The skateboarding manual that the Swiss Federal Office of Sport (BASPO) wrote for PE teachers has one line that sums up a good part of this article: before trying the ollie, the prerequisite is being in control of your stance, your balance, moving on the board and the kickturn. There are several steps before your first trick with pop that look like nothing on video, but every serious source puts them first.
To build this guide we cross-checked BASPO’s teaching materials, the beginner program of Skateboard GB (the British federation), Braille’s courses and lists, guides from SkateboardersHQ, Red Bull, Dose and skatedeluxe, Nike’s guide with the U.S. Skateboard Education Association (USSEA), and a biomechanics study on the ollie presented at the 2006 ISBS conference. The first thing that comes out of that comparison is that nobody argues for one single, mandatory order. SkateboardersHQ says so openly: there’s no real order, and its list is only a rough guide. What they all share is the structure: get control of the board, then the ollie, and from there several branches.
How to use the progression chart
The 40 cards are split into seven stages, from fundamentals to the next level. Within each stage they follow the order most sources suggest, although two tricks in the same stage can often be learned either way round. Difficulty uses the same 1-10 scale as Fillow’s trick pages; for steps without their own page (pushing, braking, the no-pop shove-it, pumping) it’s our own estimate.
You can filter by stage, difficulty or tag: street and transition separate the two branches, and shared base marks what’s useful for both. Some cards include a video tutorial and almost all of them link to the trick’s step-by-step guide.
0 · Fundamentals
Stance: regular or goofy
Before your first trick you need to know which foot goes in front: left foot forward means regular, right foot forward means goofy. The skateboarding manual from the Swiss Federal Office of Sport (BASPO) suggests a simple test: a friend gives you a gentle push from behind, and the foot you step forward with to catch yourself is your front foot.
Skateboard GB makes it the first of the six stages in its Cruiser Award, the British federation's beginner program. The U.S. Skateboard Education Association (USSEA) recommends trying both feet before deciding, and BASPO goes a bit further: from a teaching point of view, it prefers that beginners switch between the two.
Getting on, pushing and rolling
The USSEA (in Nike's guide with its founder, Joe Eberling) starts on grass: front foot on first, then the back foot, and then you pivot both until they sit parallel across the board. That foot pivot is awkward at first, but Eberling calls it fundamental. From grass you move to the rubber flooring of a playground and, finally, to concrete.
To push, the back foot does the work and your weight stays on the front foot, as BASPO describes it. According to the USSEA, this basic part alone can take half a session, a whole one, or several.
Turning (carving)
Turning means shifting your weight onto your toes (a frontside turn) or your heels (a backside turn). BASPO teaches it standing still first and then at increasing speed.
The USSEA suggests an easy drill to set up: carving S-turns across a tennis or basketball court, which usually have smooth ground and plenty of room.
Foot braking
According to BASPO, the easiest way to stop is to drag your back foot on the ground; the alternative is stepping off the board while it rolls. The same manual insists you should be able to stop at any moment, and the mistake it flags is going faster than you know how to brake.
Stopping is also part of Skateboard GB's Cruiser Award. The British federation reckons the whole block of fundamentals takes 2 to 4 short sessions or one full day.
Kickturn
You press the tail to lift the nose and rotate your hips and upper body to change direction. BASPO lists it as a prerequisite for the ollie, and on a ramp it calls it the first rotation you learn. Red Bull adds that it helps later with the kickflip.
The typical mistakes, according to BASPO, are putting too much weight on the back or over-rotating. On a ramp, the progression goes from flat ground to the bottom of the wall and only then to the coping.
Tic-tac
Short kickturns linked left and right so you move forward without pushing. Red Bull places it right after the kickturn because it builds balance and strength, and notes that short tic-tacs give you more momentum than wide ones.
BASPO uses it as a warm-up drill before kickturns on a ramp, and also in beginner games such as a slalom.
Riding fakie
Rolling backwards without changing your foot position. Red Bull puts riding switch as the first item on its list of easy tricks, because it's a skill you'll need later; the rock to fakie, for example, ends with you rolling fakie.
