Trick Tips presented by Vans - The Nollie
Trick Tips presented by Vans - The Nollie
The nollie position has a lot in common with the regular ollie as you’ll be rolling forward in the regular position (left foot forward for a regular skater / right foot forward for a Goofy skater). That being said, the pop technique is closer to a switch ollie as you’ll be popping with your front foot on the nose of the board instead of with your back foot on the tail, making the trick a bit more difficult.
To be more precise, skating nollie is like skating fakie, but switch. Meaning you’ll stand on the front of your board while rolling forward, but in your opposite stance. The first step of this trick is to get comfortable rolling around in nollie stance. This step is pretty easy as rolling with a nollie position feels a lot like skating in your original position. Like we said before, the difference is where your feet are placed on the board when you pop.
The foot placement
Once you’re able to roll around in the nollie position, it’s time to get the proper foot placement. This one is very easy. Your front foot should be placed nice and steady on the back pocket of the board’s nose, meaning the pocket that’s closer to your heels. Dig your front foot as deep as you can into the back pocket of the nose so you feel like its anchored sturdily enough to snap the nose on the ground when you get to the pop.
Your back foot should be placed flat in the middle of the board just a few inches below the back bolts. Your back foot also needs to be placed right in the middle of the board so your heel and toes hang just a little bit on both sides. This will allow the middle of your foot to grip the board and bring it up with you while your body starts to go up in the air after you popped.
The Roll up and the pop
Once your foot positioning is good and sturdy and that you’re comfortable rolling in the nollie stance, you can start to try the actual trick. The process is pretty simple. Roll forward in nollie stance and bend your knees to gather pop. Keep your shoulders parallel to your board the whole time. Unfold your knees and snap the nose on the ground as hard as you can.
The key to landing great nollies is right here! As opposite to a regular ollie where you pretty much just snap your tail on the groung to get air, you’ll want to push your front foot in front of you as much as you can so the board stays under your feet while you’re in the air. Since you’re rolling in the front of the boards, you’ll want to push it forward to make sure it doesn’t stay behind when you pop.
So, snap your nose to the ground by kicking down with your front foot, but after kicking down, extend the motion of your front foot by bringing it in front of you and push as far as you can forward without getting your front foot off the board! Once you start to get up in the air, your board’s tail shoult be pointing up. That’s your cue to start to level the board in the air with your back foot.
While you jump up with your board under you, move your back foot towards the tail of the board by scratching it on your grip tape and transfer your weight towards the back of your board. This will allow your board to get back parallel to the ground. Once you feel like your board is parallel to the ground, it’s time to go back down on the ground.
The Roll Away
The roll away for the nollie is as easy as the ollie as you’ll land in your unsual stance. No need to learn how to roll switch for this one. Just try to have your board as flat as possible in the air so you put your 4 wheels down on the ground at the same time.
Try to have both feet as close as possible from your board’s bolt and start the descend. Once you hit the ground, bend your knees to absorb the impact, roll away and do it again until you feel like your nollies are solid!