Mastering the Ollie

In the today's skateboard world, the ollie is one of the most essential tricks that any serious skateboarder has to learn.  If a skater is able to master the ollie, then he is well on his way to learning the other great tricks of skateboarding such as the kick flip, heel flip, ollie 180, ollie 360, and others.  A skater can stay home and play with his or hers Tony Hawk Play Station game all day, but if he or she does not go out to actually learn how to skate and do real tricks beginning with the ollie, they can never call themselves a true skateboarder.

Here are the step by step basics of Mastering the Ollie:

Step 1.  Stand like how you would normally stand, but with your back foot centered firmly on the tail end of your skateboard, and your front foot about mid-way up toward the nose of your skateboard.

Step 2.  With your arms out to balance yourself, stand on your toes (both feet) and crouch down like a crouching Tiger.  I call this the Tiger position.

Step 3.  This is the most important step.  This step should happen instantaneously and concurrently. In the same motion, press down (really hard) with your back foot (dig into the board!) and slide your front foot forward (up towards the nose of your board).  As you press down on the back foot and slide with your front foot, you should also jump up with your whole body and tuck in your knees while in the air.  As you and your board are "lifted" into the air, take a moment to breath and "sit" in the air to enjoy your trick.

Step 4.  The landing.  As you come down to Earth from your long and high flight, make sure your arms are still spread out so that your body is in control and always balanced, and lean towards the direction you are going.  When your board touches the ground, duck down and bend your knees one more time to absorb the impact (due to gravity, what goes up....must come down!).

Step 5.  Roll away smooth and smile because you did it!:)

If you have any questions on how to do an ollie or if you did not understand something, feel free to make a comment and I will respond within 24 hours.  Have fun skateboarding!