7 Freestyle Skateboarding Tricks for Thrashers

Freestyle skateboarding, also known as flatland skating, is one of the oldest styles of skateboarding. Popularized by two of the best skateboarders in freestyle, Rodney Mullen and Russ Howell, this form of skateboarding mostly features technical flat-ground tricks. Many freestyle skateboarding tricks are performed from a stationary position, though it’s now more common to see skaters perform a blend of freestyle and street tricks.

Freestyle skateboarding developed from its original use as a mode of transportation. In the 1950s, when wave conditions weren’t ideal for surfers, they’d hit their skateboard decks, using the same techniques they were using in the water, just on a smooth, solid surface. These flat ground maneuvers like ollies, shove-its, and manual riding gradually turned into the more impressive tricks that can be seen in modern skateboarding.

Here’s a list of freestyle skateboard tricks that you can try at the skate park or in your own backyard:

1. 1. Ollie: The ollie is a skateboarding trick that involves snapping the tail of the board off of a surface, bringing your entire board up into the air. The ollie makes it possible to perform many aerial flat ground tricks and is the foundation to almost every trick on the street, and most tricks on ramps.
2. 2. Nollie: A nose ollie, or a “nollie,” is a variation of the ollie, except instead of snapping down on the tail of the skateboard to pop the front wheels, a skater uses their front foot to snap down on the nose of the board, which pops the tail. The board lifts off into the air, and the skater catches it with their feet, before landing solidly on the ground.
3. 3. Walk the dog: This vintage freestyle trick requires proper weight balance and momentum. The skater needs to keep their body and front foot facing forward to perform this trick, while their back foot crosses over to the nose, rotating the board 180 degrees.
4. 4. Shove-it: Also known as a shuv-it, this trick involves a flat 180-degree spin of the board, using the back foot, so the tail of the board never touches the ground. You can perform a frontside shove-it or a backside shove-it.
5. 5. Pop shove-it: A pop shove-it (or shuv-it) is a skateboarding trick that combines a shove-it with the pop of an ollie. For this trick, the skater performs an ollie to pop the board into the air, spinning it 180 degrees towards the backside or frontside, before landing on it again.
6. 6. Manual: A manual is a freestyle skateboarding trick where the skateboarder shifts their weight to the back or front of the board to lift the front or back wheels into the air without the tail or nose of the board touching the ground. Think of a manual as the skateboarding version of popping a wheelie on a bicycle. Lifting the front wheels into the air is a standard manual while lifting the back wheels into the air is called a nose manual.
7. 7. Kickflip: A kickflip is a common skateboard trick that pops the skater up into the air, using their feet to flip the board a full rotation—360 degrees. With a kickflip, the board spins mid-air toward the skater. Skaters perform this trick on flat ground and obstacles, like over steps or off-ramps.

Whether you’re just learning how to ollie or ready to tackle a Madonna (the vert trick, not the singer), the MasterClass Annual Membership can help you find confidence on your board with exclusive instructional videos from skateboarding legend Tony Hawk, street skater Riley Hawk, and Olympic hopeful Lizzie Armanto.