How To Heel Flip ?

The heelflip is similar to the kickflip, and is a natural next trick to learn. If you don’t know how to kickflip, you can still learn to heelflip, but I recommend first Learning how to Kickflip. Heelflips are a little harder than kickflips.

What is a Heelflip? A Heelflip is where a skater ollies (or jumps with his or her board) into the air, and flicks the skateboard his his or her heel so that it spins in the air along the nose-tail axis, with the heel-edge coming up first, while staying parallel to the ground. The board spins once, and the skater lands on the skateboard when the wheels are facing the ground again, and rides away. Read more about the definition of Heelflip in the Skateboarding Dictionary.

If you are brand new to skateboarding, you’ll first need to learn to ollie before learning to heelflip (read Learn How to Ollie). Plus, you may want to take some time getting used to riding your skateboard (read Just Starting Out Skateboarding) before learning to ollie, kickflip or heelflip. Of course, it is totally up to you – if you are aggressive and want to learn to heelflip on your skateboard before learning how to ride, that’s up to you!

Make sure you read all of these instructions before you try to heelflip. Once you are familiar with them, go skate!

Position your feet like you would an ollie – with your back foot across the tail for the pop, and your front foot near the center of the board. However, you will want to have your front foot placed more forward on the board, so that your toes hang off a little. This will make the trick much easier.

Position your feet like you would an ollie – with your back foot across the tail for the pop, and your front foot near the center of the board. However, you will want to have your front foot placed more forward on the board, so that your toes hang off a little. This will make the trick much easier.

Just like with a kickflip, you want to get our feet out of the way of the board so that it can spin freely. Take this moment to pull your front foot back up underneath you, and get ready to catch the skateboard. When heelflipping, the skateboard can spin pretty fast. It helps to be looking down and watching the board spin, but try to not lean forward.

Just like with the kickflip, make sure you stay level. If you lean too far forward – as in, toward your toes, you will tend to leave your skateboard behind you. Keep yourself level, and your weight over your skateboard.

Take another look at this photo of P-Rod at the X Games, pulling off a switch varial heelflip. Notice how level his shoulders are with the ground.Once the skateboard has spun around completely one time, put your back foot on it to catch it. This means that you’ll need to be watching your skateboard, to see when it has made one complete flip. This can be tricky – keep practicing. Some day when you are awesome, you’ll have a stronger board sense and be able to kickflip without watching the board, but even pros look down when they do tricks, so keep an eye on that board.

Once you catch the skateboard with your back foot, you’ll want to put your front foot on the skateboard too.

This is done just like with a kickflip. As you fall back toward the ground and land, bend your knees again. This is important! Bending your knees will help absorb the shock of landing on your skateboard, it will keep your knees from getting hurt from the impact, and keep you in control of your skateboard. bend your knees deeply as you land. Finally, just roll away. If this sounds simple, then great – get out there and practice! If this sounds too complicated, don’t worry. Just go slow, and take your time.

This is a lot of technical information to remember while trying to do a trick that takes only a second or two. Just make sure you understand the concept – make sure that you have a good mental picture of what’s happening. Go practice, and if you run into a wall, come back and read some more, and hopefully you’ll get it. Your body is learning how to heelflip more than your mind is, so it may take time. With practice, you’ll eventually get it.

The heelflip can be done other ways as well. A very popular method technically isn’t a heelflip at all, but the skateboard does spin in the same way. This method is called the “Anti-kickflip”, or “Opposite-kickflip”, and most people find it easier than the true kickflip, and it can look a lot cleaner.

In this version of the heelflip, you want to set your feet up the same way you would for a kickflip. When you pop your board into the air, you make the same motion as with a kickflip, but you flick the board on the opposite corner (see photo). This makes the skateboard spin the opposite way from a kickflip. It’s a fairly simple variant of the trick.

However, be careful – the kickflip is a more natural way for your board to want to spin. With this heelflip version, the board has a good chance of flipping up and nailing you in the groin. Sound like fun? Oh, it isn’t.

Common Heelflip Problems

I Can’t Get the Skateboard to Spin Enough
This is the most common problem with heelflips. You have to get a good, strong pop off of your tail, and you need to give the board a good strong flick. If you are using the alternate heelflip method (the “opposite kickflip”), the board does spin more slowly than with the true heelflip method. The only other way to fix this is with practice. A lot.
My Skateboard Goes Behind Me
This is a pretty common heelflip problem that comes from leaning too far forward (as in toe side, not toward the nose). Try focusing on leaning back a little, toward your heel side edge. Keep your weight centered over your skateboard, and this won’t be a problem.
I Can’t Control my Board
Your board pops up, and might nail you in the groin (getting “credit carded). This is probably happening because you are using your toes in the flip – make sure to use just your heel. Also, just practice. That does mean that you might end up rolling on the ground in pain a few times – this is why it takes guts to be a skater!
I Catch the Board Sketchy – or Not At All
Have someone watch you heelflip. If your tail is dragging too close to the ground, then give a stronger pop, and put some pressure on your front foot to even out the skateboard. If your problem is with the actual landing, the make sure you are catching the board with your feet flat and even. Don’t use only your toes. You may need more air in order to have enough time for this. Again, practice more!