Hi skaters! I hope your training sessions have been going well! Remember, becoming a seasoned skater or even a pro skater is all a matter of time and persistence. Make sure not to get ahead of your skill level. Conquer every step of every maneuver we have discussed before moving on to the next trick. This lesson will center on "POP SHOVE-ITS".
 
Let's back track for just a minute before we continue searching for the "perfect" skater that is hiding somewhere inside that ever so mortal shell we call "You". Different tricks are grouped in different category types. We have discussed the basics of "Flatland" maneuvers which include knowing your stances and perfecting ollies (including nollies and switches) and kickflips.

The POP SHOVE-IT
                                          
  Before you attempt learning and perfecting "pop shove-its", You MUST have Ollies down, and it would be best to be able to perform smooth and easy kickflips also.

The pop shove-it begins with the "pop" ( gee what a surprise!) This is your familiar tail slam which gets your board air born. As the board gets air you will "shove it" with your front foot. The trick
here is to get the board to do a 180 degree turn while YOU stay in the same place.
 
Practice this stationary (NOT moving!) before you try any rolling attempts! As usual we suggest that you practice your first pop shove-its on any semi-soft surface - grass, firm dirt, etc this of course depends on your skill level, co-ordination, natural abilities or plain old instinctual talent! Next you should get it down in your "fakie" stance also BEFORE you try it actually moving forward!

Your foot positions are not particularly crucial for this maneuver. Everyone sort of has their own style. A couple good options are to keep your feet in the same position that you use for kickflips or

to have your forward foot facing forward (somewhere around the middle of the board) and your back foot facing forward also - on the tail. 

Practice the pop and shove part of this trick first before moving on to rolling attempts. Concentrate on this first part of the trick until you feel comfortable with your front foot "shove" of the board. Next concentrate on giving the right amount of "shove" energy so that you get a 180 degree turn around of the board.

Lastly practice grabbing the board with your feet after it 180's. On your landings try to keep your feet over the trucks for
stability and balance while rolling away.
 
Last but not least it's time to try this trick while actually moving! - Begin at a slow speed! Learn the skill, don't go for the kill! When you do this move rolling forward you must jump forward while executing the "shove" or the board will keep going and you won't! So now that you have the individual stationary steps mastered, mastering the jump forward is the final touch to the perfect execution of the pop shove-it.

50 - 50 GRINDS

How are our "skating sorcerers apprentices" ? Conquering new moves for the repertoire and reaching new levels of spellbinding skate sorcery I hope!
 We're gonna step back a bit and mellow up to an essential move for all skaters, the 50-50 Grind. Most of you are probably doing the 50-50, but this will be important info for the newbies. We're also going to show you how to add some cool stuff to your grinds and dismounts, so don't go away!
 Grinds are cool! They feel gnarly, sound cool and are tons of fun. The 50-50 is a must and will be one of the first tricks you conquer after you are an ollie wizard. You should be able to easily ollie a curb and roll on it confidently and smoothly.( You may need to do some standing still ollies up to the curb if you're not quite up with the rest of the class). Next do some 50-50 ride alongsides and ollie up to the high ground and keep rolling for a warm up exercise.
 Before you try your first 50-50 be sure you've "waxed" the curb edge well. This will be crucial and will almost always be necessary on any rough cement type edge like curbs. It is possible to grind an unwaxed edge but it's extremely tough and is suggested for advanced skaters only. Go to-
SKATEBOARD WAX
 You will be approaching the target from a Frontside position. Its up to you whether to ride parallel to the target or whether to approach at a mellow angle. Try both ways and see which feels more comfortable for you on your first 50-50 attempts. Take your first runs at a nice medium speed. It can't be too fast or too slow, but you've got to have enough speed to get some grind "distance".  Landing the curb with your trucks and coming to a screeching halt really sucks!  
When you're ready for the "mount" ollie up to the curb and and shift the board in the air to a parallel to the edge position. Your goal of course is to ride the edge with both trucks doing a smooth "hanger" grind. Catching the edge of the curb with the "hanger" of your trucks is definitely a bit tricky and will take some practice. Be sure to keep your feet centered over the trucks and keep your

knees bent. Balance is crucial here and you'll want to keep your weight a little bit towards the back of the board to help "off set" the grind friction and momentum.

This will obviously wear down your trucks (the hangers) if you spend much time doing it! It does become addictive so you probably will end up "digging the grind" and wearing down your hangers!. SoWhen you start to lose "juice" (momentum) it's time to bail! You can dismount with either an "ollie off" or a "pivot off". For the "pivot off" just put your weight on the rear truck, raise the front truck off the ledge a bit and complete your pivot dismount.
 It's time to conjure up some most excellent wizardry to add to your 50-50's to cast a spell over your subjects! 
Hopefully by now you are an ollie "master", cause you can do some cool stuff  by adding some variations to your 50-50 dismounts. A real cool combination is the 50-50 Grind with a 180 Ollie dismount. You can land "fakie" or even "switch" if you're up to it. You may need to put in a little time working on your Frontside 180 Ollies ( or A LOT of time depending on your natural talents, how much "sweat equity" you have invested or if you've been endowed with special magical powers from a skate wizard or sorcerer who has fortunately enough for you donated heavily to your gene pool). You MUST have this move mastered. So if you don't, get to work on it now!
 When most skaters do this move as they complete the 180 their front wheels come around and will actually land first followed by a bit of a pivot concluding with the rear wheels coming down, which are now in front! Got it! If not think about it a bit and work it out.
Neither the 50-50 Grind nor the 180 Ollie are really very difficult But they look really cool when you combine them. So add a little "flash" to some of your basic tricks and you'll begin to show the finesse that the masters and the pros exhibit. And so, my skating sorcerers apprentices, practice your craft well and you'll soon be casting spells of skating prowess and conjuring visions of perfectly executed skating wizardry.