15th March 2006
Skateboarding Question : Committing To Your Ollie
“I go to ollie but when I’m in the air my back foot comes off the tail and goes straight back. My foot slides off after my pop but before the peak of my ollie. Then when I land the board slides out from under me.”
This sounds like a commitment problem, rather than any kind of technique fault. Remember with ollies you should be jumping up and forwards off of your back foot (read how to ollie for a review of this), but to do what you’re doing you must be jumping and then letting your back foot lag behind the rest of the jump, or conciously moving it backwards.
To do good ollies (or any other ollie based trick) you need to commit to the trick and do your best to stay above the board. In most cases like this, people fear the landing and whether the board will fly out from under them, but the more you keep doing what you are doing the more you will fear the landing. The surest way to stomp a solid landing that won’t fly out from under you is to commit to the ollie and get your feet in the right positions.
If you keep having trouble, try ollying on grass or carpet – some kind of surface that isn’t so unforgiving. Then move to concrete when you are doing them consistently.
thanks james that makes alot of since.and yeah im regular
Posted by mich on 17th of March 2006
The only time I’ve ever seen ‘too much’ grip being an issue is when you’re not rolling your foot properly. Only the side of the sole of your shoe should be dragging up the board. Sometimes, if you don’t roll your foot enough, too much of your sole can be in contact with the grip tape and this causes you to have too much grip.
Posted by Adam on 19th of March 2006
Actually… the way James explained it makes it sound more like he’s pushing the front foot forward too much and not sliding it up the board enough? Eh, I’m not sure.
Posted by Vaughn on 21st of March 2006
Yeah, it’s difficult to say without actually seeing it… But I reckon in either case (too much grip or pushing the board away) you’d not be rolling your foot properly.
Posted by Adam on 22nd of March 2006
It might be a problem in the way he positions his weight when he’s about to ollie. I used to do something similar to that when I was learning to ollie, because I placed my weight above my back foot (over the tail of the board), and when I’d land the board would slip out occasionally. When I started putting my weight over my front foot (around the center of the board) and staying over the center in mid-air, I was nailing near-perfect ollies each time.
Posted by Vaughn on 23rd of March 2006
Its probably because he’s jumping wrong.When you ollie,you have to jump with the board,and your back foot needs to stay right above the tail,and it needs to rise to allow the board to level out.The board wont level out if you dont drag your front foot right up to the nose.
Posted by Oldschool Al on 25th of April 2006
hey. Im in college doing tv and film, and im doing a documentary on skatebroading. The thing is i have to interview skatebroaders and im not sure what to ask…. so can any one help me out with anything( tell me everything)…..
Posted by fitz on 16th of October 2006
Hi Fitz
You’ll be lucky to get any replies here. This post is from March.
If you leave your email address I’ll get back to you about this, I’m interested in showcasing the documentary on this site.
Posted by Adam on 18th of October 2006
i think he means when he ollies, his left foot grips TOO well, bringing the board too far with it making the board too far forward for his right foot (considering he’s regular)to land on the board, that way when the board comes down it takes his left foot in one direction and his right stays put (ouch) i know cuz thats what happened to me when i was lernin to ollie
Posted by james on 17th of March 2006