Ollie

Any serious skateboarder will tell you that the ollie is the most fundamental of all skateboard tricks. In fact, it's probably the first trick that you'll learn on your skateboard. You can perform an ollie while stationary, while riding down the street, or while navigating obstacles. With these steps and a lot of practice, you too will be ripping, shredding, and jumping curbs with the help of an ollie.

Steps

  1. Stand on the board. Get a good feel for its shape, the tightness of your trucks, and the size of your wheels. Ollies are always easier on a familiar setup. If your trucks are too loose and you can't keep in control while crouching, then tighten them until things are a bit smoother.
  2. Adjust your feet with your front foot near the middle of the board and your back foot on the tail of the board. Getting the foot positioning right can be the first really tricky part of an ollie to master. The ball of your back foot should be half hanging off the edge of the deck's tail, or back. The ball of your front foot should be central to the deck, somewhere between the bolts.
    • The actual position of your feet is very important. How far forward/back you choose to have your front foot is mostly a preference thing, but it can affect your ollie too.
      • Huge monster ollies will require your foot to be further back, but will be more difficult.
      • Little curb-hoppers can be easily done with your foot further forward.
  3. Bend your knees and crouch down. Start off in a stationary position. Balancing your crouch properly is crucial. Don't bend your back too much and don't stick your bottom out too far. Try to drop down and keep your shoulders level with your feet.
    • Try to stay on the balls of your feet, especially when crouching. If you just go up on your toes, chances are you'll start turning back-side when you jump. (If you weren't already aware, the back-side edge is the one nearest your toes).
    • If you've moving while you ollie, there are two good ways to reposition your feet so that they're properly balanced before you jump.
      • The first is a tiny little jump, just big enough to let you land with your feet where you need them. This is the best and quickest way, but also the trickiest.
      • The second way is to just shuffle your feet into position. It's a slower, less accurate method, and it ruins your shoes pretty quickly unless your grip tape is dead — which it shouldn't be if you want to be able to ollie well.
  4. Jump into the air, first with your front foot, and after with your back foot. The board isn't going anywhere with your weight on it, so the beginning of an ollie maneuver is to jump. Sometimes it's easier to think of it as jumping off of your back foot. If you're having trouble with the height of your ollie, just forget about sliding (for the moment) and slam your knees into your chest.
  5. Jump up, and kick down the back of your board at the same time. A good strong pop is very important; it's the power behind your ollie. It's called a pop because of the noise of your deck hitting the ground, which will make it bounce.
    • Timing of the pop is crucial. After jumping, pop the board as soon as you feel your weight lessening on the board.
      • This may seem tricky, as the jump and pop seem instantaneous, but visualizing it this way helps a lot.
    • If you're new to skateboarding, chances are you've probably tried the maneuver of stamping on the tail to make it jump up at you. It's the same principal with a pop, except you're doing it while standing on (actually, more like jumping above) the board.
    • Another possible reason for the tail not lifting is that your foot might be hitting the ground with the tail too much, not allowing the actual board to lift. You want the ground to help snap the deck up, but not so much that the board gets bogged down and your timing is messed up.
  6. Slide your front foot as soon as you start jumping. Turn your front foot inward and slide up the front of the board in a rolling motion. Bring your back leg up toward your chest as you do this.
    • Remember that this step must be performed at the same time as jumping. Sliding too soon will result in an ollie with little height; sliding too late will result in an ollie that doesn't get leveled out at its highest point.
  7. Pull your knees up towards your chest. Exactly how far you need to do this depends on how high your ollie is, but the board can only go as high as your feet, so if you want your ollie to be high you have to bring those feet up.
  8. Level out with both when your front foot has slid all the way up, keeping pressure on the board as it begins to fall down. Make the board level to the ground while in mid-air. In other words, don't have the front of the board sticking up in mid-air. This technique will help tremendously when you get to jumping gaps.
  9. Try to land both feet at the same time, preferably with your feet as close to their respective trucks as possible. If you land an ollie with both feet in the middle of your deck, it's going to snap. Likewise, if you land on your nose and tail, they could break off. Make sure you bend your knees to absorb the shock when you land.



Tips

  • Make sure your back foot starts to rise straight after the pop - don't allow your back foot to make any contact with the ground.
  • When you jump, once you feel a little light on the skateboard, immediately kick-down, so the board will come up with you. Remember, timing is everything on this trick.
  • Where you learn is just as important as how you learn. Find somewhere flat and smooth. Don't try to ollie up/over an obstacle right away. A good idea is to draw a chalk line or a chalk square, and try to ollie over it. Many people find it easy to ollie if they have a target they can observe, and a chalk obstacle is a safe/easy obstacle to start with.
  • It takes time to learn to ollie. Before you learn to ollie you want to get comfortable riding your skateboard around and just cruising around on your skateboard. Nobody gets it the first time. It is not an easy task to jump in the air while controlling a board on wheels. Don't get disheartened, it's a big achievement and something you'll have to work hard for. The payoff is well worth it though.
  • Don't try ollies going fast - start slow and work your way up. If you learn them stationary, you will have to re-learn the trick while moving.
  • The basic movements in gaining height with an ollie are how hard and fast you pop, how much effort you put into your jump, and how accurately you slide that front foot up the deck.
  • If you can't land the ollie correctly, you can keep practicing to hit the tail dragging your foot up. Practice on the ground first. Push your tail down and try dragging your front foot up the board. When you get good, try this normally.
  • You have to move with the board! Don’t expect it to simply jump up in the air without your help.
  • Ollies and flatland tricks are done more easily while rolling slowly on a smooth even surface.
  • Try to get your feet in a spot that's stationary.
  • Always try to slide your front foot as far as you can, like you're trying to put it on the very tip of the board.
  • The harder you push the board down in the beginning, the more your board will jump. The more your back foot is on the edge, the easier it will be to get your board off the ground.
  • Keep your feet centered, you don't want your board to flip under you.
  • Sometimes it's easier to think that you're just jumping up and the skateboard is coming along for the ride. This makes it easier to ollie over obstacles, because you'll just be focusing on jumping over or on it.
  • Try moving your feet around a little. You might find a new way to ollie.
  • Make sure to stay balanced.
  • If you're having trouble landing the ollie, try practicing on a trampoline. This will allow you to work on landing without worrying about kicking off.
  • Make sure you tighten your trucks before performing an ollie.
  • Don't learn while stationary, or you will have to learn again moving! Make sure you are moving while learning, even if its slowly at first. Use a wall or rail to hold onto if you're scared.
  • Always remember to jump when first starting the ollie.
  • For beginners, try an ollie without moving.
  • If you just can't get of the floor, try popping your board for 5 minutes, then keep your board in popping position and slide or "roll" your foot up the board for 5 minutes and then pop and slide your board for 10 minutes. Then you should nail the ollie pretty fast.
  • Bring your knees up. If you don't you are just pushing the board back to the ground.

Warnings

  • Spend a lot of time perfecting this trick, because it is extremely important.
  • Make sure to balance yourself properly during a crouch; otherwise, the board will go out of your control and mess up your ollie.
  • Don't try to do anything out of your comfort zone. Don't try to kick-flip or go on half-pipes when first starting out skateboarding. All you really need in street skateboarding is a skateboard and helmet. For vertical skateboarding (half-pipes), you will probably need pads along with a helmet.

Things You'll Need

  • Skateboard (The rest of this stuff is optional but recommended)
  • Helmet.
  • Knee pads.
  • Elbow pads.
  • Wrist guards.

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Sources and Citations

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