Skateboarding Styles

After some 40 years of development, modern day skateboarding can be classified under three main styles:

• Vert Skating. Also known as ramp skating, this is the style created by the Z-boys in 1970s California. It relies on the use of custom built skating environment.
• Street Skating came about in response to the lack of skateboarding facilities. Just a skateboard and man made obstacles known as street furniture are all that is needed.
• Freestyle Skating. A smaller, straighter board is spun, flipped, twisted and balanced upon, mostly while stationary. A smooth bit of ground and a skateboard is all you need to freestyle.

Each style of skateboarding has its own distinct tricks and style of riding, as each different environment throws up a new set of possibilities and limitations. Naturally, skateboarding tricks cross from one style to another where possible, thus a grind performed on a street kerb may also be practised at the top of a ramp. An intricate flip trick invented by a freestyle skater can be performed by a street skater on the move as well as by a vert skater high in the air. In this section we're going to take a look at the three main styles in detail, what you need to do them, how they differ from each other and the pros and cons of each style.

Introduction to Vert Skating

• Pros: High aerial tricks look and feel amazing to do. Big cash prizes for champion skaters.
• Cons: You need regular access a skatepark to get good. The more impressive the tricks mean the more dangerous it gets.

Vert skating, also known as ramp skating and park skating, is the style that receives the most media attention. It is a regular part of the X-Games and many other international extreme sport competitions. At the top end of the sport, competitors can earn $1000 - $10,000 dollars a time from competition winnings and more from lucrative sponsor opportunities.

The word vert comes from the vertical portion of any ramp. As the ramp ascends from the ground, its curvature steepens until it becomes vertical near the top. Ramps with massive amounts of vert are harder to skate but allow higher jumps as the speed gained by descending the ramp before ascending the other side (as in a halfpipe) allows a higher jump.

Vert skating tricks can be divided into two categories:

• Aerial tricks. Performed above the lip of a ramp in mid-air. In competition, points are awarded on height, difficulty of trick, duration of time the trick is held, number of rotations (if any), and combinations (if any).
• Lip tricks. Balancing type skate tricks performed on the top edge of the ramp, the lip.

Types of skate ramp

Ramps come in a variety of shapes and sizes and are all suited to a particular range of tricks. A variety of ramps may be arranged together into a single comprehensive skateboarding environment, this is known as a skatepark.

A ramp is usually a curved structure made from either wood, or concrete in the case of permanent, outdoor skateparks. Wood is a lot less painful to fall on than concrete, but wood does require extra maintenance. The majority of privately run skateparks are made of wood, whereas local councils tend to build outdoor parks in concrete.

The bottom of the ramp is the base and it curves up as it ascends through the vert. The top of the ramp, or the lip, is usually covered with a metal strip called coping to protect it from wear and tear and to allow skateboarders to grind their trucks along it. Some ramps have a central portion at the top without a lip where the ramp curves over. This is known as a roll-in and serves many functions - to allow a skater to easily enter and leave the ramp; to allow a skater to jump out of the ramp and into another located directly behind it; or as an extra obstacle to be jumped over during high airs.

Let's take a look at the most popular types of skate ramp:

• Halfpipe. A U-shaped ramp that looks like a pipe would, should it be cut in the middle horizontally and only the bottom part left. Half-pipe skating is the favourite for people going for big aerial tricks. By skating up and down either side of the half-pipe and getting higher and higher air, skaters can build the speed up for really big, high aerial tricks. Competitions are won by pulling off difficult tricks consecutively without falling and within a set time-limit.
• Quarter pipe. This is basically half of a half-pipe. Generally it will have a run up area directly in front of it to allow a skater to get enough speed. Quarter pipes often form part of a skatepark where they are linked in with other ramps for variety. In this case, skaters may be able to jump into or out of a quarterpipe from or to another type of skating obstacle or ramp.
• Skate bowls. Inspired by the disused swimming pools skated by the early Z-boys, a skate bowl is exactly what it sounds like - bowl shaped. As well as being able to perform lips tricks and aerials, skaters can have a lot of fun carving-up a bowl by turning at the top rather than hitting the lip. Also there is more scope for grinding and board slides at the top. Bowls come in all shapes and sizes, from flat bottomed to big, mini and everything in-between.
• Mini-ramps. Usually a mini half-pipe, these are suited to perfecting those intricate lip tricks and can be loads of fun. Not suited to aerial tricks unless 'mini' airs are what you want.

Aerial Tricks

Aerial tricks, commonly called airs, are the most visually spectacular of all skating tricks, where top vert skaters constantly push the boundaries in terms of height as well as difficulty. Many airs are classified in terms of where the board is held (the grab), the rotation, or the position held in the air.

As such, if a skater grabs his board at the back (the heelside) it is a backside grab, if he grabs at the front (the toe side) it is a frontside, with tailgrab and nosegrab being grabs at the tail and nose end. The name of a grab trick also depends on which hand is grabbing. The back hand is the hand furthest away from the nose of the board and, therefore, grabbing the nose with this hand is harder than grabbing with the nearer hand. It results in greater instability, requires greater skill and control to perform and subsequently earns more points in a competition.

