Skateboarding tricks are virtually infinite. Moreover, whenever you feel like you know them all, a skateboarder is coming up with a cool new one somewhere on the planet. Yes, if you’re serious about your skateboarding skills, you have to know that you’ll be learning new moves all your life.
In this piece, you’ll learn what a switch ollie is, and most importantly, how to do one! I’ve prepared an easy step-by-step tutorial for you to follow and nail the move in no time.
It’s time to flip reality over its axis and change your footwork so you can pull off this crucial but not-so-hard move. Believe me, once you unlock the switch ollie, you’ll master your switch game in no time.
What Is a Switch Ollie?
Before you learn how to do a switch ollie in session, let’s talk about what a switch ollie is. Well, when riding, you have your regular stance. This means the stance that allows you to be in your most comfortable position – either you’re naturally right foot forward or left foot forward.
Well, riding in switch mode means swapping those feet around so you can use the opposite to do what you regularly do.
A switch ollie is simply an ollie, with your feet in the switch stance.
So, if you normally use your right foot to pop and your left foot on the nose, you’ll be doing it the other way around.
Yes, it does feel like starting over but don’t worry, with enough practice, you’ll catch up to your other side. Furthermore, if you practice enough to up your switch game a lot, you might end up getting a better switch ollie than your regular ollie.
This is Why You Should Learn to Switch Ollie (and Switch Ride in General)
Learning how to master your board with both feet acting as the dominating will help your development as a skater in the long run.
Here are some of those benefits:
- Balance and control boost – While you try to master your balance with the world flipped over its axe, you’ll learn to lean the body better, more precisely. It feels a little like re-learning, it can lead to correcting small bad habits, and being more conscious about body weight, balance, and control.
- Prevent and reduce injuries – Overusing a single side of your body can lead to injuries from exhaustion and repeated exposure to hits and falls. Riding switch, you have the chance to exercise and strengthen the non-dominant side of your body.
- Trick variety and confidence boost – To dare perform the most complex tricks, what you need is practice and confidence. Well, believe me, once you master the switch ollie, you’ll get a confidence boost and will be trying all the tricks you know in that stance immediately after.
Finally, it’s also a great push forward to keep making skateboarding interesting and finding new challenges to overcome. After all, isn’t that what makes it the most fun Olympic sport in history?
Stop! Check Your Regular Ollie First
Before we go into the step-by-step tutorial on how to do a switch ollie, your regular ollie must be flawless. How so? Well, learning the mechanics of the mother of all tricks in modern skateboarding – A.K.A. the ollie – backward, is adding more difficulty to an already challenging endeavor.
So, make suer you learn how to regular ollie well before tackling what comes next.
How to Switch Ollie in Simple Steps
This tutorial is for switch ollie. So, bear in mind we take for granted you know how to straight ollie.
During all these steps, your feet should be inverted to what you normally do when riding.
1. Get Comfortable with Switched Pushing and Rolling
Switch riding is like learning how to skate again. So, the first thing to do to learn this trick is ride around in switch stance. I know it feels weird at first but once you practice long enough, you’ll feel more comfortable.
My tip, and take it from someone who’s fallen many times riding switch, is to ride switch for two weeks nonstop. Find your comfort zone in switch mode before practicing the ollie.
Oh, and beware of pushing mongo*, it won’t help. Try pushing switch at all times.
* Pushing mongo means using your front foot to push off the ground, while your back foot stays on the board. When riding in a switched position, it’s important to push switched, since pushing mongo makes it harder to maintain control and balance.
2. Pop the Board from The Tail and Slide Your Front Foot
The board needs to lift from the ground, and for that, as you already know, you have to pop it from the tail. Once you’re up, you have to level it from the nose with your front foot. So, to work on this, use a safe grass patch or a mall rug and get comfortable jumping on the spot.
Yes, just as if you were learning the ollie for the first time, just focus on foot movement.
At first, you might feel it’s awkward popping the board with the other foot. Nevertheless, when you feel you’ve learned to slide the front foot, you’ll be ready to move.
3. Land with Both Feet on the Bolts
Popping the board and leveling the front with inverted feet might at first be daunting. You’ll very likely have a hard time landing the move. In this initial step, you can land off the board, on the grass, or on the floor.
Make sure your feet are right where those bolts should be. Once you nailed it a few times, try landing it on the board.
4. Check Your Foot Position
The first step was getting familiarized with rolling around in a switch stance. The second step is to try doing your first switch ollie. For that, you need to check your feet’ positioning. The foot you use for the nose of the skateboard is going to try and move forward more than usual. Also, the back foot might need to be moved further back to the tail.
These are just common problems, and each rider will encounter some of their own.
Regardless of the problems you find, double-check your feet’ position before you start.
5. Keep Your Shoulders Straight Matching Your Feet
If you’re wondering, “Why do I turn when I ollie?” in a regular stance, you’ll have to reassess your shoulder position to switch ollie. Yes, your skateboard follows your shoulder direction. If you lean forward, backward, or sideways, you’ll lose balance.
So, after you’ve checked your feet position and kicked your initial switch ollies, reassess your shoulders position.
In an ideal world, you should record yourself, watch it, and learn from your mistakes.
Some Extra Tips
- Don’t Compare
Your first switch ollie session will very likely be a disaster. Yes, I know it’s not encouraging, but it’s the truth. It’s like when you learn it for the first time. So, my tip is don’t compare your switch ollie to your regular ollie. At least not for a good while.
- Don’t Get Frustrated Too Fast
Learning switch ollie on your skateboard is like learning how to write with your left hand if you’ve always used your right hand. It’s really hard at the beginning, but once you master it, you’ll be a more versatile, flexible, and proficient skateboarder.
Push through those first two weeks.
It gets better; I promise.
Conclusion
You’ve just learned not only what is a switch ollie but also how to switch ollie with your skateboard. Now, the path that separates you from your highest switch ollie is a lot of practice following our advice.
Pay special attention to the tips, I’ve been there, and I know just how infuriating fighting against your brain is when you flip the stance. But also coming from someone who’s been there, believe me, it gets much better with time and practice.
Now go out there, have fun, ride hard, and master your switch stand.
Happy (switched) riding!