If there’s no grass around you or you can’t practice indoors, find a crack in the pavement that you can rest your back wheels in. This should help keep your board from moving as you practice.
The positioning of your front foot will change the height of your ollie. If it’s further back, you’ll jump higher, but it’ll be more difficult to pull off well. If you put it further forward, you should be able to do a small jump quite easily. Start off with your front foot near the middle and move it around as you get more confident. Try standing on your skateboard with different feet forward to see what feels more natural. There’s no correct way, so see what works best for you.
Make sure most of the weight is on the ball of your foot, rather than on the sole. This will make kicking the board downwards much easier.
This is one of the main motions involved in doing an ollie, so you should practice this until you can do it easily and confidently.
The sole of your shoe shouldn’t be touching the board as you slide your foot upwards. All of the contact should be between the deck of the board and the side of your shoe. Practice this motion until you can do it perfectly without having to think too hard. This is the other key part of pulling off an ollie, so you need to be able to do it well.
Try and stay on the balls of your feet as you crouch. If you push too far up onto your toes, your board will start spinning away from you as you jump.
It may be easier to think about this as jumping off your back foot. Lift your front foot away first and then jump off with your back foot.
Getting the timing of the downwards kick right is crucial when pulling off an ollie. Don’t worry if you don’t nail it the first time, just keep on practicing. The board should just barely touch the ground before you “pop” away from and go into the air. If you drag the board along the ground too much, you’ll slow down and lose momentum for the trick.
Remember that this step must be performed at the same time as jumping. Sliding too soon will result in an ollie with little height; sliding too late will result in an ollie that doesn’t get leveled out at its highest point.
Rotate your foot slightly as you do this so that you can land flat on your feet as the board hits the ground. It might take a while to get a hang of exactly how far you need to push your foot forward. If you kick too far, you might not be able to land the trick. If you don’t push far enough, your board won’t level out and your landing might be a little shaky. Keep practicing until you get a feel for it.
If you land with your front foot on the middle of the board, you might risk snapping the board in half. Similarly, if you land with too much weight on either end, you might snap the nose or tail off. Keep your feet over the wheels, or trucks, for the best landing.