Fakie and switch aren't the same thing: in switch you change your front foot. SkateboardersHQ sees fakie as the first step toward switch, which is a sensible way to start.
Manual
Balancing on your back wheels without the tail touching the ground. Red Bull, SkateboardersHQ and BASPO (which calls it a wheelie) all put it before the ollie. Red Bull points out that rolling a few feet is enough; you don't need a long manual. Braille, on the other hand, leaves it for the second volume of its course, after the ollie.
The most common mistake is letting the tail scrape. Braille notes it's easier rolling than standing still, and SkateboardersHQ suggests practicing on an old board because the tail wears down.
1 · Tricks without pop
Caveman
You hold the board in one hand, jump, and let go just before landing on it. Braille ranks it second in its list of the 15 easiest tricks for brand-new skaters, and SkateboardersHQ includes it among the drills worth doing before the ollie.
It's a way to get comfortable jumping onto the board without needing any pop.
Hippie jump
You jump straight up while the board keeps rolling underneath and land back on it. SkateboardersHQ includes it in its list of pre-ollie drills.
BASPO uses something similar to train airtime: jumping off the rolling board and landing back on it with both feet at once, a little higher each time.
Shove-it (no pop)
The board spins 180° under your feet as you scoop it with your back foot, without popping. Braille ranks it 5th among its easiest tricks (the ollie is 10th) and sums up the technique as being all in the back foot. The typical mistake is trying to pop instead of dragging.
SkateboardersHQ considers it probably easier than an ollie and recommends starting with the fakie shove-it; the mistake it sees most is not committing. Don't confuse it with the pop shove-it, which does need the ollie.
Boneless
You plant your front foot on the ground, grab the board with your hand, jump and land back on it. Braille puts it 6th on its list of easy tricks, right after the shove-it.
It works your hand-foot coordination, and it's usually learned after the caveman, which already gets you used to jumping with the board in your hand.
Body varial
You jump and spin your body 180° while the board stays under you without turning. Braille includes it in its list of easy tricks, ahead of the ollie, and insists on keeping your feet over the bolts, not on the tail or nose.
BASPO gets there through airtime drills: jumps that get higher and higher on the rolling board, then with a half turn.
2 · The ollie and its family
Ollie
Pop the tail and slide your front foot to lift the board without using your hands. BASPO calls it the most important move and a prerequisite for many others; Sidewalk describes it as the fundamental building block, and Red Bull points out that a lot of tricks are built on top of it.
BASPO also warns that it's one of the hardest moves, precisely because it's done without hands and takes patience. SkateboardersHQ estimates anywhere from a couple of weeks to six months to land it, depending on how much you practice. A biomechanics study presented at the 2006 ISBS conference helps explain why: it's a countermovement jump, and coordinating that motion on top of a board takes time.
Common mistakes according to SkateboardersHQ: working on stationary ollies before you can ride well, and hesitating mid-motion. Once it works, BASPO suggests ollieing over something small, like a plastic cup.
Backside 180
An ollie with a half turn toward your back. Red Bull and Braille put it right after the ollie, and SkateboardersHQ says the backside one is usually easier than the frontside.
Braille includes it in the list of tricks you should have before trying the kickflip, alongside the frontside 180 and the shove-its.
Frontside 180
An ollie with a half turn toward your chest. Braille teaches it in the first volume of its course, next to the ollie. In the 21-levels video Tony Hawk shot for WIRED, levels 2 and 3 are 180 variations on the ollie.
Braille's advice is to wind up your body before the pop and turn your shoulders and head as you pop. The most common mistake is not committing to the rotation and stopping halfway.
Pop shove-it (backside and frontside)
The board spins 180° under you with the help of the pop, while your body doesn't turn. It's where the shove-it and the ollie meet: Braille places it after the ollie and both 180s, and lists it as a kickflip prerequisite.
