There are two steps to starting skateboarding. Number one, get a board. Number two, ride it. If you know nothing about skateboards then you can use some of the articles on the site to help you out.
First you should get used to just riding the board. Being comfortable while pushing, standing, stopping, and turning are important skills to develop. You might not be sure which foot you should put in front while riding.
As a beginner, the chances are that the one you’ve got is pretty slow, with Abec ‘A’ bearings and a thick, heavy deck. Your deck won’t have much concave (meaning it won’t be very curved) but the good news is that this type of board is less likely to slip away from you so in fact is ideal to learn on.
Start pushing off up a shallow hill or on a level surface.Firstly, the skateboard tends to get away from them as they are pushing, because they tend to push from a position where their feet are level with each other or even with the pushing foot behind the front foot. Instead, you should imagine that pushing off is like walking – your pushing foot must step in front of the foot on the skateboard and then push back, just like taking normal steps. Your front foot should be just behind the front bolts.
When you’ve got some decent pace just practice gently leaning the skateboard to turn left and right. You don’t need to physically lean your body, but just put more of your weight into your heels or toes.
After a while try lifting the front wheels briefly as you lean to get a sharper turn. Do this by applying a bit more weight to the back tail until the front wheels are off the ground, then aim the nose a bit more towards whichever direction you are facing and put the front wheels back down again. Do this repeatedly while you turn to turn in as tight a circle as possible.
The obvious way for a beginner is what’s known as a tailstop. This is where you grind the tail of the skateboard into the ground, letting the friction slow you down. It works pretty well, although it’s not very efficient if you’re going really fast. You will also wear away the tail of your skateboard – personally I don’t mind this, but you might, depending on how precious you are about the board. Put it this way – it will take a hell of a lot of tailstops to wear the board down entirely, by which point you almost certainly will want a different one anyway.
Even though it wears your board out, it is a useful ‘trick’ to learn because it’s a start towards practicing your balance. When you first do one, you’re going to need the confidence to stomp the back down quite firmly and then ride out the tailstop at an unfamiliar angle (with the nose in the air) until you come to a halt. While you are doing this, try turning at the same time as well. All these little things will add up and be very useful later on.

















































