Are You A Rank Skateboard Beginner?
Skateboarding looks simple enough to do. Just a few shoves with a foot and you’re moving on! You’re skateboarding! Cool! After getting on a board, right away you’ll feel the difference and know there’s more to this than you thought. It’s actually a pretty hard sport to learn. But just staying on the board is one thing, are you interested to advance to more fun stuff? Don’t you want to do all the cool stuff you see more experienced skateboarders do? Don’t be all down because you’re not good at it. Even world champion skateboarders had to start exactly where you are now. There are some tips and other stuff that’ll help you make faster progress.
It’ll take a bit of practice to discover the best foot in front and back. It’s not like other sports where it matters if you’re a lefty or a righty. But it is important to know which is your dominant or stronger leg. The best way to do this is to think about the way you approach things. When you kick a ball, which foot do you use? Which leg do you normally begin with when you go up some stairs? If you stumble, which foot do you automatically use to catch yourself with? The foot you use for all of these things will almost always be the foot that you keep on the back part of the board. How you stand has less to do with which way you want to face as you move on the board and more to do with which leg is stronger and sturdier. Put on some new clip on sunglasses to look stylish as you are skateboarding.
Ok, when you want to turn – shift your weight in the right direction and hold your balance the best you can.
Don’t lean with all your weight in the front direction or back. Shift from feet flat on the board to either the ball of your each foot or the heel of each foot. And your body remains upright and there’s no swaying back/forth. If you sway or lean too much you could fall. It’s best to be on a flat/even/uncrowded surface. Then practice with wide/gentle turns first before trying sharp turns. Then, when you’re comfortable, practice lifting the front a little for the sharper turns.
Figure out how you want to stand on your skateboard. Depending on the situation, skaters can adopt different stances for the best use. To help, get on your skateboard and just stand still. Find a comfortable standing position (one that you can hold for a while without wobbling and that doesn’t start to hurt). Next figure out how you want to push-off to build and keep up the speed. Practice pushing-off with a foot, but no need to go fast or far. You can push-off in different ways, but just find a way that doesn’t put you on your face.
You know there’s more to skating than standing and riding a flat piece of board. You’ll see many people commuting to work on skateboards in cities, and they’re just fun to ride. The one trick to being good at it is just to have an open mind for learning.
Tags: skateboarding, skating, sunglasses