SkateboardersHQ recommends learning both directions. The frontside one, scooping forward, is the piece you'll need later for the hardflip and the varial heelflip. The problem it mentions most is frustration, and for that it suggests breaks and mixing in other tricks.
Nose manual
A manual on your front wheels. Braille puts it right after the manual in the second volume of its Skateboarding Made Simple course.
Later on it's the balance base for the nosegrind: Fillow's nosegrind page lists the nose manual as a prerequisite.
No comply
You step your front foot off onto the ground, pop the board up with your back foot and jump back on. SkateboardersHQ says it isn't hard once it clicks, and that it opens the door to jumps and quarter-pipe tricks.
Like the boneless, it has a foot touching the ground during the trick, so if you already have the boneless the motion will feel familiar.
3 · Flatground flips
Heelflip
The board spins along its long axis when you flick it with the heel of your front foot. Braille includes it in the list of tricks to have before the kickflip, and SkateboardersHQ lists it in its order as the first flip.
The technique differs from the kickflip: according to SkateboardersHQ, on a heelflip your shoulders stay more closed, your eyes go toward the tail and your stance is a little wider. In another article, the same site says there's no required order between the two flips and you should pick whichever feels more natural.
Kickflip
The board spins along its long axis from a flick of your front foot. BASPO explains that it contains every phase of the ollie, so having the ollie down is its prerequisite. Braille adds the 180s, the shove-its and the heelflip to that list, and warns that making the kickflip your first trick sets you up to fail.
According to Braille, the flick goes up and out, not down, and your chest should turn toward the nose. SkateboardersHQ adds other mistakes: opening the front shoulder and landing with one foot, jumping forward instead of up, separating pop and flick, leaning forward, or keeping your feet too close together. It reckons it takes weeks, months or even years.
Nollie, switch ollie and half cab
Three ways of doing the ollie from a different position: the nollie pops off the nose, the switch ollie is done in your opposite stance, and the half cab is a fakie ollie with a half turn. All three assume you have the ollie and can ride fakie.
Sources disagree on when to start with switch. Red Bull considers it basic from day one and BASPO recommends alternating stances; other, more informal sources suggest locking in the basics in your natural stance first.
Varial kickflip and varial heelflip
They combine a flip with a shove-it of the board. The varial kickflip is a shove-it plus a kickflip; the varial heelflip is a heelflip plus a frontside 180 spin of the board.
SkateboardersHQ recommends having the frontside pop shove-it before trying the varial heel. On Fillow's trick pages, both varials ask for the matching flip and the pop shove-it.
4 · Curbs, ledges and rails
50-50 on a curb or ledge
A grind on both trucks at once. For BASPO it's the first grind: the approach angle is smaller than for a boardslide or lipslide, and both trucks have to lock on at the same time.
You need a rolling ollie you're fairly comfortable with. From there, the variations BASPO suggests lead to the 5-0, nosegrind, feeble and smith. On curbs and ledges, many guides present it as the first grind, often frontside.
Boardslide
You slide with the board sideways across the obstacle, resting on its middle. BASPO considers the backside boardslide the simplest way to slide a rail and recommends starting backside because it's a little easier than frontside. Braille opens the grinds and slides volume of its course with boardslides.
The typical mistake is leaning back: keep your weight slightly forward and look at the end of the obstacle. BASPO advises short, low, flat and fairly wide rails, or using just the last stretch of a rail, and carrying good speed because it helps your balance. Red Bull recommends waxing the obstacle.
5-0
A grind on the back truck only, with the nose up. Braille places it after the 50-50s in volume 3 of its course, both backside and frontside.
Fillow's trick page asks for the 50-50 and the manual first, because balancing on the back truck feels a lot like a manual.
Noseslide and nosegrind
Both put your weight on the front of the board. The noseslide slides on the nose; BASPO uses it as its example of a slide on a block and names the main mistake as arriving without enough speed and ending up falling on the obstacle. The nosegrind is a grind on the front truck.
In Braille's volume 3, the 5-0s are followed by the nosegrind, the frontside tailslide and the backside crooked.
