Trick Terms:
Regular:
Your “normal” riding stance. This can be tricky for new skaters to grasp, since they’ve probably heard about “regular” vs. “goofy” stances (riding a skateboard with your left foot forward vs. right foot forward, respectively). Skateboarding tricks done in one’s preferred normal stance would be “regular”. Most people don’t use this phrase often, preferring to ask if a trick was performed “switch” or not to avoid potential confusion.
Switch:
The opposite of one’s normal riding stance. For instance, if a rider typically skates with their left foot forward, their “switch” stance would be for them to skate with their right foot forward. Tricks performed switch are usually much more difficult to do than their normal counterparts. Imagine playing a competitive tennis match with your non-dominant hand, and you’ll understand how difficult switch riding can be!
Nollie:
Riding and performing tricks on the nose of the board in one’s “normal” riding stance. Instead of popping the tail of the board with their back foot to initiate a trick, a rider doing a “nollie” trick pops the nose of their board with their front foot to initiate a trick. The term “nollie” derives its name from nose and ollie — simply: a “nose ollie,” or nollie for short. Nollie tricks are similar to switch tricks, since riders use their non-dominant foot to perform tricks.
Fakie:
The best way to visualize “fakie” riding would be to picture riding in a “regular” stance, but backwards, as if riding a bike backwards. Skaters are technically riding in their “switch” stances, but perform tricks on the nose of their boards while riding switch. This translates into performing tricks in their regular stance (with their dominant foot still guiding their board), but while riding backwards. Another way to think of fakie would be to consider it as a “switch nollie” stance.
Frontside (Tricks):
Performing a maneuver where your body or board initiates movement while facing forward. The best way to visualize what a frontside trick looks like is to picture a skateboarder performing a frontside 180 ollie. Skaters rotate with their chests facing forward for the first 90 degrees of rotation while performing frontside 180s — they can spot their body’s trajectory in the air.
Skateboarders don’t need to rotate with their boards in order for tricks to be considered “frontside”: skateboards themselves can spin frontside independently underneath a rider. Regardless, the same logic dictates how skateboarders name the trick as with the frontside 180 example: if the skateboard starts to rotate in the same way as it did with the frontside 180, the trick will be classified as “frontside”.
Backside (Tricks):
The opposite of frontside: a maneuver where your body or board initiates movement facing backwards. Again, picture a skateboarder performing a 180 ollie. This time, skaters rotate with their backs initially turning toward the direction they are going for the first 90 degrees of rotation — they are “blind” in the air, as they can’t spot their body’s trajectory as they perform the trick.
Again, skateboarders don’t need to rotate with their boards in order for tricks to be considered “backside”: if the skateboard starts to rotate in the same way as it did with the backside 180, the trick will be classified as “backside”.
Frontside (Obstacles):
Like frontside tricks, doing a trick on a rail, ledge, or quarterpipe frontside means that the skater’s chest is facing the obstacle. In this context, frontside signifies the skateboarder’s angle of approach. Classifying a trick as “frontside” or “backside” helps other skaters name and identify different tricks that they and others perform.
Backside (Obstacles):
The opposite of frontside, doing a trick on a rail, ledge, or quarterpipe backside means that the skater’s back is facing the obstacle as they approach it.
