how to ollie. Make sure you know it well though, and don't just have a weak low ollie - take the time to build up, and make sure you have a good, strong, high ollie before trying stairs.

Once you have the basics down, you need to find some stairs. Start off with some low ones - just one or two steps, or better yet start with learning how to ollie off of curbs. Low stairs aren't very hard, and the great thing about learning to ollie stairs is that it's easy to do the slow build up learning process! Make sure the stairs have a good flat path leading up to them, and leading away from them. AND make sure that you can see around them - nothing will mess up your ollie like having someone actually trying to USE the stairs!
Step 2 - The Approach
For smaller sets of stairs, or curbs, you don't need very much speed at all. Just get a few pumps in, and skate toward the edge at a comfortable speed.

This changes a lot when you are trying to ollie off higher steps. This should make sense - you need to be going fast enough to sail over all of the steps. It'll take some practice to get your speed figured out, but if you start with curbs or small stairs and work your way up, you won't have any problems.

Let me say it again though - please DON'T start off with anything high, even if your buddies are harassing you. Start off small, and work your way up.
Step 3 - The Ollie
You want to pop your ollie when the nose of your skateboard is around half a foot away from the edge. You might be tempted to wait until the last possible second, so that you get the most distance out of your ollie ... Good thinking! Except that ollying 6 inches away from the edge IS the last possible second! Your brain has to send a message down your spine, through your butt and into your knees, and then your muscles have to explode into action and pop the board. There's an excellent chance you will roll around 6 inches in this time, if you're rolling along at a good speed.

If you wait too long to pop, you'll know it. You'll be able to tell by the graceful way you'll be tumbling down the steps, or off the curb. If you do this, don't worry about it - wipe off the blood, re-attach your face and try it again.

If you are ollying off of a curb, or something smaller than just a few steps, you don't really need to ollie very high. You can, and it's great practice and looks good, but you don't need to. But any more than just a few steps (4 or 5), you'll want a good strong ollie.

After the pop, tuck your feet up and keep your shoulders square with your skateboard. Don't tilt or turn your shoulders - if you do, you'll spin a little in the air, and that will hurt more than ollying too late.

You want your feet tucked up so that you will be in the air longer. Shove your knees into your face, and get some good high hang time.
Step 4 - Landing
As you come down, if you can be aware of it, try and land with your feet over your trucks. If you land with your feet in the middle of the board, or on the nose or tail, you can snap your board. This sucks becasue boards are expensive, plus the sudden stopping of the board means that you will fly over it, and likely eat pavement again. Keep your feet over your trucks.

Try to keep your weight balanced between the trucks, too. Try to land as flat as possible. Bend your knees deeply as you land, to absorb the shock. A lot of skaters are lazy about things like this - they don't want to use their knees. Don't. You want to bend your knees deeply for the ollie, then pull your knees up after the pop while you are in the air, and THEN bend your knees deeply when you land.

After you've landed, just roll away!
Step 5 - Common Stair Ollie Problems
The biggest problem I've seen is getting yourself all psyched out about it, to the point that there's really no way you're going to land it. As with all things in skateboarding, you really need to relax. Just think of the stairs as a regular gap that you are ollying over. Or, go find some lower ones. Take your time, chill, and enjoy.

Visualization is extremely useful in skateboarding - picture yourself ollying the stairs in front of you, walk through how it will work, and that might help.

Speed is another common problem, but one that you should be able to figure out with practice. Start with something simple, like a curb, and work your way up slowly. Ollie off that curb again and again, until you're totally comfortable with it. Then find a place where there are just a couple of steps, and try that. Work up SLOWLY, and don't get too anxious and try something you shouldn't.

Actually finding these steps can be tough, too. Here are some places to look:

* skateparks
* schools
* churches
* public buildings
* shopping centers
* plazas
* colleges
* hospitals
* police stations...!

A lot of those places are best skated at night ... for obvious reasons. Some of them might be off limits, but you might be surprised who will say yes, if you ask. My brother's church as an awesome 6 stair, with a great concrete path coming right up to it, and they don't mind skaters there at all, as long as they ask!

If you run into other problems, please feel free to write me, or drop by the skateboard forum and ask for help! Have fun, stay as safe as possible, relax, and then have more fun!