How to Ollie on a Skateboard.

in this article, you will learn how to ollie (jump) on a skateboard.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Skateboard
• Skate Shoes (optional, but helpful)
• pads (also optional)

1. stand on the skateboard, with your back foot (usually your dominant foot) on the tail (the end of the board that curves upward). the tail is slightly bigger than the nose. this is important because your ollie will be harder to complete if you are using the nose as the tail.
2. place your front foot (usually your non-dominant foot) between the hardware (front row of bolts) and the center of the board. make sure your feet are comfortably spaced, but still in that range. if you put your foot too far forward, nothing will happen when you go to ollie.
3. bend your knees, as if you are about to jump as high as you can (which you essentially are). shift your weight onto your back foot, pushing down on the tail. keep your body centered. as soon as you feel the board shift, tilt your front foot so that the side of your shoe is on the grip tape (black stuff on top). at the same time, jump as high as you can.
4. level your feet out in the air, bringing your front foot flat and forward (which will straighten out the board). come down naturally; do not force your feet down. land on the board, but put all your weight on your front foot. if you put your weight on your back foot, the board will shoot out from under you and you will fall. hard.
5. skate away, hopefully. try the trick still first, then try moving slowly when you do it. eventually, a moving ollie will be a piece of cake.

Tips & Warnings

• try the trick on grass for starters. that way, when you fall (and you will) it won't hurt. pay attention to when you feel balanced in your grass landing and when you don't.
• make the kick on the tail, the slide of the front foot, and the jump one fluid motion. the trick wont work otherwise. try to make them happen almost simultaneously, but not.
• keep trying even when you get it. eventually, you will get the feel for it, and then you will start to get a much higher ollie. don't be discouraged if you don't get very high for a while.
• you will fall trying this trick no matter what, but you will fall extremely hard if you put your weight on the tail, especially if you are moving. DO NOT PUT YOUR WEIGHT ON THE TAIL. you will regret it.
• sometimes your feet will be off and the board will flip. congratulations, you're on your way to doing a varial heelflip! the board may hit you in the legs on one of these random flips, so if this happens, jump out of the way and try again.
• don't try to salvage the trick if it feels wrong. if you get the landing wrong, it could hurt, so just kick the board away and land safely on solid ground, and go at it again.