5 · Transition and mini ramp
Pumping and rolling between quarters
Before dropping in, Dose recommends rolling back and forth between the two quarter-pipes of a mini ramp, building speed with your body. That motion is called pumping.
To start out, BASPO suggests baby or micro ramps around 1 m high with a long transition (a typical skatepark mini is 1.5 m) and fairly tight trucks, because the board is more stable.
Drop-in
Entering the ramp from the top with your tail set on the coping. Skatedeluxe calls it the most important thing for riding transition, and Dose calls it the fundamental move before any ramp trick.
The main mistake is leaning back: according to skatedeluxe, leaning forward is the only way not to fall on your back, although going too far forward also ends with you falling off the nose. Dose adds stiff knees and uneven weight. In the comments on skatedeluxe, several skaters suggest practicing first on banks that get steeper each time. The axle drop-in is harder and can wait.
Rock to fakie
You ride up the wall, bring your front wheels over the coping, rock the board on it and roll back down fakie. BASPO calls it the first real mini ramp trick, ideally learned after the drop-in, and suggests trying it first on a ramp without coping or on a bank, where the risk of hanging up on the way back is almost zero.
To come back in you need to lift the front wheels high enough, shifting your weight to the back leg for a moment. You need to be able to ride fakie and carry some speed, although Dose warns that too much speed too soon is a common mistake.
Axle stall
You pause for a moment with both trucks on the coping and drop back in. Dose presents it as the introduction to coping tricks and puts it after the rock to fakie and the kickturn.
The mistake it mentions is losing your balance and turning the 90° unevenly. Fillow's trick page lists the rock 'n' roll as a prerequisite; by Dose's logic it could come earlier.
Rock 'n' roll
BASPO presents it as a variation of the rock to fakie: instead of rolling back down backwards, you turn the board on the coping and come back in forwards.
Volume 4 of Braille's course, about skatepark basics, follows this order: drop-in, rock to fakie, rock and roll and frontside hip ollie on a pyramid.
50-50 on coping
The first ramp grind: you grind the coping on both trucks. It's the fifth trick on Dose's mini ramp list, after the axle stall.
The mistakes Dose points out are too little speed or commitment, off-center weight, looking down, and not unweighting your front foot as you come back in.
6 · Next level
Hardflip
SkateboardersHQ breaks it down as a frontside pop shove-it and a kickflip at the same time, two pieces you should already have by this point.
That's why it helps to have a comfortable frontside pop shove-it before trying it.
Inward heelflip
A heelflip combined with a backside pop shove-it, according to SkateboardersHQ's breakdown.
Fillow's trick page asks for the heelflip and the varial heelflip first.
360 flip and laser flip
The 360 flip combines a kickflip with a 360° spin of the board. SkateboardersHQ recommends having the 360 pop shove-it before trying it.
Following the same logic, the laser flip asks for the varial heelflip and the frontside 360 shove-it first.
Bigspin
The board does a 360 shove-it while you turn 180° in the same direction. SkateboardersHQ recommends starting backside, because it considers the frontside one harder.
Braille includes the fakie bigspin in its list of 15 easy tricks, right before the kickflip.
180 flips: frontside flip and backside flip
A kickflip with a 180 of body and board. SkateboardersHQ insists on practicing the 180s and the flip separately before combining them.
On Fillow's trick pages, the frontside flip asks for the kickflip and the frontside 180, and the backside flip for the kickflip and the backside 180.
Technical slides and grinds
Tailslide, lipslide, crooked, feeble, smith and bluntslide. All of them grow out of earlier pieces: the boardslide, the 5-0 and the nosegrind. The 50-50 variations BASPO suggests already point toward the feeble and the smith, and Braille closes its grinds volume with the frontside tailslide and the backside crooked.
Tailslide · Lipslide · Crooked · Feeble · Smith · Bluntslide
Grabs and coping tricks
Indy grab, disaster and blunt are the usual next steps on transition. Fillow's trick pages show what each one asks for: the disaster comes from the rock 'n' roll and the blunt from the axle stall.
