Hard Flip

Frontside Shuvit + Kick Flip

This trick is actually not that hard once you understand it, and is the only vertical trick by nature

Hard

Prerequisites

Frontside shuvit

Kick flip

Position

Quick start

Scoop the board toward the nose and slightly forward

Let your front foot go off the board toward your back

Spread your legs to let the board go through

Bend your knees to let the board complete the rotation

Extend your legs when the board comes to your feet

Catch the board with your front foot, or with both feet

Sensation

Apply all the pressure on your toes with a bit more weight on your back foot. Lean slightly backward

Interactive skateboard diagram for learning Hard Flip

Tips

Put your front foot as you would for a kick flip but a bit lower, between the bolts and the center of the board, and with a 45-degree angle pointing toward the nose

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Put your back foot between the center of the tail and the outer pocket, you can let your toes hang off a bit, and let the edge of your foot hang off the tail

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Bend down on your knees a lot because you will need a lot of energy for this trick

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Put both of your feet on your tip toes when you are about to pop, your toes do the whole work for this trick

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Keep your shoulders square, don't face the direction you are going too much otherwise you might end up doing a frontside flip

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Lean slightly backward, you will need to jump a bit back because of the frontside shuvit part of the trick. Not that much though since it is vertical, but still

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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

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Push down on your tail, and shift a bit your back ankle to slightly push the board forward as it is lifting vertically

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The scoop is done toward the nose and slightly forward, but don't let the board go away, roll it up with your back foot thanks to your back foot hanging off the tail and your ankle shifting

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Let the board bounce on the ground at this moment by releasing a part of the energy in it once it has the right vertical direction, so that you accelerate the rotation

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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

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The other role of your back foot is to keep the board under you by 'rolling the tail around' as you scoop, don't push the board far from you

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Use the other part of the energy to jump high

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Your front foot, tip toed as well, has to go up as it is slightly flicking the board. Much more up than a for a kick flip because the board is lifting vertically

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The flick is subtle but required to complete the flip. Slightly scratch the board as your front foot goes off

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Move your front foot behind you, toward your back, perpendicularly to the board. It almost looks like you are moving toward your tail, but not sideway as for the kick flip

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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)

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After the board going through your legs, bend your knees as long as you can to let the board complete its rotation. This is why you need energy in this trick, the rotation can be pretty slow at the beginning

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The board will naturally come back under your feet vertically, and at this moment you can extend your legs to catch it with the front foot (or with both feet) and stop the rotation

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Mistakes

'I can't combine both the kick flip and frontside shuvit 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'

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'I am scared to credit card myself'

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

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'The hard flip looks good but the board goes forward'

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

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'The hard flip looks good but the board goes toward the nose'

'You are pushing the board away as you scoop. Roll your back foot around the tail with its edge to keep the board under you'

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'The hard 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'

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'I am doing half of an impossible'

'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'

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'My hard 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'

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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. Make it land where it initially was, no matter if it flips or not

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One foot practice

Do a hard flip and try to land it with your front foot only. Focus on keeping control and feeling the rotation

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Specific module

You can practice the hard 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

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Variations

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

Transition

You can push down with your front toes, but this is actually harder than the proper hard flip, ugly, and not catchable