Roll Off a Drop

Roll of a drop is the first trick where you will leave the ground on your skateboard. You will learn how to un-weight your body and then land back down on the skateboard while moving. The balance and skills that are gained doing this will be needed when you start doing ollies. That is essential to doing the ollie well, right away.

This is a good time to stick to the program I have laid out. It will be tempting to take the skills you have gained and try to do ollies and other tricks. I urge you not to do so yet. Get these skills down and you will be doing rolling ollies in no time!

Stay the course and learn to roll off a drop here.

Tricks you need to know

Rolling, Tic tacs, kickturns, manual.

Things to know

To roll off a drop you will want to be able to roll and kickturn at a pretty good speed. You need to know how to shift your weight around on the board while rolling. Shifting to adjust your feet and being able to control you balance. You also need to be able to hold a manual for a few seconds.

When you go off a drop you will be doing a short manual and rolling off the edge on your back wheels only. Then landing on all four wheels and rolling away.

To do the trick:

Find a curb or drop that is around 6"[150mm] high. It needs to be flat on the top and the bottom. You will need enough room to start rolling at it at a 90° angle. You will be rolling straight off the drop.

Start pushing and get enough speed.

  • Roll straight at the drop with a good amount of speed.
  • While rolling towards the drop get your feet into kickturn position. Do this while you are rolling and with time before you get to the drop.
  • When your front wheels are just about to go off the edge. Center your weight over the back wheels and lift them into a small manual.
  • Keep the wheels just about level and keep rolling.
  • When the back wheels get to the edge you need to do a mini hop and un-weight your body while they go over. Doing this will allow you and the tail of your board to move past and clear the edge. You don’t want to hit the curb on the way down. Rolling off clean is what we are looking for.
  • You will drop down and land back on all four wheels at once. Bend your knees and crouch to maintain your balance.
  • When you “land” back on the board just keep rolling.

You did it!

Practice

Practice doing little hops while rolling around on you skateboard. Get used to un-weighting yourself while rolling. This will get you ready for the landing off the drop.

When you get this you will already know how to land an ollie while rolling. When the time comes to learn the ollie it is the same motion as this trick.

Once you master rolling off a drop you are ready to try the ollie. There are a few tricks that are easier if you are interested. Tricks like step-offs and tons of nerdy freestyle stuff.

Anyway, do the ones you feel are best for you. Be excited! If you mastered these tricks you are ready to learn a rolling ollie.

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