Learn the varial kickflip: hard prerequisites, five stages from isolated motions to landing while rolling, the typical mistakes and the camera trick.
The varial kickflip combines two tricks: the board spins half a turn flat beneath you (like the pop shove-it) and at the same time flips once around its long axis (like the kickflip). You need both to be secure — and the patience to merge the two motions into one.
The varial kickflip rewards skaters who understood kickflip and pop shove-it separately. If you can only half do one of them, you practice for months a trick that falls apart in the air.
Honest up front: it sits at the upper end of the intermediate level. Not because you need new muscles — in ollie, kickflip and 360-flip, researchers found similar motor complexity and a shared "jumping" synergy in seven experienced skaters [1] — but because timing and foot guidance must be right at once. Translated: the nervous system knows the building blocks, it just has to assemble them.
Judging rewards difficulty: in competitions judges assess difficulty and variety of tricks and quality of execution, among other things [2]. How long it takes is experience: with a solid kickflip and pop shove-it usually several weeks to a few months.
Do ten kickflips and ten pop shove-its. Feel how the flick (front foot snaps the edge) and the scoop (back foot pushes the tail backward) each feel. Milestone: both tricks succeed in 8 of 10 attempts.
Stand next to the board and combine only the back-foot motion (scoop) with a small flick — without jumping. The board should spin flat and flip. Milestone: the board spins and flips together without sliding sideways.
Now with a jump, but on grass or a carpet, landing beside it allowed. Pop, scoop and flick run almost simultaneously: the tail snaps, the back foot pushes backward, the front foot flicks the edge. Milestone: the board makes a full combination of half rotation and flip in 6 of 10 attempts.
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 in at moderate speed, trick, land low, roll on. Milestone: five landed varial kickflips in a row.
In the varial kickflip the board flies uncontrolled until you catch it. Many attempts end in a fall. In the ollie, researchers measured 4.74 body weights in the first 30 to 80 milliseconds on landing from a 46 cm platform in experienced skaters [4] — skaters also often deliberately land firmly to stabilize [4]. That is load on ankle and knee.
In a survey of 197 skaters, ligament sprain was the most frequent injury at 39.6 percent, mostly at the ankle (39.3 percent) with a 70.1 percent recurrence rate; experienced skaters had more severe injuries [5]. Overall the upper extremity bears 55 to 63 percent of injuries [6]. Wrist guards are basic kit: in the review on snowboarders (a comparable board sport, not skate evidence) they cut the wrist injury risk to 0.23 [7]. Nonexperimental data, however, suggested the possibility that wrist guards may increase the risk of finger and elbow-shoulder injuries [7]. Helmet use across 17 studies was 0 to 41.7 percent [8].
Leave out stairs, gaps and rails: this guide describes the trick on flat ground. It does not replace supervised training. For repeated ankle rolls see a doctor or physiotherapist.
Film yourself from behind, not from the side. You see whether the board spins flat or stands up on the nose. If the nose tips up while spinning, your scoop pushes down instead of backward. One camera position, one correction — and suddenly rotation and flip fit together.
A varial kickflip is the combination of a backside pop shove-it and a kickflip: the board spins half a turn flat and flips once around its long axis. You land in your original direction. It requires secure kickflips and pop shove-its.
No. Both motions run at the same time; if one is missing, the trick falls apart in the air. First practice each trick individually until 8 of 10 landings while rolling.
There are no reliable learning-time studies — this is experience. With a secure kickflip and pop shove-it usually several weeks to a few months. Short, frequent sessions and video analysis from behind help most.
If it flips without spinning, the back-foot scoop is missing; if it spins without a flip, the front-foot flick is missing. Do both motions simultaneously and check it on grass. The pop counts too: without height there is no time for the rotation.
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