G Turn

In the days before wheelies were taken to obstacles and called manuals, there were G turns. G turns were nose wheelies where you carve round in a circle that gets steadily tighter, the theory being that the more full circles you do, the better, and you could end with a spin.

They can be done in a normal nosewheelie, or in a hang ten or one footed version.

Gatair

A fakie 360° mute grab fastplant. Named after Mark “Gator” Anthony, who not only invented the trick, but later became infamous after killing a woman and burying her in the desert.

Gay Twist

This is a caballerial with a mute grab. Needless to say, people rarely do gay twists outside of vert and ramp skating.

Gazelle

This is a 540° shuvit where the rider of the skateboard also spins a 360° body follow (a body follow is a body varial in the same direction as the skateboard is spinning). Rodney Mullen does lots of gazelles in his video parts, and rightly so because they look sweet.

Gazelle Flip

Quite simply, a gazelle with any kind of flip.

Ghetto Bird

The ghetto bird is a ‘signature trick’ of pro skater Kareem Campbell, although like many signature tricks it’s probable that the trick was landed well before Kareem popularised it. The trick itself is simply an illusion flip revert; in other words, you pop an illusion flip and then turn 180° after catching the board just as or just after you’re landing.

Note: Many people will tell you that a ghetto bird is a hardflip revert, but I’ve watched Campbell do this trick a lot and he definately doesn’t do a ‘proper’ hardflip (a flip that spins under the feet). The confusion stems from the fact that few people understand the difference between a hardflip and an illusion flip. That’s not to take anything away from the trick, because illusion flips are still damn good and most people do “hardflips” that way anyway (in fact, I’ve never seen anyone do a proper hardflip).

Gingersnap

A flatland flip trick done out of hang ten stance, in which the rider is balancing with both feet facing forwards side by side on the nose of the skateboard. The flip consists of half a front flip and half a normal flip, achieved by jumping up sharply from both feet with a slight empasis on one side of the nose to get the side spin required. The board flips vertically beneath the riders feet, so he must tuck his knees nice and high to avoid the board before turning 90° in mid air and landing in switch or regular stance.

Gnar Jar

A 540° to tail. Broken down, this means you get air on a vert ramp, spin 540°, and slap your tail on the coping on the way down.

Godzilla Flip

An impossible from a tail stop that is started by pulling the nose of the board over your foot with your hand as you jump.

Be aware that there is a difference between this and the godzilla railflip.

Godzilla Railflip

A frontside varial railflip from toeside rail that flips 1.75 times in the heelflip direction.

Not to be confused with a godzilla flip which is a different trick entirely.

Goofy Foot

A term describing a skateboarder whose natural stance is right foot forwards. Goofy footed skaters are the minority – most skaters are regular footed.

Gorilla Grip

When skaters still skated barefoot, they would curl their toes around the ends of the board so they could pull the board up with them as they jumped, and this was called a Gorilla Grip.

Grab Trick

A trick involving holding a part of the skateboard with one or both hands while airborne. Grab tricks are common in vert skating where half pipes give plenty of hangtime, but are also seen occasionally in street skating off big ramps or kickers.

Grey Slide

Named after Jim Grey, the Grey Slide is a vert tailslide where the front hand grabs the nose and the back hand is on the coping, creating a layback slide variation.

Grind

The act of riding along an obstacle – usually a kerb, rail or ledge – on the trucks of the skateboard. This often makes a distinctive grinding noise. There are dozens of grind variations, some of the most common are the 50-50 grind, nosegrind, and the 5-0 grind.

Griptape

Part of a skateboard – the stickybacked sandpaper applied to the top of a deck to enable a skateboarders shoes to grip the skateboard.

Gymnast Plant

1. A no-footed invert on a ramp; the legs are extended upwards and held together perfectly in a good gymnast plant.

2. A one handed handstand from a rail stand or a tail stop position in freestyle skateboarding. One hand holds the board in the air while the other hand is planted on the floor. Note that your feet should never touch the floor in a good gymnast plant.