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YahooThe Ollie is a staple in every board sport enthusiast’s bag of tricks. Even though it may look intimidating to the average person, you’d be surprised how quickly you could learn how to Ollie with some basic tips and a little practice. Ready?
Get yourself a high performance balance board like the Vew-Do Sk8. Let’s get right into it.
First, ease onto the board. From there, it’s important that the rider becomes comfortable with finding their center over the rock (or roller). Once feeling balanced, shorten up your stance towards the tail of the deck with the rock centered between both feet.
Your feet should be approximately 10 to 14 inches apart with the ball of the back foot on the tail of the deck and the front foot positioned half way up the deck and parallel to the rock. You can use a right or left foot stance whichever feels more comfortable. Remain in this stationary position until the next step.
Once in the proper stance, begin to lower your center of gravity. You do this by bending at the knees while keeping your hands low and your arms at your side.
Initiate the motion of the Ollie by first stomping the tail of the board towards the floor with the ball of the back foot. As the tail goes down, the rider should drag the outside edge of the front foot along the surface of the deck towards the nose of the board and jump while throwing his arms up and out to the sides.
This front foot dragging motion combined with the arm extension and jump creates the explosive lift and balance needed to level off the deck at the peak of the Ollie. It’s also important to compress the knees as you go up to obtain maximum height throughout the Ollie.
Once in the air and level, begin to spot your landing while maintaining continuous contact between your feet and the deck.
As the board begins to descend, extend your legs to "stick" the landing. Then compress your knees upon contact with the rock, thereby absorbing the impact energy.
If you land in an unbalanced position: You should immediately initiate a balance recovery response and un-weight the board to allow for a quick and deliberate shift in the foot position and weight to recover balance. Ideally, you want to land in the balance position in one continuous motion.
Keep in mind, although the techniques described above were performed on a balance board, they are the same motions required to perform an Ollie on a skateboard, a snowboard or any other board for that matter.
Buying Tip: Due to the high forces generated on landing board stunts like the Ollie, always check the manufacturer specifications for board strength, durability and usage.