In WIRED's 21-levels video, Tony Hawk works through the whole scale up to big-ramp tricks like the McTwist, the 900 and the 1080.
Nothing matches those filters.
The stages of the progression, one by one
Fundamentals: what comes before your first trick
The two institutional sources agree on this. Skateboard GB’s Cruiser Award has six stages: the first is knowing your stance, and pushing and stopping are in there too. The British federation reckons it takes 2 to 4 short sessions or one full day, with a coach and no practice outside class. BASPO adds the kickturn as a requirement before the ollie and builds its beginner sessions around games (curling with the board, a tic-tac slalom) so practice stays relaxed.
Nike’s guide with Joe Eberling, founder of the USSEA, is the most detailed about the first few minutes. Front foot on first, then the back foot, then pivot both until they sit parallel. All of that on grass, then on the rubber flooring of a playground and finally on concrete. According to Eberling, that part alone can take half a session, a whole session or several, so spending a couple of days here is normal.
Tricks without pop
There’s a family of tricks that don’t need the ollie and help you get used to jumping on the board. Braille orders its 15 easiest tricks for brand-new skaters like this: feet stomp (flip on), caveman, vanilla milkshake, manual, shove-it, boneless, body varial, nose stall, primo, ollie, frontside 180, ollie north, nose grab, fakie bigspin and kickflip. The article doesn’t explain why it uses that order, so it’s better read as a list of suggestions than as a syllabus.
SkateboardersHQ suggests something similar as ollie prep: hippie jumps, ollie pick-ups, acid drops, caveman and bean plants. BASPO uses airtime drills: jumping on the rolling board and landing with both feet at once, a little higher each time, then with a half turn, which is the base of the body varial.
The ollie and what gets built on top of it
BASPO calls it the most important move, the one many others need. Sidewalk describes it as the fundamental building block and Red Bull says a lot of tricks are built on top of it. BASPO also admits it’s one of the hardest moves, because it’s done without hands and takes a lot of patience.
On timing, SkateboardersHQ talks about anywhere from a couple of weeks to six months depending on how much you practice. The most interesting data point comes from a Miami University study presented at the 2006 ISBS conference (Walsh, Creekmur and Wojcik). They trained five beginners on ollies three times a week, 20 minutes each time, for four weeks. Before training, the beginners bent their knees slowly and paused before jumping; by the end, their force curve showed a countermovement similar to the experienced skater’s. The ollie is a countermovement jump, and what takes time is coordinating that motion on top of a rolling board. It’s only five people, so it can’t support broad conclusions, but it fits with what coaches describe.
With the ollie come its first variations: the 180s (SkateboardersHQ says the backside one is usually easier), the pop shove-it in both directions, the nose manual and the no comply. In the 21-levels video Tony Hawk shot for WIRED, levels 2 and 3 are exactly that, 180 variations on the ollie. If you want the ollie broken down step by step, it’s in our guide on how to ollie on a skateboard.
Flatground flips
For Braille, the kickflip has a fairly long list of prerequisites: ollie, frontside 180, backside 180, pop shove-it, frontside shove-it and heelflip. With those, it says, the kickflip should be much easier, and making it your first trick sets you up to fail. BASPO puts it another way: the kickflip contains every phase of the ollie, so the prerequisite is having the ollie down.
The timelines people give for the kickflip are pretty vague: SkateboardersHQ says weeks, months or even years. What’s well documented is the list of mistakes. Braille insists the flick goes up and out, not down, and that your chest turns toward the nose. SkateboardersHQ adds landing with one foot because the front shoulder opens, jumping forward instead of up, separating pop and flick, and keeping your feet too close together. Braille’s drill is done standing still: flick, put your back foot down and catch the board with your front foot.
After that come the varials (shove-it plus flip), the nollie, the switch ollie and the half cab, which need the ollie and, in the half cab’s case, being able to ride fakie.
