Learn the varial heelflip: prerequisites, five stages from separate practice to landing while rolling, typical mistakes and why both single tricks must be secure.
The varial heelflip combines two tricks: the board spins half flat around the vertical axis, as in the frontside pop shove-it, and at the same time flips once around the longitudinal axis, as in the heelflip. You learn it in five stages, and the honest prerequisite is both single tricks, secure while rolling.
The varial heelflip rewards skaters who understood both building blocks. If you can do only half of one of them, you practise for months a trick that falls apart in the air.
Honest up front: it is one of the more demanding tricks on flat ground. Not because you need new muscles, since in ollie, kickflip and 360-flip researchers found a similar motor complexity and a common "jumping" synergy in seven experienced skaters by muscle measurement [1], but because timing and foot guidance have to be right at the same time.
Scoring rewards difficulty: in the Olympic formats five judges rate, among other things, difficulty, variety and the quality of execution [2]. The varial heelflip is a scoring trick, but only when landed clean.
How long it takes is experience: with a secure heelflip and frontside pop shove-it usually several weeks to a few months.
Do ten heelflips and ten frontside pop shove-its. Feel how flick and scoop each feel. Milestone: both tricks succeed in 8 of 10 attempts.
Stand next to the board, combine the back foot's scoop with a small heel flick of the front foot. The board should turn flat and flip. Milestone: the board turns and flips together without sliding sideways.
Now with a jump, but on grass or carpet, landing beside is allowed. Pop, scoop and flick run almost simultaneously. Milestone: the board makes the full combination of half spin and flip 6 of 10 times.
When you see the griptape, put the front foot down first, then the back foot. Eyes on the board. Milestone: you catch the board and land with both feet, even if you step off afterwards.
Roll up at moderate speed, trick, land low, roll on. Milestone: 5 landed varial heelflips in a row.
Film check: Film from behind in slow motion and check whether the board first turns and then flips or both run together. A clip also shows whether the shoulders stay calm. Count ten attempts: if the board makes the full combination in 6 of 10 cases, you are ready for catching. If not, go back one stage.
Session structure (experience): Warm up with five heelflips and five frontside pop shove-its, then practise the combination on grass, only after that on asphalt. Plan at most three sets of ten attempts and end the session when coordination drops.
The varial heelflip is a trick with a lot of rotation, and the landing is a meeting with both feet. In a survey of 197 skaters in Spain, 39.6 percent of injuries were ligament sprains, 39.3 percent at the ankle, and 25.7 percent happened on gaps or stairs [4]. So practise the trick on flat ground.
A review names fatigue as a risk factor [5]; if you are tired you catch later and roll the ankle more easily. Wrist and forearm make up more than 50 percent of skate injuries, from falling onto the outstretched arm [6]. Wear a helmet and wrist guards. The guide explains and motivates, it does not replace supervised training.
Break the trick into two sentences: "Scoop first, flick after." Many flick too early and the board slides sideways. Say the sentence at the pop. Film yourself from behind and watch whether the board first turns and then flips in the air. If both run together, you are right.
A varial heelflip is a trick where the board turns half flat around the vertical axis (as in the frontside pop shove-it) and at the same time flips once around the longitudinal axis (as in the heelflip). You land on the board again.
In five stages: consolidate both movements separately, scoop plus flick standing, on grass with a jump, catching, rolling. A secure heelflip and a secure frontside pop shove-it are the prerequisites.
There is no learning-time study. Experience: with a secure heelflip and frontside pop shove-it usually several weeks to a few months.
Yes. Both movements run simultaneously in the varial heelflip. If one is unsure, the trick falls apart in the air.
Heelflip first, then frontside pop shove-it, then varial heelflip. The kickflip is not a prerequisite, but it trains the same flip feel. If a building block is missing, the trick falls apart in the air.
Learning the Frontside Air: Your First Real Air Over the Coping