How to Kickflip — Step-by-Step Tutorial for Beginners

Prerequisites

Before learning the kickflip, make sure you can:

• Land an ollie consistently while rolling at walking speed
• Control where you land on the board (over the bolts, not the middle)
• Ollie high enough that the board has time to flip under you (roughly knee height)
• Pop and jump simultaneously — not two separate motions

The kickflip is essentially an ollie with a front foot flick added at the right moment. If your ollie is inconsistent, learning the kickflip while your ollie is still unreliable adds two problems at once.

→ Not there yet: How to Ollie — Step-by-Step Beginner Tutorial

Foot position

Back foot: On the center of the tail — same as an ollie. No change here.

Front foot: This is what's different from the ollie.

• Ball of your foot on the deck (not the arch)
• Toes angled toward the heel-side edge, roughly 30–45 degrees
• Front foot slightly further back than your ollie position — around the first set of front bolts or just behind them
• Toes hanging slightly off the toe-side edge — this is what allows the flick

The key difference from the ollie: your front foot is positioned so it can exit the board off the toe-side corner when you flick. In an ollie, your front foot slides straight up to the nose. In a kickflip, it exits off the edge before reaching the nose.

The 5-step process

1. Set your stance — front foot in kickflip position (ball of foot, toes angled heel-side, over first bolts). Back foot center of tail.
2. Pop the tail — same pop as an ollie, sharp and hard. The board needs height for the flip to complete. A weak pop means the board hits the ground before flipping.
3. Flick the front foot — as the board rises, slide your front foot up toward the nose and flick it off the toe-side corner of the board. The motion is diagonal: up and off the edge. The front foot leaves the board completely and goes out to the side.
4. Tuck and wait — lift both knees and get your feet out of the way. Let the board flip. Don't rush to catch it — wait until you can see the grip tape.
5. Catch and land — back foot over the back bolts, front foot over the front bolts. Bend your knees, land with your weight centered, roll away.

The flick — the most important part

The flick is what separates the kickflip from the ollie, and it's what most people struggle with. Key points:

• The flick exits off the toe-side corner, not straight off the nose. If your foot exits straight off the tip, you get backspin or a varial flip instead of a clean kickflip.
• The motion is quick and sharp, not a slow push. Think of snapping your front foot to the side — not a controlled slide.
• Your front foot leaves the board. This confuses beginners — in an ollie, the foot stays on until the nose catch. In a kickflip, the foot exits the board entirely and comes back only to catch.
• Direction of the flick: toward your heel-side (the same side as your toes are pointing). The board rotates toward your toe-side and back up.

Common mistakes and fixes

Learning progression

1. Stationary on grass — work out the foot position and flick motion without worrying about landing. Just try to make the board flip. The grass slows you down so the board doesn't go far if you miss.
2. Stationary on pavement — once the board flips consistently, try landing it stationary on hard ground. Don't worry about rolling away yet.
3. Land with one foot — a checkpoint: can you reliably get at least your back foot on the board when it's flipped? This confirms the timing is close before trying both feet.
4. Land with both feet stationary — get both feet on the board and absorb the landing, still stationary. Just roll a foot or two and stop.
5. Rolling slowly — once you can land it stationary consistently (8+ out of 10), try rolling at walking speed. The motion is the same but your brain adjusts for momentum.
6. Rolling at normal speed — most people find kickflips are actually easier rolling than stationary once you're past the learning stage, because the forward momentum helps the board stay under you.

Mental block: the commitment problem

A common wall beginners hit: you can make the board flip in practice, but when you try to actually land it, you bail before the board comes back up. This is a fear/commitment issue, not a technique issue.

The fix: go back to grass for a session and focus specifically on landing on the board regardless of whether it's a clean kickflip. Get used to the feeling of feet returning to a flipping board. Once that feels normal, the commitment problem usually disappears on pavement.

Setup notes for learning kickflips

→ Setup tools: RISER 3D Build Tool | How to Apply Grip Tape

What to learn after the kickflip

Once your kickflip is consistent while rolling, you have two main directions:

• Heelflip — the mirror-opposite of the kickflip. Same concept, opposite direction. The back foot flicks off the heel-side with the front foot in roughly the opposite position. Most skaters who can kickflip can learn the heelflip in a few weeks.
• Kickflip into grinds / slides — kickflipping onto a curb or ledge into a grind is a natural next step once the flat-ground kickflip is solid.
• Varial kickflip — a kickflip with a backside 180° pop shove-it. Happens accidentally a lot while learning; worth making it intentional.

→ See also: How to Ollie | Street Skating vs Park Skating