Learn the nollie kickflip: prerequisites, five stages from nollie pop with a flick drill to catching, typical mistakes and why the pop has to sit first.
The nollie kickflip is a kickflip that comes from the nollie pop: you pop with the front foot from the nose, kick the board around its long axis and catch it again. The honest answer: it is the kickflip with swapped roles of the feet, and if you can nollie and kickflip securely, you still need a few weeks until the flick works from the nose.
In the nollie kickflip the front foot works twice. It pops the nose and flicks the board while the back foot guides and catches the board. That is why the trick feels wrong at first, even if you can do the normal kickflip in your sleep.
For background: in the ollie, kickflip and 360 flip, skaters use a common jumping pattern of the muscles [1]. There is no measurement for the nollie kickflip. The forces of the ollie, about 2.2 times body weight at take-off and 4.7 times at landing [2], are also not transferable to the nollie kickflip; they apply to the ollie.
How long it takes is experience: plan weeks.
Ten nollies and ten kickflips in a row. Both must sit. According to a survey of 91 skaters, skaters learn mainly through demonstration, drills and the evaluation of errors [3]. Milestone: nollie 9 of 10, kickflip 8 of 10.
Do the nollie but set the front foot slightly at an angle so that the heel sticks out over the edge of the nose. You pop and let the board come up cleanly. Milestone: 8 of 10 landed cleanly.
Do the nollie pop and kick lightly outward with the front foot. The board flips only halfway. The back foot stays loose and follows. Milestone: 8 of 10 landed without stepping off.
Pop, flick, the board turns once around the long axis. You wait until the grip appears and catch with the back foot. Milestone: 3 of 10 times caught, even if the landing wobbles.
Both feet over the bolts, knees bent, gaze ahead. An attempt counts only when you are standing. Milestone: 5 of 10 nollie kickflips landed and rolled away.
Film check: Film yourself from the side. Does the pop come from the nose before the flick sets in? If the board flies away sideways, you see whether the flick goes too far outward.
Session structure (experience): Warm up with nollies and kickflips, then stage by stage. At most three sets of five attempts, then a break.
If it stalls: If the board does not flip, the flick is too weak or the pop too flat. Repeat stage 3 in sets of ten. If the board flies away sideways, you kick too far outward: bring the flick closer to the nose.
In the nollie kickflip the board flies away from the nose, and you often land with a lot of momentum. In a survey of 197 skaters in Spain, ligament sprains were the most common injury type at 39.6 percent, especially of the ankle (39.3 percent), and 70.1 percent of them came back [4]. On flat ground 15.2 percent of the 323 injuries happened [4]; that is a share, not a risk per hour.
Professionals had a smaller ankle inversion angle than amateurs in one measurement [5]. If you are tired, you lose this control. Wrist and forearm account for more than half of skaters' injuries because people fall onto the outstretched arm [6]. Practise only on flat ground, never over stairs or gaps. This guide explains and motivates, it does not replace supervised training.
Make the pop louder than the flick: listen to the sound of the nose hitting the ground. If you hear the pop before the flick sets in, the order is right. If both sound at the same time, the flick comes too early.
A nollie kickflip is a kickflip that comes from the nollie pop. You pop with the front foot from the nose, kick the board around its long axis and catch it again.
In five stages: check the foundation, nollie pop with a turned foot, flick alone, full flip, catch. A secure nollie and kickflip are the prerequisite.
In the kickflip you pop from the tail, in the nollie kickflip from the nose. This changes which foot pops and flicks.
That is experience: often several weeks if nollie and kickflip sit. There is no study on this.
No. The measured forces apply only to the ollie. There is no measurement for the nollie kickflip.
Learning the Switch Kickflip: Kickflip on Your Weak Side in Five Stages