Rotational tricks are measured in increments of 180. You start with a 180 to go up the ramp and come down again facing forward. A 360 degree air will mean you come back down backwards having rotated a full turn. Any air where a skater re-enters or exits the ramp backwards is called a fakie.

A skate trick can combine many of those principles together in one, thus you may have a 360 frontside air to fakie. This is a full rotation, grabbing the frontside of the board, rotating in the direction behind the skater so his chest comes up towards the sky first and he re-enters the ramp backwards. With those basics in mind, let's take a look at some of the most popular skating air tricks:

Airs defined by grab

• Cannonball Grab. A skater grabs both the nose and the tail of his skateboard. In order to do this, he must be in a small crouched position, hence the name cannonball.
• Crail Grab. The back hand grabs the nose of the board on the toe side.
• Japan Grab. While the front hand grabs the front of the board the skater presses his thighs and knees flat against the board in a stylised tuck.
• Mute Grab. The board is grabbed on the frontside but this time by the back hand.
• Roast Beef. A difficult grab where the backside of the board is grabbed by reaching through the legs and grabbing the backside of the board with the front hand.
• Seatbelt Grab. The front hand reaches across the body to grab the frontside tail-end of the board.
• Stalefish Grab. The back hand grabs the backside of the board right where the back heel is placed.

Airs defined by position

• Backside Air. The most basic of airs. A skater grabs the back of his board in between his heels and exits the top of the ramp. He turns a 180 degree arc in the air turning to his front and presenting his back to the sky, he enters the skate ramp facing forwards again.
• Frontside Air. Another basic air where the skater grabs the frontside of his board and turns a 180 degree arc back on himself so his chest turns up toward the sky. He re-enters the ramp facing forwards.
• Method Air. A popular air, as it helps a skater achieve (or appear to achieve) higher airs. During a backside air, the skateboard is pulled up behind the skater as his knees are bent and back arched. The longer a Method Air is held, the greater the effect.
• Airwalk. A skater grabs the nose of the board and splits his legs either side of the board in a mock walking motion. Kicking the legs backwards and forwards more than once while travelling through the air is considered a good Airwalk.
• Christ Air. A skater grabs his board lifting it out to his side as he assumes a full crucifix position mid-air. He must then get back on the skateboard again in time to re-enter the ramp.
• Judo Air. While the front leg is kicked forwards and off the board, the grabbing hand pulls the board in the opposite direction. It is so named because the skater looks like he is doing a mid-air martial arts kick - despite the fact that judo has no kicks!
• Rocket Air. While shooting directly up from the ramp, the nose of the board is grabbed with both hands while both feet move to the tail. The skater assumes the shape of a human rocket.
• McTwist. A 540 backside air with a mute grab. Mike McGill first landed it back in 1984 at the long running Del-Mar competition.
• 720. The 720 was first performed by Tony Hawk in 1995. Although Mr. Hawk seems to be able to pull it off consistently, two full rotations in the air is no mean feat. Not every professional skateboarder can do a 720 and so the trick scores high points.
• 900. The aerial trick of aerial tricks, the 900 was finally mastered by Tony Hawk on national television immediately following the best tricks contest at the X-Games in 1999. It took repeated attempts but the crowd was with him all the way. Three full spins in the air is mostly unheard of and to this day only two other skaters have ever successfully landed it. Click here to see a skate video of Tony Hawk's 900.

Lip Tricks

Lips tricks are performed on the top of the ramp and require a lot of balance. Higher points are awarded on the difficulty of the position maintained and the duration held. Lip tricks are commonly named in terms of the position of the skater's body and the part of the board (or body) which is in contact with the ramp.

• Axle Stall. The skateboarder comes to a stop on the lip by turning his board 90 degrees and positioning his axles on the coping. It can be nice to take a breather with an axle stall and it can also be used as a means to enter the ramp. By approaching the lip turning into a momentary axle stall and turning 90 degrees back out to descend, it becomes a 50-50.
• Pivot. An axle stall but performed on only one truck.
• Tail Stall. The skater comes to rest on the lip by pressing his tail down over the edge. Again he merely needs to put weight on his front foot to re-enter the ramp forwards - this is known as dropping in.
• Crail Tap. The same as a tail stall but done while holding the nose of the board.
• Rock n Roll. As the skater comes to the top of the ramp, he lets his front wheel go over the lip while his back wheels remain on the ramp side. He places his weight on his back foot and pivots the board, turning 180 degrees to head back down the ramp again.
• Pogo. An air is landed in a rock n roll. Any air can be used.
• Handplant. Also known as an invert, this is a kind of one-handed handstand trick where the skater holds onto the coping with one hand while the board sails above his head with the other hand securing it in place. A plethora of positions and grabs give rise to variations such as Eggplant, Beanplant, Iceplant, Sad, Plant, Miller Flip etc.
• Supernova. A Rock n Roll is performed directly after a 180 degree nose pivot, thereby giving a complete 360 degree rotation split across two tricks.