Heelflip Tutorial

Onto Flip Tricks!

I hope you have been having fun progressing on your board! Don’t worry if you are still on Basic Riding or learning your Ollie. The more time you spend on the fundamentals of skateboarding and just getting really good at simple riding, the better.

The Heelflip can be difficult and it may be easier to learn kickflips first, but if you are ready to tackle heelflips, here is some basic information to get you going!

The foot position for the Heelflip is your front foot about the same distance up the board as an Ollie or Kickflip but instead you are going to have your toes hanging off the board. Your back foot is going to want to be in the pocket of your tail closer to the side your heel is and you are going to want to stand on the balls of your foot.

Before you learn Heelflips I would recommend learning to Ollie, Frontside 180, Backside 180, Front and Back Shove It.  It is definitely possible to learn how to Heelflip before that, but I feel if you have those down it will improve your board control and make this trick easier to land.

To start learning to get Heelflips down, pop your board on the ground but don’t jump, just stand on the tail so your board is standing up and drag your foot up the board and off the side to practice the motion of the Heelflip. Practice that a bunch of times to get comfortable.  

The next practice step is stepping off with your back foot. The reason is we are just going to be practicing getting the rotation of the Heelflip with the board so we can get comfortable with the board flipping.  One of the common problems with the Heelflip is the board goes behind you. If this happens you are going to want to be leaning back slightly toward your heels.

Recap:

  1. Back foot in the pocket of the tail and your front foot with the toes slightly hanging off the side of the board.
  2. Practice the flick of the Heelflip.
  3. Start popping and doing the Heelflip but letting your back foot come off.
  4. Start trying to land the Heelflip, allowing the board to flip all the way around and then catching the board with your feet.
  5. Land with your knees slightly bent.
  6. Roll away.

Congratulations you have just learned the Heelflip!

At BrailleSkateboarding.com we have everything you need to help you progress. Our full tutorial Skateboarding Made Simple is a unique approach to learning to skate created by expert instructor Aaron Kyro. The full lesson plan Volume 1-7 will take you from beginning to advanced skating!