How to Plasma Spin

The plasma spin is a frontside bigspin that wraps around your foot like an impossible. It sounds hard, but it’s really not. It’s one of my favorite tricks. The way it wraps and comes together has a unique feel and flows really well.

There are a couple of knocks on it. It doesn’t lead anywhere. You can’t really add a flip to it, so all you can do is land it in a pivot. And the foot position is really weird when you’re first learning. Nobody really does these at a pro level. It’s more of a weird tech thing at the park. But maybe you’ll be the one to take it further.

Before you start

All you really need is an ollie and a frontside 180. It’s not related to much else. A pressure hardflip helps, since you pop the edge of the tail, but it’s not that similar. A wrapping trick like the impossible helps a little, but the plasma spin wraps in the opposite direction, so not much.

Just go give it a try. You might find it comes together without too much work.

Foot position

• Front foot: somewhere comfortable with your toe hanging off a little, to balance out your back foot. Its only job is to go straight up to your chest and stay there the whole time.
• Back foot: this is where it gets weird.

The way I do it now is the pressure hardflip position: toe on the tip of the tail, turned slightly backward, and I scoop through it.

When you’re first learning, though, a lot of people find it easier with the back foot turned around so your toe is on the heel side of the board. I did them that way for a long time. It helps because that’s the direction the board wraps. If your foot is already there before you start, the wrap is a lot easier. It looks strange, so maybe practice in your driveway instead of the skatepark for a while.

Eventually you can start in the normal position and shift your foot around during the trick.

How to plasma spin

1. Roll up facing forward

You can wind up a tiny bit, but you don’t really need to throw the trick around. Just face forward.

2. Pop the side of the tail and wait

For your first step, all you focus on is popping the side of the tail down and getting the board to start flipping. Then you wait. And wait.

This is the hardest part. It’s not like an impossible where you scoop and it wraps all the way around. It feels more like a late trick. Pop it, start the flip, wait, wait, wait, and then wrap. Wrap a little too early and you’ll catch it, start to flip and go flying. If you’re not getting a good wrap, you probably need to wait a little longer.

The good thing about the wait is that it gives you time to switch your foot around if you popped it from the normal position.

3. Kick forward and let it wrap

Once the board has flipped over, the outside of your foot is against the grip tape. All you do now is kick forward. The board follows through on its own.

That’s what makes this trick so good. Once it starts, you’re pretty much done. You don’t have to drag it around like a front foot impossible. You kick through and let the board spin around your foot.

If you know the unpossible (a regular impossible that you switch to your front foot), the plasma spin is kind of like popping the board, spinning around and doing a switch unpossible. That might not help, since that trick is even more rare than this one.

4. Keep your front foot up

The toughest part at this point is your front foot. The wrap sometimes goes straight up and down, so your back leg is straight and your front foot has to be way up to clear it. Pull it way up and wait.

5. Land

If you get the wrap right, landing is pretty easy. The board stays with you, and you’re not spinning much since you’re facing forward and pulling it around. You can land pretty solid.

Troubleshooting

Practicing the wrap with a step off

You can practice the wrap by stepping off with your front foot and wrapping the board around your back foot. It helps a little with the wrap, but don’t do it too much. Keeping your front foot out of the way is one of the hardest parts of the trick, and the step off takes that out of the equation.

Try it fakie

When I first learned the trick, fakie was a lot easier. You can cheat a little and under-rotate and still land it. It’s an option if you’re stuck.

What’s next

The plasma spin is a bit of a stand-alone trick, but you can land it in a pivot. If you haven’t learned the fakie frontside bigspin or the impossible yet, those are good ones to have alongside it.