How to do a Heelflip

This trick is similar to performing a Kickflip, although doing a Heelflip is a relatively harder than doing a kickflip. When you do a Heelflip, you ollie into the air and then proceed to flick the board with you’re heel so that it spins in the air, whilst it stays level with the ground. Once the skateboard has span round once, the skater lands back onto the skateboard. Remember it is important to know howq to Ollie properly first before you attempt this trick.



Getting the stance right

To do this place you’re feet as if you are going to do an Ollie, that is with your back foot across the tail and your front foot on the middle of the skateboard. In fact it might be wise to place you’re front foot more forwards up the skateboard, in order to make the trick easier to perform.


The Pop & Kick

When you do the pop, make sure you kick the heel of your front foot forwards. When you’ve done this, immediately, point the toes of your front foot up in the air whilst kicking out your front foot in front.

As is the case with performing the Kickflip, in order to let the skateboard spin freely enough, you must keep you’re feet clear out of the way. Then pull your front foot back underneath you and proceed to catch the skateboard. Looking down Whilst the board is spinning can help catch it at the right time, to land effectively. Staying level and well balanced is key to getting this trick right. To do this correctly, make sure you keep the majority of you’re weight over your skateboard.

Once the board has span right around once, you should now put your back foot on to stop and catch it. This means that you'll need to be watching your skateboard, to see when it has made one complete flip. When you eventually progress and have a stronger more confident skateboarding sense, you will most definately be able to do a Kickflip and Heelflip without watching it.


Landing it

When you come to fall back towards the ground, start to bend your knees once again. This is because when you bend your knees, you will not absorb as much of the shock of landing on your skateboard, whilst keeping you in control. Also remember to bend your knees deeply when landing. Now you can go and practice to get better every time.


Alternative Heelflip

The other method of doing a Heelflip is not technically a Heelflip at all, but it does spin the skateboard the same way. It is known as the Opposite Kickflip, which some say is easier to perform than the proper Kickflip. To do this you want to put your feet in the same position, as to perform a normal Kickflip. This time when you pop your skateboard into the air, do the same movment as you did with the Kickflip, but flick the skateboard on the opposite corner. The skateboard will then spin in the opposite direction.


Problems you may run into performing a Heelflip

Not getting enough spin

This is a big problem when it comes to doing a Heelflip. This is because it is important to remember to get a good, strong pop off of your tail, whilst giving the skateboard a strong flick. The other way to stop this from happening is with practice.

Skateboard goes backwards

this is also a common problem that arises, so you should try focusing on leaning back towards your heel side, whilst keeping your weight in the middle over your board.

The skatebaord goes out of control

This is can be due to the fact that you are using your toes in performing the flip, so make sure to use just your heel.