How to kickflip on a skateboard

Ride around any public skatepark and the most common question you may hear from aspiring young skaters is, "Can you do a kickflip?" A mere nuisance if you can, but if you can't perform this basic trick, you may have to let them down. This guide is meant to help you avoid this situation with a step by step walkthrough of this novice yet complicated maneuver. This guide is broken down into numbered steps to help you keep your kickflips high and consistent. So read on, and show those annoying kids a kickflip!

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Skateboard, Shoes

1. First off, it is important that you at least have a basic understanding of how a skateboard moves around on flat pavement. Riding and keeping your balance should be no problem if you are thinking about attempting kickflips. If balance issues still plague you, and you are constantly falling off simply by riding, you need to keep your board on the ground for at least a few more days just practicing riding around. Now, since you are trying to learn to kickflip, lets get to it!
2. Step 1: Try kickflips without rolling on the pavement. If you can find one, it may help to place the back wheels of your skateboard in a crack in the pavement so you can adjust your balance without the board sliding out from underneath you.
   
   Foot Placement: Perhaps the most important part of this guide, foot placement is a deciding factor in both your ability to kickflip, and your kickflips "style," but more to come on style in a moment. Let's begin with the front foot. No matter if you are regular (like me) or goofy footed, the idea is still the same. Place your leading foot just behind the bolts of your front truck, and slightly to the side that the kickflip will rotate. The back foot should move to the tip of the tail of your board, but it is important to keep your back foot in the middle of the board. USE ONLY YOUR TOES for this trick. Also, it is important to keep it relaxed and feeling natural.
3. Step 2: Now the tricky part. Snap the tail down as you would an ollie, but slide your leading foot (front foot) away from you. Move your foot slightly behind you to cause the flip, but keep in mind that you still have to land the trick, so don't kick too far. A common problem here is that skaters kick the board too far out in front of them, and the board actually varial flips, which is a varation of the kickflip and a pop-shove it. To counteract this, kick the board farther behind you until it remains straight.
4. Step 3: Stay above the board as it rotates. Being your first kickflip, I can't imagine that you're going to be able to watch it rotate, as it will probably be spinning like a hoss, but once you get a feel for it, you'll know when to catch it. If you adhered closely to step 2, the board should have remained underneath you the entire time, making it easy to land. Simply come back down on the board and land it.

Tips & Warnings

• Generic Tips: Kickflips sometimes have chance to become "mobbed," that is they don't pop into the air enough, leaving only the nose high in the air while the tail end of the board remains near the ground. Besides being hilarious, mobbed kickflips will impress no one, so I suggest learing to pop them higher. This can be done by popping down faster and jumping higher, which just takes practice. The important part is that you landed a kickflip. Kickflips never come easy to anyone, so it is important to PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE. It took me six months sitting in my cold garage during winter to learn to kickflip. Don't get discouraged. Skateboarding is all about how much time you put into it. So there you have it. The complete guide to kickflips. Thanks for reading.