Frontside Kick Flip

Frontside 180 + Kick Flip

This trick can be done both horizontally and vertically, two different styles

Hard

Prerequisites

Frontside 180

Kick flip

Position

Quick start

Put some pressure in both of your feet toes

Open your front arm, and so your shoulders

Scoop toward the nose and slightly forward

Flick your ankle sideway, almost backward

Spread your legs as you lift up your feet

Catch the board since it goes vertically

Sensation

Keep an even balance on both feet, keeping your weight on your toes. Keep your body centered, or lean slightly backward

Interactive skateboard diagram for learning Frontside Kick Flip

Tips

Put your front foot under the bolts, or a bit lower if you want to, and angle it toward the nose

1 / 15

Put your back foot in the outer pocket. You can angle it toward the tail or the nose if you feel more comfortable

2 / 15

Apply some pressure on both of your feet toes as you bend on your knees

3 / 15

Open your front arm sideways to make your shoulders rotate and guide your body in the new direction

4 / 15

Make sure you are facing the direction you are moving when you are about to pop

5 / 15

Don't pop hard down on the ground, the energy you need for this trick is in the scoop and in your legs, not in the pop

6 / 15

Scoop the board toward the nose and slightly forward

7 / 15

Make sure your scoop lets the board raise vertically since it almost goes between your legs

8 / 15

At this point, your back foot should be able to do a half 'no-wrap impossible' by itself, leaving the missing half flip to the front foot

9 / 15

Lift up your front foot to follow the vertical motion of the board

10 / 15

Flick your front anckle up, and and let your front foot leave the board sideway, barely toward where you come from, to allow the board to fully rotate

11 / 15

Don't flick hard, the flip is subtile since you only require a half flip, the other half coming from the back foot

12 / 15

You don't need to flick in the corner as you would do for any other trick, flick sligtly under the nose

13 / 15

Spread your legs to leave room to the board to pass between them. They almost do some scissors movement (back leg forward with the scoop, front leg backward with the flick)

14 / 15

Your scoop lifting your board up should give you height, and so plenty of time to catch the board and fully rotate

15 / 15

Mistakes

'I can't combine both the kick flip and frontside 180 at all'

'You are either popping the trick or scooping forward. Check your foot positioning, scoop the board toward the nose and let the board lift up vertically'

1 / 6

'I am scared to credit card myself'

'This is totally understandable. Spread your legs and make the board bounce harder to avoid that'

2 / 6

'I land behind my board'

'You are pushing the board away as you flick. Lift up your front foot and flick backward, toward your back, perpendicularly to the board'

3 / 6

'The frontside flip looks good but the board goes backward'

'You are leaning forward too much. Lean backward just a bit, and make sure the board is lifting up vertically'

4 / 6

'I am only doing half of the flip'

'Your front foot leaves the board without touching it. Slide your foot along the board, even if your foot leaves behind or if you barely flick'

5 / 6

'My frontside flip looks good but I land after the board'

'You don't have enough energy. Make the board bounce harder once you release the scoop and slide your front foot further back to accelerate the rotation'

6 / 6

Helpers

Scoop exercice

Stand behind your board and pop on the tail with your back foot, applying the forward scoop without pushing the board away

1 / 4

Specific module

You can practice the frontside kick flip on bank ramps. The slope makes it much easier to lift the board vertically. Lean toward the tail just a bit not to slip out

2 / 4

Specific module

You can practice the frontside kick flip on bank ramps or pyramid transfers, as the rotation in both cases is less than 180 degrees, requiring less effort and technique to success

3 / 4

Little by little

You can start turning 20 degrees, then increasing to 40, and so on until you reach the full rotation. You can do this both rolling and stationary. Using lines on the ground can help

4 / 4

Variations

Focus on a proper scoop rather than poping harder, this will make the trick even worse

Transition

Leaning toward the nose will help you pivot on it and complete the rotation, but this will prevent you from scooping vertically and take some height