Skateboarding glossary

A grind on just your back truck, with the front truck up in the air. Pronounced "five-oh."

See: Frontside 5-0 · Backside 5-0

Two different tricks share this name. In street skating, it's a grind on both trucks. In freestyle, it's standing on the board's truck with the nose in your hand, which had the name first. Call that one a 50-50 stand if you want to be clear.

See: 50-50 grind · 50-50 stand

Stalling on the coping with both trucks, then dropping back into the ramp.

See: Axle stall

Turning or facing with your back toward the ramp, ledge or direction of the spin. On flatground, a backside spin turns your back forward first.

See: Backside 180

The board does a 360 shove it while your body turns 180 with it. Can be done frontside or backside.

See: Backside bigspin · Fakie bigspin

Sliding on the middle of the deck across a rail or ledge, with the trucks on either side.

See: Frontside boardslide

Your body turns 180 in the air while the board stays pointed the same way.

The bolts that hold your trucks on. "Landing on the bolts" means landing with your feet right over the trucks, the most solid way to land.

An old school foot plant: grab the board on the toe side with your back hand, plant your front foot on the ground, jump and put the board back under you.

See: Boneless flip · Who named the boneless?

A flat-topped skatepark obstacle with a metal edge, used for grinds, slides and manuals.

A freestyle balance with the board upside down, tail on the ground, one foot under the nose and one on the tail.

See: Casper · Hospital flip

Stopping a flip or spin in the air with your feet so the board doesn't keep going. Higher tricks need a catch. Low ones often just land.

The metal pipe or edge along the top of a ramp or bowl. You stall and grind on it.

A nosegrind with the board angled into the ledge. Also called a crooks or k-grind.

See: Crooked grind

Starting a run on a ramp from the top by putting your front foot down and leaning into the transition.

See: Drop in

Rolling backward in your normal stance. Your feet stay where they always are; the board is just going the other way.

The ankle motion that gets a flip trick going. You point your toe and flick off the side of the board instead of kicking straight down.

Any trick where the board moves without you, like a pop shove it or a kickflip.

See: Kickflip

A trick where one foot touches the ground partway through, like a boneless or no comply.

The flatground style that came up in the 70s and 80s: railstands, caspers, fingerflips and footwork. A lot of modern street tricks started here.

See: Freestyle tricks

Turning or facing with your chest toward the ramp, ledge or direction of the spin. On flatground, a frontside spin opens your body up forward.

See: Frontside 180

A flatground game like HORSE. One skater lands a trick, the other has to match it or take a letter.

Riding with your right foot forward.

See: Regular

Riding along an edge on your trucks, as opposed to a slide, where the deck does the sliding.

See: All grinds

A fakie 180 ollie, named after Steve Caballero.

See: Fakie bigspin

A half kickflip that your front foot brings back around. The one-footed take on the casper flip.

See: Hospital flip

The board wraps vertically around your back foot. Not to be confused with a zero flip, where the board flips end over end without your foot guiding it.

See: Impossible

Lifting your front wheels and pivoting on your back wheels to change direction, especially on a ramp.

A flip that starts after the board is already in the air, usually caught and flicked by the back foot.

See: Shove it underflip · Semi flip

A raised edge or curb you grind and slide on. Skateparks build them as boxes and blocks.

Balancing on your back wheels while rolling, like a wheelie. A nose manual is the same thing on your front wheels.

See: Ollie nose manual

A foot plant where your front foot steps off and your back foot pops the board up and around before you step back on.

See: Frontside no comply 180

Popping off the nose while riding in your normal stance. It's both the name for ollieing off the nose, and also the name of the stance where you do other tricks off the nose.

See: Nollie heelflip · Who invented the nollie?

A grind on just your front truck.

See: Frontside nosegrind

Sliding on the nose of the deck along a curb or ledge.

See: Noseslide

Stalling on the coping with your front truck, then dropping back in.

See: Nosestall

Popping the tail and sliding your front foot up so you and the board jump together. Almost every street trick is built on it.

See: Ollie

Turning on one truck with the other wheels in the air. You can land a trick in a pivot to bring the board back around. Also the name of a stall on transition on only the back truck, like a stationary 5-0.

The spot where the tail starts to curve up from the flat part of the board. A back foot "in the pocket" can pop and scoop.

Snapping the tail (or nose) against the ground so the board jumps. It sends the board up.

A flip done by scooping the tail with your back foot, with no front foot flick.

See: Pressure flip · Why people hated them

Another name for a railstand, though technically a primo is the sliding version and a railstand is the stall.

See: Railstand

Standing on the edge of your board while it's on its side.

See: Railstand

Riding with your left foot forward.

See: Goofy

Spinning the board 180 on its wheels after a trick or stall, usually with a little slide, to ride away the other way.

Getting height on a flip without leveling the board out.

Pushing the tail around with your back foot as you pop, instead of straight down. It spins the board. Pop sends it up, scoop sends it around.

Turning the board partway under you in the air and bringing it back before you land.

The board spins 180 under you without flipping. A pop shove it adds the pop.

See: Pop shove it · Frontside shove it

Sliding along an edge on the deck instead of the trucks, like a noseslide or boardslide.

See: All slides

Which foot you ride with in front: regular (left) or goofy (right). The first thing to figure out before your first ollie.

See: Lesson 1

Riding in your opposite stance, with your back foot in front and popping off the tail.

Stalling on the tail on a ledge or coping. Popping out of one on a ledge is a taildrop.

See: Taildrop

Any curved ramp surface: quarterpipes, mini ramps, bowls.

See: Ramp tricks

Another name for a 360 flip: a varial kickflip with a full 360 shove it.

See: 360 flip

Taking your weight off the board for a moment so it can turn or come back in without catching.

Adding a shove it rotation to a flip. A varial kickflip is a kickflip plus a pop shove it.

See: Varial kickflip · Varial heelflip

When the board wraps around your foot instead of flipping freely, like on an impossible or flamingo.

See: Impossible · Flamingo