The Skateboard Ollie

The skateboard ollie is when you jump and the board sticks to your feet. Learn how to ollie here.

The ollie is the proper name for a skateboard jump. It took many talented skaters experimenting to learned how to pop ollies on flat ground as high as we do today. It was first done on a skateboard halfpipe around 1977. It didn’t look much like what modern street skaters do these days. 

I have taught many people how to a skateboard ollie in twenty minutes with this technique. The ones who were successful followed each direction. They did this and they learned to ollie on a skateboard a short amount of time. Be patient, follow these steps and you will too!

The Skateboard Ollie Things to Know First.

The ollie is important and one trick everyone wants to learn. There are tons of things to learn before you focus on it. Rolling with balance. Pushing, stopping and turning. Get these easy skateboard tricks figured out first. Then try an ollie.

Try these basic skateboard tricks too. If you can do them then you will have the balance and coordination needed to ollie. Saving yourself a lot of time sucking at skateboarding. Plus you will already know a few tricks too.

Learning the Ollie

Learn the ollie while standing still on pavement or concrete. Someplace you can roll. You don't need to be rolling but you should learn on a surface that will let you roll back and forth. The hard surface is important to get used to.

You need to be able to balance on your rolling skateboard if you hope to do this trick. Learning it in place where the wheels do not roll is awkward. Rolling lets you develop balance. If you have learned the basic skateboard tricks then you should have no problem with this.

Once you can pop the tail on this trick you need to start trying it while rolling. Even rolling slow makes the skateboard ollie work much better. It is easier to do skateboard tricks when rolling there is a good scientific reason why.
When you are moving in a certain direction your board and your body will continue to move in that direction. This make things stable and easier to control. When rolling your stay lined up over your skateboard. See how the ollie works with physics here.
The other added bonus is that if you are comfortable rolling when you pop your ollie. You will have the balance to land the ollie and roll away. The moving ollie should be your goal.

How to Pop the Ollie

Practice this first:

Learn these two moves then put them together and pull an ollie in no time.

The Jump and the Pop:

Jump - While rolling crouch down at the knees. Using your crouched knees, jump up and land back on your board. 

Pop - While standing still on the skateboard, pop the tail by hitting it down on the ground hard. Stay on the board.

Get these two moves down solid without falling off. This gives you all the balance you need to land the ollie. Get so you can smack the tail hard on the ground. This will allow you to pop the board off the ground. Doing these two steps together with the proper timing will give you a good skateboard ollie.

Your First Ollie

You have both the jump and the pop down. Now you will use timing to put them together and get into the air.

Your goal is to crouch down, jump and pop at the same time. Do not worry about how high you are doing it. The height will come with practice. You need to focus on the timing first. If you follow these steps you will have done an ollie. It may not be big but that comes with practice.

Many people will tell you to slide your foot while learning to ollie. Sliding the foot allows you to level out or tweak your ollie. It is a more advanced ollie technique. Develop the timing and pop of the ollie first. Get off the ground now. Then worry about height and style.

Once you are ready then go to the next steps:

1. Place your feet
   
2. Crouch at the knees
   
3. Jump fast
   
4. Pop hard at the same time
   
5. Rise with the board
   
6. Level it out a bit
   
7. Start coming back down
   
8. Land on the board and crouch for balance
   

The key is to time leaving the ground with the pop of the tail.

In detail:

1. Place your feet
Back foot on the tail with the curve of your foot matched up with the curve of the tail.
Front foot in front of the midpoint of the board. The ball of your foot (just behind your big toe) should be over the middle of your board. In the imaginary line between the bolts. Turn both feet to a duck stance with the heels closer than the toes. It looks like a ducks feet.

3. Jump
Once couched don’t waste time. Begin jumping and begin to pop the board like in the next step.
This is the tough part for timing. If you have practiced this part it will come much easier.

Follow these steps you will have done an ollie. It may not be big but that comes with practice.
The key is to time leaving the ground with the pop of the tail.

Tweaking your Ollie

You have the timing down on your ollie. See how to ollie higher and longer. If you can ollie and do the basic skateboard tricks you will be able to learn new tricks faster. Think about some ollie variations like: Switch ollies, fakie ollies and nollies.

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