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April 2023 Teaching Demo for Prince Edward

In partnership withSkateboard GB we helped support one of the last few remaining youth centres. Heatham House Community Project Twickenham (not so North London). Many of you are old enough to remember why youth centres are important.

Fri Mar 29th Axle-stall workshop (and variations) (Copy)

The 50-50 (Axle Stall and variations)

Welcome to our first ever workshop. Usually we tailor our lessons to every individual and give them specific feedback on their journey.

But not this time! Yep thats right. We are going to focus in on one specific thing… the much coveted axle stall. Once you have it, feels so safe and comfy. No need to ride back in fakie and you can see where you are going if you want to bail to a knee slide.

This is an essential trick and a gateway to so much. Come and learn with Jonathan Forbes and Santiago Lopez. You might not master it in one session, but you will learn everything you need to know in order to go out and master it.

Aim

Learn to 50-50 (a.k.a axle stall)

Too easy for you? If you want a further challenge we will learn variations too (Smiths, 5-0, Feeble Fakie, Combos etc… )

When

Fri March 29th

6pm - 9pm

Who

Jonathan Forbes and Santiago Lopez will be the coaches

Pupils Age: 7 yrs +and Adults Welcome

Confident Already Rolling Beginners & Intermediates (see prerequisites below)

Where

Ally Pally Indoor.

How much

£25 - 10 spaces in total

Prerequisites (more guidelines than rules - we are a friendly club)

Good to have

180 kick turn on flat ramp

90 degree kick turn on flat ramp

Slash Grind

Absolutely required

Pump on a curved ramp comfortably (just below coping)

Drop-in - 2ft ramp

Be able to tic-tac, kick turn and push confidently along flat.

Half pipe (mini ramp) skateboarding

The basic mini ramp tricks are the same as those you do in the vert ramp. There are already plenty of good online tutorials, here are a few that i recommend:-

• Chad Caruso https://youtu.be/raS64IDlGDM

• Skateboarding Vert Ramp Lip Tricks with Andy MacDonald https://youtu.be/PINf_5WhSOQ

• The art of Ram https://youtu.be/GYPYmA3uwxM

Enjoy!

Learn to Ollie

There are many many good resources on you tube to help you learn to ollie. I have posted a few link below to help you.

https://youtu.be/QkeOAcj8Y5k

https://youtu.be/3Vrj4NxZF_c

https://youtu.be/knsEiranQd4

My only additional suggestions to help you in your way is to remember sight, sound and feel:-

• Watch

  • How are people doing them in your local skatepark. Who does highest ollies? Who does longest?

  • Can you imagine the movements in your mind’s eye?

  • What is the rhythm of good skaters pop and landing compared to yours?

• Feel

  • can I feel my shoe laces dragging on board?

  • how slowly / quickly am I flicking lead foot?

  • Is my backfoot jumping off toes, ball of foot or heel (popping / snapping)?

  • Am I light footed or heavy footed?

  • Am I tense or relaxed?

• Hear

  • Can you hear your shoelaces dragging up the grip tape?

  • Can you hear a clean snap of the tail?

  • What noise do good skater’s skateboards make compared to yours (the snap (pop), drag and landing).

  • What is the rhythm of good skaters pop and landing compared to yours?

Basic Skateboard Skills

Underpinning all those amazing tricks you see there are some basic skills. If you practice them, the harder tricks become easier….

Balance

• Balance is achieved by using the following skills:

  • Pressure

  • Rotation

  • Agility and posture

Pressure

• Moving pressure from nose to tail

  • board walks

  • shuffling feet

  • Hippy jumps

  • think ollie

• Moving pressure from side to side

  • carving

  • posture

  • leaning

  • pressure on heels or toes

Rotation

• Kick turns & pivots (8 ways - natural and switch stances rotating off nose or tail)

• Body varials (4 ways)

• Reverts (like kickturns but don’t lift wheels off ground)

• In the air (Ollies and other tricks)

Agility & posture

• Speed

  • combos of rotation and pressure drills

  • Skipping

  • Foot work

• Control / precision / consistency

  • Foot placement

  • “Stacked” - shoulders over knees, knees over toes, balanced centre foot

  • Repetition - “practice makes permanent”

Skateboard Homework #1

Well done on completing your 1st skateboard lesson!!

Homework

You need to practice 3 things. 1. Knee slides 2. Foot position 3. Kick-turns & Tic-tacs.

1. Knee Slides

   In the video below you can see some really good skaters. They do knee slides so they can fall over without hurting themselves and still get back up and win the competition....

2. Foot position

Get feet into correct position when pushing and getting onto board. You have to remember to turn your front foot forward when pushing and sideways when standing.

Are you goofy or regular?

3. Kick turns & Tic-tacs

Kick turn by lifting front of board up and doing circles (both ways - frontside and backside). Remember to keep shoulders level with the ground. Can you do 90 degrees or even 180 degrees in one go? Which way is easier backside or frontside?

Tic-tacs a frontside kick turn followed by a backside kick-turn (over and over and over again). Can you spot Rodney Mullen doing tic-tacs in the video below?

Hope you enjoyed the lesson 😃

LOCKDOWN QUIZ #2- Under pressure

Maybe you can answer the quiz without a weighing scales by reading below?

Whether you skateboard, rollerblade, snowboard or ski you are using forces (not the Star wars forces, but gravity and weight). Gravity is the force that keeps you stuck to the ground (what goes up must come down).

When you watch someone endlessly pumping the walls of a half pipe (going up and down) and never slowing they are either creating or managing forces to speed up or to slow down (so they don’t shoot in the air too high and go splat).

A good way to feel force is by concentrating on the feelings in the soles of your feet. If you stand on both feet, and then lift one foot up, you can feel a lot weight on the foot you are standing on (and none of the foot in the air). This pressure is basically the same as force. The heavier you are the more force there will be :-). Some people call the weight (or force) you can feel pressure.

Now instead of lifting one leg, lets try something that requires a little more concentration. Stand on both feet and quickly move up and down by straightening and bending your legs (almost like you are about to jump into the air). If you really concentrate you can feel changes in the soles of your feet.

You are becoming “heavier” or “lighter” (more or less pressure). This is because of forces.

LOCKDOWN QUIZ - FRONTSIDE OR BACKSIDE?

With all the gloomy weather and lockdown, I thought it best to keep your brains ticking over!! Email your answers to info@nlskateclub.com or just bring along a copy to your next lesson.

When you are playing a game of SKATE with your friends its important to spin the way that you nominated or you will loose your go. Or even better, if your friend spins the wrong way compared to what they nominated.... then you can catch them out and it will be your go :-))

The options for spinning are either Frontside or Backside.... do you know the difference? Can you correctly label each of the 16 dotted lines with either frontside or backside? Two bonus questions:

17. How many ways are there to do an Kickflip?
18. What is the official name to a fakie ollie backside 360?

Hints

1. You can only be regular or goofy not both.
2. The direction you are rolling in and the obstacle play an important part.
3. Remember Fakie is the exception to the rule.

FILM & VIDEO RECOMMENDATIONS

Too wet and cold to go outside? Or maybe you are in lockdown? Why not watch some inspirational action sport films!!!?

Head over to North London Skate Club's You Tube Channel and under our playlists you will see "Inspirational" skateboarding, rollerblading, snowboarding or skiing videos.

The films lists will be updated and kept fresh, so please subscribe to the channel to keep updated.