Curbs, ledges and rails
The common requirement is the ollie. BASPO asks for it before any slide, and Red Bull wants jumps, kickturns and ollies before the boardslide. BASPO’s setup advice is very practical: short, low, flat and fairly wide rails, or using just the last stretch of a long rail to shorten it, and moving to down rails or kinked rails only once the trick is dialed. It also stresses that speed helps your balance, so going in too slow tends to work against you.
Transition and mini ramp
Before the drop-in, Dose recommends rolling back and forth between the two quarters, and BASPO has you do the kickturn first on flat ground, then at the bottom of the ramp and only then on the coping. For equipment, BASPO advises fairly tight trucks at first and ramps around 1 m high with a long transition, lower than a typical skatepark mini, which is 1.5 m. It also points out that many tricks can be practiced on the wall first, without reaching the coping.
The order BASPO, Braille, skatedeluxe and Dose share starts with the drop-in and continues with the rock to fakie, followed by the axle stall, the rock ‘n’ roll and the 50-50 on coping. Skatedeluxe considers the drop-in the most important thing for riding transition, and BASPO calls the rock to fakie the first real mini ramp trick.
Where the sources disagree
Shove-it before or after the ollie?
It looks like a disagreement, but it’s mostly a naming problem. Braille ranks the shove-it 5th among its easy tricks and the ollie 10th, and SkateboardersHQ says the shove-it is probably easier than an ollie. Both mean the no-pop shove-it, the one you scoop with your back foot. The pop shove-it does need the ollie, and Braille places it after the ollie and both 180s. Oddly, SkateboardersHQ’s own text says you should learn the ollie first, yet its list puts it after the shove-it.
Kickflip or heelflip first?
This one is a real disagreement. Braille includes the heelflip in its kickflip prerequisites, and SkateboardersHQ lists it in its order as the first flip. But SkateboardersHQ itself, in another article, says kickflips usually rotate more easily because your torso is open, although balancing during foot placement is harder, and concludes there’s no required order. BASPO’s school manual only teaches the kickflip as the next step after the ollie.
The technical difference can help you decide. On a heelflip your shoulders stay more closed, your eyes go toward the tail and your stance is a bit wider; on a kickflip your torso is more open.
Stationary or rolling ollies?
SkateboardersHQ is clear about it: practicing stationary is a common mistake that will take you much longer, and rolling is the best way. It adds that stationary ollies carry more injury risk, because without speed it’s harder to recover if you land badly. BASPO, on the other hand, says it can be done standing still or at moderate speed, and Braille’s kickflip drill is also stationary.
For the very basics, grass and carpet have their supporters. The USSEA starts on grass, SkateboardersHQ recommends it to adults for roughly the first hour (balance, getting on and off, falling) and BASPO suggests jumping on the board set on grass or held by a friend. A reasonable reading of all this: grass or carpet is good for getting the feel, and the ollie you’ll actually use gets locked in while rolling.
Boardslide or 50-50 first?
BASPO says the backside boardslide is the simplest way to slide a rail, and Braille opens its volume 3 with boardslides before moving on to 50-50s. Red Bull doesn’t even mention the 50-50 and picks the boardslide as its intro to slides. On the other side, plenty of blogs and shops present the 50-50 as the first grind, and BASPO itself calls it that on its 50-50 sheet, with a smaller approach angle than the boardslide.
Our cautious reading: it depends on the obstacle. On a rail, the backside boardslide looks like the easiest way in; on a curb or a ledge, the usual starting point is the 50-50.
Manual before or after the ollie?
Red Bull (manual 3rd, ollie 6th), SkateboardersHQ (manual 1st) and BASPO (wheelie before ollie) put it first. Braille leaves it for the second volume of its course, after ollies and the frontside 180, although the manual is 4th in its list of easy tricks. Since it doesn’t need pop, nothing stops you from practicing it in your first weeks. Red Bull adds that rolling a few feet is enough; you don’t need a long manual.
Switch from the start?
