I don’t have footage nor do I remember what day it was exactly and I’m not going to count some that I landed standing still or barely moving, but I do remember the feeling and sense of accomplishment of my first kickflip some 20 years ago.
Doing a kickflip is a rite of passage in skateboarding, much like the ollie before the kickflip and any kickflip variation after that. You go through stages, the first challenge is to figure out how to balance and push on the board. Now in this stage you define your stance which everyone knows is either Regular (left foot forward) or Goofy (right foot forward). I for one felt more comfortable riding Goofy and because I grew up skating in the late 90s and early 2000s I pushed mongo when riding switch with hopes to look as good as Stevie Williams or Josh Kalis. Switch mongo is ok, regular mongo is a big no no. Some interesting skateboarding rules.
After you figure out your stance and learn to push, all your effort is put into learning how to ollie and here you have your first level of separation. Skateboarding is not easy and it comes after putting in some time, of course there’s natural talent that goes along with it, but it takes times and effort. Which is why a lot of people can maybe ride a skateboard, but I would guess less than half of those people can ollie. Learning how to ollie takes practice, you have to figure out the physics of it all and is essentially the beginning of your intricate relation with a piece of wood.
Once you figure out Ollies and maybe some 180s, and pop shoves, you begin the journey of learning to kickflip, and here we have yet another level of separation, because remember, less than half of the people that can ride a skateboard can pop an ollie, well, less than half of the of the people that can ollie can kickflip. Which is why I consider the kickflip a rite of passage, not to mention it is one of those keys that open up several opportunities right after, because once you learn one trick you start to play around with variations of said trick. This is something that has happened several times in my skate life, I learn one trick and with it 3 or 4 more come right after, because you unlock a movement and timing with your feet and board.
So I learned to push, to ollie, to 180 (Frontside first, Backside took a while to master), to pop shove and when I went for the kickflip I had a lot of trouble. Again I don’t remember exactly when, but it took me a few months to learn. I would also note that maybe learning Varial Kickflips (Shove it Kickflips for OGs) first didn’t necessarly help on my journey to kickflips. For some reason Varial Kickflips worked. It was easier to pop shove, flick and catch than it was to flick straight. This made my shoulders go in when I tried to kickflip, so I would catch them at an angle every time.
Then one day after months of watching endless skate videos and getting advice from the friends that could kickflip, I was skating in the street where my friends and I would skate all the time and I figured it out. I had to put my front foot in, right before the bolts, straight, not in an angle and after popping hard I had to flick up and to the side not just the side, keep my shoulders open and catch the board so it doesn’t over rotate. The feeling of landing your first kickflip is indescribable, you feel joy and satisfaction and somehow you know you now belong to this group of outcasts that have dedicated some time of their life to the skateboard. I’m sure you’ve heard that anyone can shoot a basketball, anyone can kick a soccer ball, well, not every can kickflip on a skateboard and once you do you’re forever a part of a unique club that understands the time and effort it takes to figure out how to kickflip.
Do a Kickflip!
