Pop Shove It Definition

This trick is a classic one. Pop Shove its are achieved by using your back foot to pop and spin the skateboard around 180 degrees in the air while you stay neutral above it.

The Pop Shove it by default is Backside, meaning the tail of the board would spin away from your back-foot’s heel side. A fun alternative to this trick would be a Shove-It, which is the same trick with no the pop of the tail.

Before you get into this trick, it’s important to be comfortable with your board. Make sure you have this down before you attempt this trick! In classic Skateboarding Made Simple style, you should also have your Ollies, Frontside 180s & Backside 180s down. Is it necessary to have all of these down? No, but it definitely is helpful.

The pop shove it is a classic trick and has been around for awhile. There are many variations of this trick, such as the frontside pop shove it. Many skaters like to combine this trick with other tricks in a line as it adds some style points. There’s something about this trick that just looks so good!

Enough talk, let’s get into the trick

There are a few things to cover when going over this trick. As mentioned above, it’s important to have at least your ollies and your regular shove its down before going for this trick. You’ll see why below.

Here’s what we’re going to cover:

  1. Foot Position
  2. Shove its
  3. Back Foot Flick
  4. Practice Steps
  5. Common Problems

Foot Position

The foot position for this trick isn’t too far from the regular riding position. Your front foot is up near the front bolts. You could have it at a 45° angle if that helps. The front foot is pretty simple, but is your point of control. It should come up slightly to make sure the board doesn’t flip under you.

The back foot is where the magic happens. Your back foot is pretty center on the tail. Your toes should be slightly hanging off the board, but not too much. This is because you’re going to want a good amount of force from your back foot as you swing the board around and makes sure it gets that full rotation. When you do the pop shove it, you’re going to force your back foot down and back so it gets that pop. Check the photo down below for reference.

pop shove it

Shove its

The secret to the pop shove it, is actually to try the shove it. Sounds weird, I know. But getting the motion of the shove it down is very important to getting the pop shove it. The shove it is the exact same thing, just without any pop. The board will still rotate under you, but doesn’t pop at all.

The secret to learning the pop shove it, is learning it with no pop…

-Aaron Kyro

Back Foot Flick

When practicing the shove it, your back foot is simply scooping back, but not down. When you scoop back, your board will rotate and not want to flip at all. You’re going to jump just a little bit, and your front foot should stay directly above the board while your back foot flicks back and then comes on top of the board.

Get your regular shove its down, then continue on and learn it with the pop. You should practice these for awhile before you try the pop shove its.

The practice steps below are almost the same. The biggest difference for the shove it, is flicking your back foot straight back and not down. When you go for the pop shove it, you have to flick it down and back. Other than that, they’re the same.

Practice Steps

The first practice step is to get the rotation with your board. Practice getting the rotation down and catching it with your back foot. When you’re doing this practice step, make sure you’re flicking the board back and down which creates the pop. This really is the only difference between the shove it and the pop shove it. So practice popping the board and getting that rotation. Practice this for 10 minutes, or however long it takes to where you’re catching the board consistently.

After that, you’re going to do the rotation and the pop and step off with your back foot. Pay attention to catching the board with your front foot. This will give you a good idea of how the board will react when you pop it.

You still want your front foot to be right above the board so it can control it. Since you’re scooping down now, your board will want to start turning under you, so having your front foot right there to catch it is key. if it does start to turn, your front foot will be there to stop it.

At this point, you basically have the trick down. From here, all you have to do is bend your back knee. Once the board does the full rotation under you, you can extend it again and place it right on the tail. This doesn’t always mean jumping higher, just make sure the board has enough room to rotate under you.

Common Problems

This is a pretty simple trick, but there are a couple of common problems that you might run into.

Too much force

If your board is over rotating or starting to flip under you, it’s because you’re flicking that back foot too hard. It doesn’t take a lot of force to get the board to pop and rotate under you. Keep this in mind when doing the practice steps!

Not Enough Shove its

As we stated before, the shove it is the secret to this trick. When Aaron sees people at the skatepark asking for help on their pop shove it, he asks them to do a shove it. After they land that, he has them do a pop shove it. And most of the time, they land it right away.

Make sure you practice the shove it enough times before you continue to the pop shove it. Then, simply apply all the same actions except flicking your back foot down and back.

Front Foot

The front foot should stay directly above the board so it can catch it if it starts to flip. If the front foot is too high or too far off to the side, then it won’t be there to catch it. If you’re having this problem, go back to the practice step of catching the board under you.

Below is a video we made all about the pop shove it. You can visually see how the trick plays out and how important the back foot is. We hope you enjoy it and can see all the different tips and tricks to landing this classic trick!

Pop Shove It Tutorial

We want to see your best pop shove its! Film a quick video and tag @brailleskate, #brailleskate and #brailleskateboarding on Instagram. Let us know what part of this helped you the most to landing this trick so we can help get everyone into skateboarding!

If you’re just starting out in skateboarding, take a look at Skateboarding Made Simple. It’s the most detailed and laid out lesson plan on skateboarding that exists. With all 7 volumes, you will progress from riding to advanced flatground tricks. You CAN learn to skate, and Skateboarding Made Simple is your key to it!