5 skateboarding tricks for beginners to master

Nick Smith, founder, Advaita Collective and ‘godfather of Indian skateboarding’ offers a beginner’s guide to learning the urban sport

Nick Smith, founder, Advaita Collective and ‘godfather of Indian skateboarding’ offers a beginner’s guide to learning the urban sport.

A skateboarder at Khar Social, Mumbai (Photo: Aalok Soni/HT)

Read: The wheels are turning: How Mumbai’s skateboarding scene took off

Ollie (Illustration: Siddhant Jumde)

1) Ollie: Popping the board off the ground

Place your front foot near the middle of the board; your back foot on the tail. Crouch. Jump into the air, first with the front foot and then with the back foot. Slide your front foot as you start jumping. Pull your knees to your chest. Level out with both feet when your front foot has slid all the way up. Try to land both feet.

Manual (Illustration: Siddhant Jumde)

2) Manual: Skating with only two wheels on the ground

Start rolling forward and place your back foot on the tail. Bend your knees. Shift the weight to your back foot as you lean forward. Once you balance, push your front foot down.

Pump (Illustration: Siddhant Jumde)

3) Pump: Using your body to get more speed from your board

Crouch while you move across the bottom of the U-shaped bowl. At the slope of the ramp, rise up.

Grind (Illustration: Siddhant Jumde)

4) Grind: Pushing your truck/axle along a ledge or rail

Ollie on the ledge. Go at a slow pace and just pop onto the rail. When you reach the end of the ledge, pop a small ollie and land flat on the ground.

Flip (Illustration: Siddhant Jumde)

5) Flip: Rotating your board and landing on it again

Do the ollie. Use your front foot to flick the board. Catch the skateboard with your back foot, then your front. Bend knees when landing.