Skateboarding is an incredibly popular sport today. No longer thought of nothing more than a fun hobby, skateboarding is now considered as being a legit sport and there are professional athletes who make their living off skating. Any person can get started in skateboarding if they have focus and are willing to work hard. Anyone can get started in the sport, learn how to skateboard and become a skilled skater, if they learn a few basic moves.
When getting started learning how to skateboard, the only equipment you really need is a board and helmet. You may also want to get some knee and elbow pads since you’re just starting out because you’re liable to fall down a couple times while you’re trying to get the hang of things. The Ollie is the first move ever invented in the skateboarding sport and one of the first you should focus on. Usually however Ollies are used more when the board is moving and in combinations with other trick moves.
To perform the trick you want to place your front foot in the middle of the board and back foot at the tail end. Then you bend your body down a bit and push hard on the back end. Push down even harder with your front foot and this will get you air, so you can basically jump with the board onto rails, stairs, or just give yourself some lift for another trick. Make sure to keep your feet close to the board at all times so you don’t fall off when making your landing.
The Manual is another very basic trick and one that any person learning how to skateboard should work on. With this trick you can ride along on the back wheels of your board. To start you need to get the board going at a relatively quick speed. Then you just want to put one foot on the tail and one near the middle of the board and once you’re near the object you want to Ollie onto, perform the Ollie then land on your back wheels and ride for as long as you can maintain balance.
Some skaters can hold their Manuals until the board slows down on its own. Boardsliding is another really cool trick which you can do after you have mastered the Ollie. You want to ride the board down the rail then Ollie back off onto the side you started from. Then you Ollie off and land on the same side that you started on.