Red Bull puts riding switch as the first item on its list and BASPO says that, from a teaching standpoint, it’s better to alternate stances. SkateboardersHQ sees fakie as the first step toward switch, and forums keep repeating the advice to lock in the basics in your natural stance. None of these positions comes with data behind it. A cautious option is to ride fakie early and save switch tricks for once you have the ollie.
Street or transition: two paths from the ollie
Up to the ollie and the 180s, the path is the same for everyone. After that, Skateboard GB organizes its progression program by routes: once you finish the Cruiser Award you choose between flat/street, skatepark obstacles, mini ramp and bowl.
The street branch usually goes roughly like this: rolling ollies and ollies over something small (BASPO uses a plastic cup), pop shove-its and 180s, heelflip or kickflip, your first 50-50s and boardslides, then 5-0s, noseslides and nosegrinds, varials and 180 flips, and later hardflips, inward heelflips and 360 flips.
The transition branch starts with pumping between quarters, kickturns on the wall and then on the coping, the drop-in and the rock to fakie. Then come the axle stall and the tail stall, the rock ‘n’ roll and the 50-50 on coping, and after that the hip ollie on a pyramid (as Braille does in its volume 4), grabs like the indy, the disaster and the blunt. Nothing stops you from alternating between the two depending on the spot you have nearby.
For adults, SkateboardersHQ recommends starting transition on quarters and minis before the bowl, and mentions older skaters who took around two years to feel comfortable in a bowl. It’s anecdotal, but it gives you an idea of the timescale.
How to practice so you progress faster
Frequency over marathons
The ISBS study protocol (three 20-minute sessions a week for four weeks) was enough to change the beginners’ jumping mechanics. SkateboardersHQ recommends adults skate at least two or three times a week, for one to two hours, and notes that people who skate two or three hours a day progress faster than those who skate one.
When to switch tricks
SkateboardersHQ suggests dropping a trick after roughly an hour without success, and taking breaks so your brain and muscles can adapt, mixing in manuals or shove-its. If frustration builds up, changing spots also helps.
Surfaces, aids and a coach
The USSEA moves you from grass to rubber and from rubber to concrete. BASPO recommends avoiding ground with water, dirt or oil and suggests simple aids: a friend holding you by the hips or hands, the board on grass for your first jumps, and tight trucks on a ramp at the start. Eberling, from the USSEA, considers a certified coach the best option for getting started, and the British Cruiser Award is designed to be done with an instructor.
Filming yourself
Dose has a five-step method for analyzing tricks: film with a fixed camera and the whole trick in frame, watch it in slow motion, compare it with a pro, pick one or two things to fix and repeat. SkateboardersHQ also recommends that adults film themselves to see what they’re doing right and wrong.
Falling and protective gear
BASPO suggests practicing falls on a soft surface, landing on your side or on your knee pads. Both BASPO and the USSEA recommend an action-sports helmet (ideally with MIPS) and point out that a bike helmet usually covers less of the back of your head; which certification to look for on the label is explained in our guide to skateboard helmets and pads. Add knee pads, elbow pads and wrist guards. If you’ll be spending time at the skatepark, it’s also worth knowing the unwritten rules of skatepark etiquette before you join the line at the mini ramp.
Starting as an adult
The USSEA’s short answer is that age is no barrier; Eberling says exactly that in Nike’s guide. In 2023, Jenkem profiled a crew of skaters in Birmingham, Alabama, who started in their 30s and 40s.
SkateboardersHQ’s advice for late starters is specific: a slightly wider board (8.25 to 8.5 inches), protective gear, warming up before you skate, accepting that recovery is slower, starting on grass or carpet for balance and falls, and filming yourself. None of the sources suggests a different trick order for adults; what changes in their advice is the pace and how much you look after your body between sessions.
Keep exploring
- How to ollie on a skateboard: step-by-step guide
- Goofy vs regular: how to find your skate stance
- Skatepark etiquette: the unwritten rules
- The greatest skate tricks in history
- All skateboard tricks with tutorials
- Skateboarding dictionary
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