Your First Skateboard Tricks

There is a right order to learn tricks in, and most people ignore it. They buy a board, spend three months failing at ollies, and conclude they are not good at skateboarding.

The ollie is not a beginner trick. It is the trick everything else needs, which is different, and there are several things worth learning first that make it far easier when you get there.

The short version

• Learn to ride properly first. Push, turn, stop, roll comfortably.
• Then: kick turn, kerb drop, tic tac, shuvit, then ollie.
• The ollie takes 1 to 3 months. That is normal, not slow.
• Practise standing still first, on grass or carpet.
• Twenty minutes four times a week beats three hours on a Sunday.
• Height comes from the front foot drag, not from popping harder.
• Plateaued? A foundation is missing. Go back one trick.
• Pads make you braver, and braver is how you commit.

What we cover

The order to learn in · Before any tricks · The early tricks · The ollie · After the ollie · When you plateau · FAQ

The order to learn in

Trick	Roughly how long	What it teaches you
Riding and pushing	1 to 3 sessions	Balance and comfort on a moving board
Kick turn	1 to 2 weeks	Weight on the tail. The foundation of everything
Dropping off a kerb	1 to 2 weeks	Committing, and landing with bent knees
Tic tac	1 to 2 weeks	Controlling the nose and generating speed
Shuvit	2 to 6 weeks	Scooping the tail, board awareness
Ollie, standing still	1 to 3 months	The movement everything else builds on
Ollie, rolling	+2 to 4 weeks	Doing it with momentum
Ollie up and off things	Ongoing	Applying it

Timeframes assume regular practice and vary enormously. Treat them as reassurance that a slow ollie is normal, not as a schedule.

Before you try any tricks

You should be able to push comfortably, turn by leaning, and stop reliably without thinking about any of it. If foot braking still takes concentration, tricks are premature.

This is not gatekeeping. Every trick on this page assumes the board feels like part of you, and trying to learn balance and a trick at once means learning neither.

Wear the pads. Not for the injuries you imagine, but because being unafraid to fall is what lets you commit, and half-committed attempts are what stop progress. People land tricks when they stop protecting themselves mid-air.

Learn to skateboard, the fundamentals

The early tricks

Kick turn

Weight onto the tail until the nose lifts slightly, swing the front around, set it down. Start stationary, then rolling slowly.

This is the most under-rated trick in skateboarding. It teaches you to put weight on the tail and trust it, which is the foundation of the ollie and of every transition trick. Get comfortable both directions.

Dropping off a kerb

Roll off a low kerb and land rolling, knees bent. Sounds trivial and is not: it teaches you to commit and to absorb a landing rather than stiffen up.

Start with a low kerb. The instinct to lean back is what causes the board to shoot out, so keep your weight centred.

Tic tac

Small rapid kick turns side to side that push you forward. Fun, and genuinely useful for controlling the nose and generating speed without pushing.

Shuvit

Scoop the tail so the board spins 180 degrees under you while you hop straight up. No pop required, which is why it comes before the ollie.

The common mistake is jumping forward instead of straight up, so the board spins out from under you. Jump vertically and let the board do the work.

The ollie

The one everyone wants and the one that takes real time. Every flip trick, every grind and every ledge trick is built on it, so it is worth doing properly.

The movement, in order:

1. Back foot on the tail, front foot behind the front bolts. Foot placement matters more than people think.
2. Crouch. Load your legs. You cannot jump without bending first.
3. Pop the tail down hard and jump off your back foot at the same moment. Not one then the other, together.
4. Drag your front foot up the board toward the nose. This is the part that makes the board rise.
5. Level the board in the air by lifting your back foot.
6. Tuck your knees for height.
7. Land over the bolts, knees bent.

Where people go wrong:

• Not dragging the front foot far enough. The single most common issue. Popping the tail harder does not fix it, because pop is not what lifts the board.
• Not jumping. Popping without leaving the ground gives you nothing.
• Leaning back, which sends the board forward and you backward.
• Practising only on carpet. Useful at first, then it becomes a crutch because the board cannot move.
• Giving up at week three. One to three months is normal.

Practise standing still first, on grass or carpet so the board cannot shoot out. Once the movement is consistent, move to concrete standing still, then rolling slowly. Rolling is genuinely easier once the mechanics are there, because momentum helps the board come with you.

After the ollie

The ollie opens everything. Sensible next steps, roughly in order:

• Ollie up and off kerbs. Applying it to real obstacles.
• Frontside and backside 180s. Adding rotation.
• Manual. Balance on the back wheels. Harder than it looks and useful everywhere.
• Boardslide on a low rail or ledge. Your first grind-family trick.
• Kickflip. The ollie with a flick. Another one to three month project, and worth it.

Do not rush past the ollie into kickflips. A clean, consistent, reasonably high ollie makes every trick after it dramatically easier, and a scrappy one holds you back for years.

When you plateau

Everyone does, usually on the ollie. What actually works:

• Break the trick into parts. Practise just the pop. Then just the drag. Then together.
• Go back one trick. A plateau almost always means a foundation is missing rather than that you need more attempts at the same thing.
• Film yourself. Ollies feel completely different to how they look, and one clip usually shows the problem immediately.
• Change nothing else. Blaming the board is common and rarely correct.
• Rest. Tricks frequently arrive after a few days off. Muscle memory consolidates when you are not skating.
• Skate with people better than you. The fastest way to improve, and the reason skateparks exist.

Frequency beats duration. Twenty minutes four times a week will take you further than one long weekend session, because this is muscle memory and muscle memory needs repetition and recovery rather than volume.

First tricks FAQ

What is the first trick you should learn on a skateboard?

Not the ollie. Learn to ride comfortably, kick turn and drop off a kerb first, then the tic tac and the shuvit. Those build the board control the ollie depends on, and skipping them is why so many people spend months stuck.

How long does it take to learn an ollie?

One to three months of regular practice for a first ollie standing still, and longer to land them rolling. It is a genuinely difficult movement because you are jumping and dragging your front foot at the same time, so progress feels slow.

Should you learn tricks standing still or rolling?

Standing still first, usually on grass or carpet so the board cannot shoot out. Once the movement is consistent, move to rolling slowly. Rolling is easier once you have the mechanics because momentum helps the board come with you.

Why can't I ollie higher?

Usually the front foot drag is too short, or you are not jumping with your back foot as the tail hits. Height comes from the drag pulling the board up and from tucking your knees, not from popping the tail harder.

How often should you practise skateboarding to improve?

Little and often beats long sessions. Twenty minutes four times a week will progress you faster than three hours on a Sunday, because tricks are muscle memory and muscle memory builds through repetition and rest.

What do you do when a trick stops progressing?

Break it into parts and practise each separately, or go back to the trick underneath it. Plateaus almost always mean a foundation is missing rather than that you need more attempts. Filming yourself shows what you cannot feel.

Come and talk to people who skate

Everyone on our floor skates. If your board is fighting you, bring it into 435A Bridge Road, Richmond. Sometimes a trick is not the problem: trucks too tight, a worn tail, or a deck too wide for your feet all make learning harder than it needs to be.

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