How To Ollie On A Skateboard

Before you start trying to get your ollies down, make sure you are comfortable on a skateboard. You should be able to easily ride around and feel balanced on your board. If you try to learn ollies before you are even comfortable on your board, you will most likely fall a lot more and learning this trick will be much more frustrating.

Foot Position

Okay, now you are ready to learn this trick. Take your front foot and put it just slightly in front of the center of the board. Now place the balls of your back foot on the middle of the tip end of the tail. This may sound kind of confusing, so i have included a picture of approximately what your foot position should look like. This is a good ollie foot position, but understand though that this foot position may not be exactly right for you. You are going to have experiment and make adjustments to find out just how you like your feet to be set up for ollies. As you get better at the trick over time, your foot position will adjust into the perfect ollie position for you.

The Ollie

So your feet are all set up now, which means it's time to do the ollie. The motion of your back foot during an ollie is a lot like a normal jump. Your back foot is going to push down very hard, then the second your tail hits the ground your back foot is going to jump up into the air, the tail of your board following it. This jumping part is extremely important, if you do not jump, your board will not go up. As your board is being popped into the air by your back foot, your front foot will now swipe up the front of the board in a rolling motion, to level the board out beneath you in mid-air. To get your ollies to the maximum height possible, bring your knees as high up as you can when you ollie to allow the board to come up high as well. Now just keep your feet on the board as you come back down and land it.

Common Ollie Mistakes

When learning ollies, many people have the problem of being able to get the board in the air, but only landing it with one foot on the board, and the other foot on the ground. This is most likely a commitment problem. You have to get over the fear of falling and keep those feet on the board. It actually helps to fall a few times, because once you do, you will realise that it really isn't that bad and you will be able to commit to the trick much better then.

Many people also have the problem where only their front wheels come up in the air but not their back wheels. This means that you are either not popping the tail of the board hard enough, you are not jumping high enough, or a combination of the two.

Good Luck

A very important thing to remember is that just because you read this article, does not mean you will be able to go out and be able to ollie instantly. This is going to take a lot of hard work to learn. Do not get frustrated when you do not land the trick. You will have the most success if you stay patient. Now go get those ollies down!