Varial Heel Flip

Frontside Shuvit + Heel Flip

This trick is much more stylish than its mirror, although much harder

Hard

Prerequisites

Frontside shuvit

Heel flip

Position

Quick start

Put a lot of pressure in your front foot toes

Pop down hard and slightly scoop forward

Flick with your front foot toes toward the nose

Bend your knees as long as you can

Catch with your back foot

Sensation

Put a lot of pressure on your front foot toes, and lean slightly backward

Interactive skateboard diagram for learning Varial Heel Flip

Tips

Put your front foot around the middle of the board, with your toes hanging off

1 / 14

You can angle your front foot toward the nose if you feel more comfortable

2 / 14

Put your back foot in the inner pocket, and angle it toward the tail

3 / 14

Bend your knees a lot to give the board space and time to fully rotate, the rotation is usually high and low

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Apply some pressure on both of your feet toes, especially on your front foot

5 / 14

Lean backward before you pop, this will help you jump slightly backward, where your board will land

6 / 14

Push almost straight down with your back foot, scoop slightly forward, but lighter than you would for a frontside shuvit. The front foot also plays a role in the shuvit rotation

7 / 14

Put your front foot tiptoed as you start pushing down with your back foot

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Slide up with your front foot straight toward the nose and flick your ankle when reaching the edge of the board to make the board flip, then kick your front leg out of the board

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Focus on your front foot flicking straight toward the nose, slightly backward if needed, and not forward like for a heel flip. Keep in mind that the board is also rotating into a shuvit motion, then the place you would normally flick will rotate as well

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The flip is initiated by the toes thanks to the ankle flick, and accentuated by the heel thanks to a sideways extension of the leg, kind of a kick

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Jump slightly backward if you need to, leaning backward should compensate this already

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Jump pretty high and bend your knees for a long time, the varial heel flip gets high and is pretty slow, you need to leave room for a long time to let the rotation complete

13 / 14

Extend your legs when you see the board has fully rotated, catching it with the back foot

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Mistakes

'The varial just doesn't work'

'You are not feeling comfortable flicking the board while scooping and not popping a trick. Try working on this'

1 / 7

'My board goes in the opposite direction I am rolling'

'You are missing the pop, which ends up being a pivot. Take the time to push down and make sure your tail touches the ground'

2 / 7

'I can land it with either of my feet but not with both'

'You are either not committing or throwing the board away. Commit fully, use enough energy, bend your back knee and land with both feet, no matter what'

3 / 7

'The board goes up vertically'

'You are not sliding your front foot up. Don't kick or lift your front foot, slide it up instead, then you can flick and extend your leg out'

4 / 7

'I can't do a whole shuvit'

'You are focusing on the flip too much. Check your foot positioning, scoop just a bit with your back foot, and don't flick too soon'

5 / 7

'I can't do a whole flip'

'You are either not flicking your front ankle, or flicking forward. Keep in mind the board is rotating in a shuvit motion as well, flick straight to the nose to compensate this rotation'

6 / 7

'I land in front of the board'

'You are not leaning backward enough. Lean backward, and slightly jump backward as well if you need to'

7 / 7

Helpers

One foot practice

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

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Half motion

Try to land the varial heel flip with only half of a flip, this should be halfway through the trick

2 / 3

50-50 grind simulation

Try the varial heel flip off a curb, as if performing a backside 50-50 grind. This helps with pushing backwards because the board is 'locked in', the wheels are 'stuck' against the curb

3 / 3

Variations

You can use either your toes or your heel to make the board flip, both are good

Transition

You can angle your front foot toward the tail, but this might make you kick down to flip, which will make you miss height, accuracy, catch, style and control