Skateboard Tricks Overview: From Basic Moves to Signature Tricks
In recent years, skateboarding has been drawing attention—not only because it was chosen as an Olympic sport, but also thanks to Japanese athletes making their mark on the world stage.
It’s becoming increasingly popular as an extracurricular activity for kids, and many adults have also started skateboarding recently.
In this article, we’ll introduce a wide range of skateboard tricks all at once.
We’ll cover everything from basic tricks to showcase moves like the ollie and kickflip.
Be sure to check this out before you start skateboarding, or right after you’ve just begun.
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Rotation System Tricks (1–10)
heel flip
As the name suggests, the heelflip is a trick that pairs with the kickflip.
While a kickflip flicks your back foot outward, a heelflip uses your front foot to flick inward toward your stomach to rotate the deck.
The deck rotates on the same principle, so the difficulty is about the same as a kickflip.
Practice the same way: first hold onto a handrail or something similar to get a feel for spinning the board, then move on to landing with one foot without the handrail to get used to it.
If you feel like you can sort of do it but you’re better at kickflips, try doing it fakie (rolling backward) or in switch stance (switching your front and back feet).
It might click better that way, so give it a try.
kickflip
Once you’ve learned to ollie, the next trick everyone longs for is the kickflip.
It’s a trick where, during the ollie, you rotate the deck one full turn along the axis parallel to the ground toward your back.
Up to popping the tail with your back foot and lifting the nose, it’s the same as an ollie, but as you slide your front foot up, you flick it toward your backside to spin the board.
What makes the kickflip difficult isn’t just spinning the deck; you also have to keep the board rotating directly under your body or you’ll botch the landing.
It’s recommended to start by holding onto a handrail or something similar, get used to landing with just one foot on the deck, and gradually build the full motion step by step.
frontside 180
Among tricks where both your body and deck rotate 180 degrees during an ollie, the frontside 180 is the one where you rotate frontside—that is, with your back facing the direction of rotation.
It’s sometimes written as FS180.
For a frontside 180, before the ollie you crouch and close your shoulders opposite the direction of rotation, then pop your ollie while opening your shoulders and unwinding your torso.
At first you might not complete the full 180, but if you focus on keeping your weight centered over the middle of the deck and doing a clean, fairly high ollie, you’ll gradually get it.
Once you’ve learned the frontside 180, it opens the door to other tricks like the frontside flip, so aim to master it!
Curve Trick (1–10)
Board slide
A boardslide is a trick where you place the middle of your deck on an obstacle—like a rail or the edge of a box—and slide.
The difference between a grind and a slide is whether you’re sliding on the trucks or on the deck.
While the 50-50 grind is typically learned frontside first, the boardslide’s basic form is backside.
In a backside boardslide, you hop onto the rail or box on your back side and slide while keeping your body facing the direction of travel.
To learn boardslides, you’ll need to pop an ollie and then rotate your deck 90 degrees, so it’s helpful to have frontside 180s down beforehand.
It’s also important to practice ollieing onto the corner of a box.
Working through these steps in order is the key to mastering the trick.
50-50 grind
A 50-50 grind is a trick where you hook both the front and back trucks of your skateboard onto the edge of a box or curb and slide.
Because you need to jump onto the edge of something like a box, an ollie is essential.
Like other tricks, the 50-50 grind has frontside and backside variations.
The frontside 50-50 grind, where you lock onto a box or ledge on your belly side, is considered a fundamental curb trick.
Start by practicing on a low box to learn the proper approach and how to distribute your weight while sliding.
Grab tricks (1–10)
Airborne
Airborne, also affectionately known as the early grab, is one of the old-school tricks.
It’s a move where you clear the coping—the edge of a ramp or transition.
You might have also seen people launching off the top of a staircase with an airborne.
It’s said to be the first trick to ever clear coping on a skateboard, making it one of the most significant moves in skateboarding history.
Start by practicing while standing still on flat ground, then progress to practicing while rolling on flat ground, building up step by step.
boneless
A boneless is a trick where you grab the deck with your hand, set your front foot down on the ground, then jump and get back onto the deck.
It’s classified as an old-school trick.
You can do it on flat ground as well as on ramps and over obstacles, so it’s useful in a wide range of situations.
Since it’s also a grab-style trick where you hold the board, it has a strong visual impact.
Surprisingly, though, it’s not very difficult—if you keep a few key points in mind and practice, you’ll be able to do it in no time!