How to Nollie Heelflip

The nollie heelflip is one of my friend Tony Clark’s favorite tricks, so I had him teach it.

Before you start

You should know how to heelflip, of course. Tony says it’s the exact same motion, just with your other foot. If you want the backstory on popping off the nose, I wrote about who really invented the nollie.

Foot position

Set your feet up the same as if you were going to nollie.

Tony puts his front foot farther back than that. He doesn’t recommend it for you, though. It works for him because he focuses more on the pop and gets higher that way. Start with the normal nollie position.

How to do it

1. Pop off the nose and push it forward a lot.
2. Slide your back foot up the board.
3. Flick it diagonally off the heel side, like a heelflip. Don’t kick straight out.
4. Catch it and land.

Do it in steps

Think of it as the pop and then the flick, not both at once. It’s all about the pop first.

Troubleshooting

The board goes behind you

Push the pop forward. If you don’t, the board will go behind you, the same way it does with a fakie ollie.

The board doesn’t do anything

This one is timing. Some people don’t pop it, or they stay down too long. That can happen with any trick, but with the nollie heelflip, you’re often focused too much on the back foot kick. You end up kicking with your back foot before you’ve popped, and nothing happens. Pop first.

What’s next

The nollie backside 360 shove it is another nollie trick in the library. For more on nollie spin directions, check out why nollie spin names are wrong.