Tag Archive | "how to ollie"

How to Ollie Kickflip its a skateboard thing

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Well, after many requests, I’ve added back in the Ollie Kickflip (or as you newschoolers called — just a “kickflip”). This clip is a couple of years old. At the time, I had just met Fletcher. He was 12, and already had his kickflips and variations locked-down tight. The Ollie Kickflip was invented by Rodney Mullen, I think in the mid 1980s. Before that, kickflips were all old-school style. Ollie Kickflips used to be a pretty advanced move, but now they are a new-school skating basic.

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In frame 1, Fletcher sets up for the trick rolling forward, in a normal ollie stance.

As he takes off with a nice pop, Fletcher begins dragging his front foot up the board. He’ll use the front foot to flick the board into a flip.

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In frame 3, Fletcher starts the board flipping. As he drags his foot up the board, he flicks his foot to his heel side, which is what makes the flip happen. Notice that is back foot is not in contact with the board — this is important. The board will not flip if you still have your back foot on top of it.

He continues the flick, as his front foot kicks out in front and to the side. Actually, Fletcher flicks it off the side of the nose. The board is almost halfway flipped, and his rear foot is in perfect position — right above the board, but out of the way too.

From my own experience with this trick, I can tell you that staying right above the board is very, very important. If you stay right above it, your front foot will come right back to the correct landing position after flicking it. The board should be right underneath you. If not, you will come down with your front foot off the board.

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In these frames, Fletcher is in the classic ollie kickflip position that they love to show in magazines. His front foot is fully kicked-out, which gave the board a nice, quick, strong, flip. Look at his back foot. It is right above the board, in a perfect position to come down and catch the board. Pretty amazing.

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In frames 7 and 8, the board is completing the flip. Fletcher’s front foot is returning naturally to a good landing position. The rear foot is positioned to slap the board back down solidly.

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I really like these frames because they really show the function of the rear foot. In frame 9, you can tell that the board really wants to continue flipping, but Fletcher uses the rear foot to control it into a single clean flip.

Finally, the front foot comes down and he rides away smoothly. Killer!!!!

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