Skateboarding @50+ Reigniting the Learn Kickflips Battle

Skate Coach, Oscar the Dog, with my Skateboard in the driveway.

My skate coach, Oscar dog.

One of the things I'd like to do before I get too old to do much more than roll around on a skateboard is relearn kickflips. Not that I ever had them on lock. I maybe landed a flat ground stationary kickflip no more than a handful of times, and I only remember landing one rolling kickflip because I had it on video tape for a second (recording over it because I only had a few Video 8 cassette tapes back in the 90s).

I actually had a higher chance of landing a kickflip into a trick, on a curb, than landing just a stationary kickflip. Kickflip to; 50-50, to blunt, backside kickflip to tail, and even kickflipping out of a blunt. None of which I had on lock nor can do currently.

Getting back into skateboarding again, after a year's break to let my sore feet heal, I started to try kickflips again and discovered I'm actually closer than ever to landing them. I'm able to commit with both feet staying in the air as the board flips. As opposed to trying to keep one foot on the ground, away from the board, so I land safe from the inevitable 'primo' body slam that is a major concern for anyone learning flip tricks.

As before, when I was trying to land this trick before I turned 50 years old, I've started to record my efforts. The video below, is highlights from a few driveway sessions over a couple of weeks. Don't worry, it's short and doesn't show every attempt, plus there's a fun sequence with my skate coach, Oscar the dog, at the end (he thinks chasing me as I skate is crucial to this trick).

As you can see in the video I do demonstrate that I can spin the board and keep it under me almost every time if I'm only concentrating on getting one foot back on the board. As soon as I try to commit with both feet, I can't keep the board completely under me to land back on it. Though I do get close a couple of times with both feet over the tail.

Since this video I have kept working on it - and almost did land one primo but fortunately it didn't topple me over. An actual land still eludes me though. I think it's just a matter of getting my body more over the board without leaning too far forward. So I'm working on that.

No doubt, I'll keep you posted with a future video. I certainly hope I can land this trick before I turn 60!

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