How to Ollie

The Ollie is the primary foundation of skateboarding.  The Ollie is the gateway to all of skating tricks, except for a select few including things such as power slides and no complies.  You should begin to learn the Ollie as soon as you are comfortable riding the skateboard.  A common mistake that most skaters make is trying to rush this process.  Rushing the process in order to try and catch up to your friend’s ability levels will inevitably lead to injury.  My advice is to first get coasting and simple riding down then move onto this tutorial.  If you are comfortable riding your board let me say congratulations and good luck while trying to learn this trick.  This trick is very difficult to master at first but as soon as you have it, it will be yours for life.  Like other skateboarding tricks the keys to success include your foot placement and timing.  Your back foot should be placed upon the top of the tail, while staying on the ball of your foot.  Your front foot will want to be just past the middle of the board, almost three quarters.  Like the back foot you will want to be on the ball of your foot in order to get the most successful "pop".  The term "pop" in skateboarding refers to the height of the jump and the noise your skateboard will make when done successfully.  Now that your feet are in the right position you will want to kick your back down firmly on the tail which will give your board its pop.  Right after popping the tail your front foot is going to want to slide up the middle of the board towards the nose of your skateboard.  This process if done correctly will put your board at a 45 degree angle, which we will correct in just a moment.  While in the air at this 45 degree angle you will need to level the board out by bringing your front foot down towards the ground.  If done correctly your board will level out and your feet will be above each set of bolts on the skateboard.  The key to this trick really though is trial and error.  Everyone does this trick slightly different just based on their own personal preference, so keep at it and good luck.