At one point or another, you saw someone ripping on a skateboard and thought to yourself “man, that looks like a lot of fun! Could I possibly do that?” Well, wonder turned to action, you bought your first board, and began learning how to ride it!
Now you’re here. You’ve mastered the basics of riding your skateboard, despite taking a few falls and getting a few bruises along the way! Standing, stopping, turning, and even throwing in an ollie or two comes easy to you and you’re looking to start adding some tricks to your sessions. Great! You’ve come to the right spot.
After reflecting on my years learning how to skate, I’ve decided that these are the top 10 easiest tricks to learn once you’ve mastered the basics of skateboarding. Feel free to download these so that you can take them with you the next time you go out to ride to have a reference to look at as well as a place to mark your progress!
Also, make sure when practicing these tricks to set up a safe environment to practice on. Find a relatively empty parking area with plenty of space to move around or a skatepark that isn’t too crowded. Ensure the space you plan on practicing on is flat and even so that you have as few barriers in the way to practice as possible.
- Riding Switch
One of the best things you can do once you feel comfortable riding your skateboard is to learn to ride switch. Simply put, riding switch is switching your stance from how you’re normally comfortable riding. If you ride with your left-foot forward (regular), riding switch would mean that you would ride with your right-foot forward (goofy) instead. By learning to ride switch, you’ll be able to land tricks in regular or goofy stance and still feel in control!
Step up how you get onto your skateboard by learning how to caveman! Start in a flat, grassy area at first to practice the movements so that your body can get used to where to place your feet and your board won’t roll away when you mess up. Start by gripping your board by the nose with your front hand. Then, let go of your board and jump onto the bolts of the board. Try this several times until you feel balanced each time you land on your board.
Then transition to a paved area and repeat the process. Once you’re comfortable doing that, add in a few steps first to get some forward momentum before dropping your board and jumping on it. And that’s it! You’ve learned to caveman!
Watching people carve up a bowl and getting so stoked at witnessing such a masterful display of flow will make you want to learn the kickturn. Learning the kickturn will help you carve more efficiently, adding a higher degree of flow to your rides!
To begin, stand on your board with your foot further back on the tail. Shift your weight over your back leg to lift the nose of your board in the air. Once it’s a couple of inches off the ground, shift your board left or right and unweight your back leg to complete the turn. This will help you turn more effectively, especially when you’re moving fast.
Learning the shove it is the gateway for beginners to learning one of the most widely known tricks in skateboarding, the pop shove it. Start by placing your back foot on the very back edge of the tail of your board. Your front foot should be placed at a 45° angle.
To start the shove it, do a small jump on your board while pushing your back foot backwards at the same time. Your board should spin underneath you while your feet are in the air. If you’ve done it right, you’ll have landed balanced on your board!
A quick beginner trick that looks impressive while being easy to learn is the rail stand. There are several variations of the rail stand, so be sure to get these basics down before you try practicing other ways of doing the rail stand.
Start with your back foot on the tail of the board with your front foot standing off of the board and even with your back foot. Move your back foot so that it is further to the right side of your board (if riding regular). When you’re ready, move your front foot to the back wheel to tip the board over on its rail. Slide your front foot onto the back wheel and place your backfoot onto the front wheel. And that’s it! You’ve done a rail stand. Make sure you’re wearing proper skate shoes, and each of these beginner options will feel a lot easier!
To gain some extra momentum and feel more comfortable on the board, make sure to learn how to tic tac. Start by standing in your riding stance on your board. Then, rotate your shoulders and torso left and right while picking up the nose of your board while leaning back. Start slowly and gradually build up speed as you feel more balanced on the board while performing the tic tac!
A fun and easy beginner trick to use to avoid small obstacles is the hippie jump. Find a pipe, stick, or another skateboard to set up something to jump over while high enough off the ground for your board to pass underneath. Once you’re set up, get some forward momentum towards the obstacle. As you’re just about to hit the obstacle, jump off your board and over the obstacle, landing on your board that (ideally) has passed under the obstacle at the same pace as you.
The manual is a great beginner trick to learn in order to keep your balance doing more advanced tricks later on. To manual, start by getting a bit of forward momentum and shift your back foot to the tail edge of the board. Load your back leg up with your body weight to get the nose of your board to come off the ground. Try to hold that position as long as you can while maintaining forward momentum! Time yourself to see how long you can hold a manual, trying each session to go longer than the time before!
A quick trick to add some style to your riding is the no comply 180. Start standing still with your back foot on the tail end of the board. Push the tail of your board down to raise the nose of your board off the ground while stepping off your board with your front foot. Then, scrape your board forward to spin the nose towards you. Once the board has made a 180° turn, step your front foot back onto the board! For added challenge, try to do it moving!
To get used to grabbing your board while moving, add in the boneless to your list of beginner tricks. To start, stand on your board on flat ground and bend down to grab the toe side rail of the board. Then, with your front foot, step off the board and slightly jump into the air while holding your board. Finally, as you begin to come back down from your jump, let go of the side rail and place your front foot back on the board. As you get comfortable doing this while standing still, add in some forward momentum for extra challenge.
Final Thoughts
While there are nearly limitless tricks that you can learn as a beginner skateboarder, these are some of the best ones to learn in order to confidently progress your riding to more challenging intermediate to advanced tricks. Spend plenty of time practicing each one until you get confident doing it before adding a new trick to your routine. But don’t forget to throw in a couple reps of each trick as you progress through this list to ensure your skills stay sharp!
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