How to do an Ollie on your skateboard
- Ed Riley
- March 21, 2023
Being a skater & not having heard about the Ollie is similar to finding an alien on the earth. Whether you are a beginner or a pro skater by now, the classic “Ollie” is something you’ll see all skaters performing while riding.
Tricks are like a cherry on the icing for the skaters. They are the easiest way to gain a fanbase. And Ollie is the first & foremost of all tricks there are. Confused about how to master the perfect Ollie?? Our article here will solve all your Hows & Whats about performing the Ollie.
What is An Ollie
It is said that, in modern skateboarding, an ollie is the most basic trick to begin learning pro-skateboarding with. This can be performed both by a skateboard or longboard & snowboard.
A jump performed without the help of your hand or a ramp while rebounding your deck off of the ground is called an Ollie. The boarding move was first showcased by Allan Ollie Gelfand. Later, Rodney Mullen gave it a more modern look while still honouring Allan by naming it after him, The Ollie. These all took place in 1976.
Pre Ollie Skills You Must Have
Being the foremost skateboarding move, Ollie doesn’t require much professional skills or experience. But to master it faster, some pre-skills must be developed. Professionals call them the Pre Ollie Skills. The skills featured are as follows:
Push Start
The name talks for itself. Push start means not to stand still and start skating with a push. It’s the most fundamentally exercised skill in skateboarding.
How to do it? This involves both your dominant and non-dominant foot. You begin with pushing yourself off the ground with your non-dominant foot and as you pick up speed, you bring both your feet on the deck and keep rolling.
Kick Turn-off
Kick turn-off is the skill that is used to change directions in skateboarding.
To perform kick turning , position your feet towards the back of your deck followed by a press down and drive the front of your board with your other feet towards the direction you want to go. Then continue with your usual skating stance.
Stoppage
Stoppage or stopping means knowing how to control your board on time, breaking at fatal points.
Professionals use the heel-dragging method to stop their skating if they need to or sometimes to avoid crashing into something or someone. Place your back foot in such a way on the tail of your deck that your heel is out of the edge touching the ground while your toes are still on the board. Now drag a few inches on the ground and the board will slow down. Jump off to stop.
How To Do An Ollie On A Skateboard For Beginners: Step by step
Having learned all the basics, here’s how to do an Ollie by following simple steps:
Step 1: Positioning
Properly positioning your feet is very important before you start your trick. As much as you perfect your position of the feet, it provides you with the best momentum to take yourself and your board in the air without a ramp.
The mentioned perfect position is to place your back foot in the middle of the tail of your board while your front foot is a bit ahead of the middle portion of your board, bug behind the frontal trucks. This posture brings you the proper stance required for an Ollie.
Step 2: Pressure
Then comes adding the right amount of pressure to the back of your board using the back foot. You put all your body weight on the back foot whilst still keeping it in its earlier position. Do it in the fastest way possible to gain the perfect momentum for a jump.
Step 3: Wait & Jump
The pressure on your back foot should cause the tail of the board to touch the ground. Wait till then and jump up.
Step 4: Drag the Board with Your Front foot
With the pressure still on the back of your board and back foot, as you jump, the nose of your deck raises at a diagonal angle in the air. As this happens, you slowly drag your front foot upwards against the nose of your board from its previous middle-board position. This is going to help for a final, safe landing.
Step 5: Get Ready for Landing
As you reach the peak point of your jumping curve, gear up for a handsome landing without much damage. To prevent any kind of scratch or breakage, here are the points you need to make sure of.
Both your feet should be exactly on both truck bolts, the front one on the nosal one & the rear one on the back truck bolt. Your deck must be airborne paralleled to the ground with your body balancing straight on it.
Step 6: Landing
Gravity does most of the job to make you land back on the ground. What you do basically affects your spine & the health of the skateboard.
Bend your knees as your board touches the ground. The right timing matters here the most. This prevents your board from going out of your control & also saves your legs from the sudden shock of pressure derived from striking the ground.
Tips to Master Ollie
Any trick, including Ollie, will require more & more practice until you master it. Apart from that, some pro tips are:
- Go slow! From scraping the ground with your back foot on the board to attempting to jump to landing, be slow & steady if you want to achieve a smooth motion in your trick with better control & confidence.
- Keep your back straight while landing. It is as important as the position of your feet. Make sure your neck is at the same line with the rear edge of your board. Don’t lean too forward. Don’t bend backward.
Common Mistakes
Skaters tend to make some mistakes frequently while ollieing. These commonly made mistakes keep them on a loop of not reaching the perfect bar of ollie, making them frustrated & eventually give up.
The commonly made mistakes are :
1.Not keeping your body straight while landing.
2.Being hasty in learning the trick.
3.Trying to Ollie higher even before learning the basics.
4.Landing with your knees locked. This can cause leg injury.
5.Stomping your board too hard on the ground while performing step.
FAQ
Most frequent questions and answers
Is an Ollie easy to learn?
Skateboarding tricks are difficult as long as you don’t practice them long enough. An ollie is no different. You have to practice more & more & it gets easier with each time.
Can you Ollie on grass?
Sometimes, yes. If the soil is hard and dehydrated. You see, the muddy ground can stick to the wheels, causing your jump to lose momentum and fail your ollie. But if the soil hasn’t encountered rain or hasn’t been watered long enough, then an ollie can be done on the grass. Make sure the grass is trimmed.
Do you jump when you Ollie?
Ollie is a simple jumping technique. But You don’t jump as soon as you ollie. But on the second stage of an ollie, when you gain enough momentum, it is essential to drive the acceleration into a jump to go airborne with your board.
How do I get my Ollie time down?
You can fix a time for your ollie like a minute or 50 seconds. Practicing it again & again will help you break your own records in ollie. But do not push yourself to get your ollie time down as it may fail the originality of the skating trick & cause you injury too!
Final Words....
We have covered all the ifs & buts of an ollie in your skateboarding. So what are you waiting for?
Get on your gears, get to the skating ground & start practicing. Don’t forget to share your progress in the comment section below!
