180 Ollie

180 Ollie - An air or ollie where the skater and board spin a half rotation. You will take off going your normal stance and land switch or fakie. Look here at the frontside 180 ollie or here backside 180 ollie.

Tricks you need to know

Kickturn, ollie, some balance and confidence while rolling normal and switch.

Things to know

You need to know how to ollie. You will need to be able to step around on the board while rolling. You will be turning your body to wind up and spin during this trick so some good balance is necessary.

To do this trick you will be doing an ollie, spinning your body and the board to land in your opposite stance. You will land switch so be sure to have the ability to roll switch without killing yourself.

I will talk about doing this trick on flatland. Of course there are a lot of other ways to do it. Off a ramp or a quarter but you need to start with the flatland version.

Frontside 180 Ollie

I will start with the frontside 180 ollie. It is much easier to learn. You will be facing forward most of the time and able to see what is going on.

  • Place your back foot in ollie position.
  • Place your front foot close to ollie position with you toe hanging over the toeside of the board about an inch.
  • When crouching to ollie turn your front shoulder toeside towards the back. You want to wind your body up for the coming rotation.
  • As you start to jump for the ollie turn your body frontside. Look frontside letting your shoulders and the rest of your body follow the rotation.
  • Pop the board and begin the ollie.
  • Your feet will follow the rest of your body in frontside rotation.
  • To land put down the front truck.
  • You can finish up the rotation by pivoting around on the front truck.

Backside 180 Ollie

Then backside 180 ollie is more difficult. You will be facing backwards most of the time and will be unable to see what is going on.

  • Place your back foot in ollie position.
  • Place your front foot close to ollie position.
  • When crouching to ollie turn your front shoulder heelside. Face away from the direction you are rolling. You want to wind your body up for the coming rotation.
  • As you start to jump for the ollie turn your body backside. Look backwards letting your shoulders and the rest of your body follow the rotation.
  • Pop the board and begin the ollie. You will be backwards while travelling in the air.
  • Your feet will follow the rest of your body in the rotation.
  • To land put down the front truck.
  • You can finish up the rotation by pivoting around on the front truck.

Many of ways to land the 180 ollie

Sliding the board around. If you land both wheels before you are around just slide it out on the ground.

On the front truck with a little pivot. It is common to land this way. You can just kind of grab the ground with you front of your board a rotate around once you get used to it.

Landing on all four wheels is a little more advanced. Do this for style points once you are good at rotating in the air.

Land a 180

Sliding the board around. If you land both wheels before you are around just slide it out on the ground.

On the front truck with a little pivot is common to land this way. You can just kind of grab the ground with you front of your board a rotate around once you get used to it.

Landing on all four wheels is a little more advanced. Do this for style points once you are good at rotating in the air.

Get your frontsides down first

Backside 180's are way tougher so don't both with them until you have the front ones down.

The opposite is true for fakie

When doing rotation tricks fakie it is much easier to spin. That is because the center of your spin can take place over the "back" truck. Of course since you are going fakie your back truck is actually the leading truck.

Just like doing a kickturn from fakie to normal stance you rotate over the truck. If you do a little pop while doing the kickturn then you can easily execute a fakie 180 ollie.

Doing a halfcab or fakie backside 180 ollie is one. It is a simple trick to land. Learn it early.

Trying a fakie frontside 180 ollie is a little more difficult. You will be travelling backwards and blind through the take off and landing. Practice doing a fakie frontside kickturn a lot and then start putting the pop into it.

Getting the Feel

You want to get the feel for 180 ollies. Work on the take off, rotation and landing. Land it a few times. Then start to get some height and style. Focus on the technique first. Then let the style build as you get better.

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