How is street scored in competition? Lines, best tricks, trick combinations, and why the transition between tricks decides the score.
No compromise: at the top level, street isn't scored on the single trick, it's scored on how many you chain into one clean line. Competitive street doesn't judge isolated tricks, it judges the ability to link a whole obstacle set — stairs, rail, ledge, gap — into a single flowing run.
In the current Street League Skateboarding format, that runs in two phases: a line, where you get 45 seconds to string several tricks together through the course, and best trick attempts, where individual tricks are scored separately. Every trick is scored on a 0-to-10 scale by a judging panel, based on technical difficulty, originality, cleanliness of the landing, and how well the trick fits the obstacle. Your total score is the sum of your best line plus your two best individual tricks.
That's why trick combinations make the difference at pro level: a kickflip into a 50-50 grind, a boardslide that ends out of a heelflip. Every single transition move — flip in, flip out — multiplies the technical difficulty and thus the score. Alongside competition, the scene runs on its own currency: the video part, a skater's own filmed trick section, traditionally closing with the strongest trick as the ender. Sponsors and brands still judge careers today by video parts just as much as by contest results.
Before combining a flip into a grind, every component has to sit reliably on its own. A combination is never easier than its weakest single component.
The critical moment isn't the flip or the grind itself, it's the transition between them — the moment the board shifts from flip rotation into grind position. Practice exactly that moment isolated and slow.
Plan your line like a competition run: which trick at which obstacle, in what order, at what speed in between. Mental rehearsal saves real attempts.
When filming for a video part, think in full shots: camera position, run-up, trick, roll-out — everything has to work in one take. That forces cleaner execution, not just "somehow landed."
Save your most technically demanding trick — one that already sits solidly on its own — for the end of the line or the part. That final section is what stays in people's memory the longest.
Combined tricks add risk, not just difficulty: a fall mid-combination often catches you in a worse body position than a fall out of a single trick. Lock in each component before chaining them, and film new combinations first at low speed and on familiar obstacles, not on the first encounter with a new spot.
Study competition runs and video parts deliberately focused on the transitions, not just the trick itself. That's exactly where pro-level technical skill separates from solid amateur skating — not in the single flip, but in the moment right after. After every rewatch, note three concrete details you want to adopt yourself — vague watching gets you little.
Across two formats: a 45-second line with several chained tricks and separate best-trick attempts, each scored 0 to 10 on difficulty, originality, landing and fit to the obstacle. The total score is the best line plus the two best individual tricks.
The transition between the tricks — for example from a flip rotation into a grind position. That exact moment adds technical difficulty on top of the two individual tricks and is the most common point where combinations fail.
A skater's own filmed trick section, traditionally closing with the strongest trick as the "ender." Video parts often shape careers in the scene just as much as competition results.
Perfect them live first, then film. Filming demands one complete, clean take — that only works once the individual tricks and the transition already sit reliably.
Street Skateboarding: Getting Started and Overview