Ollie (skateboarding trick)

The ollie is a skateboarding trick where the rider and board leap into the air without the use of the rider's hands. It is basically the combination of popping, sliding, and jumping on the skateboard all at the same time. Originated in vertical skateboarding, and later on flat ground, it is not intuitively obvious how the liftoff is achieved, making the movement visually striking.

The ollie is a fundamental skill in skateboarding and is used to leap onto, over, or off obstacles, or over gaps of unfriendly terrain such as grass or stairs. As so many tricks depend on it - for example the kickflip and heelflip - the ollie is often the first skill to be learned by a new skateboarder. The ollie typically takes considerable practice to learn.

In 1978, Alan Gelfand, who was given his nickname "Ollie" by Scott Goodman, learned to perform no-handed aerials in bowls and pools using a gentle raising of the nose and scooping motion to keep the board with the feet. There are numerous references to Alan Gelfand's Ollie with most notably pictures in the 1970s skateboarding magazine "Skateboarder".

In 1982, while competing in the Rusty Harris contest in Whittier, California, Rodney Mullen debuted an ollie on flat ground, which he had adapted from Gelfand's vertical version by combining the motions of some of his existing tricks. Mullen used a "see-saw" motion, striking the tail of the board on the ground to lift the nose, and using the front foot to level the board in mid-air. While Mullen was not initially impressed with his flat ground ollie, and did not formally name it, he realized it opened up a second, elevated plane on which to perform tricks.

Mullen's flat ground ollie is now considered to have transformed the practice of skateboarding. Rodney won the Rusty Harris contest, was afterwards asked by many riders to demonstrate the trick, and later in the year it would appear with the name "Ollie-pop" as a "trick tip" in the skateboarding magazine Thrasher.

The flat ground ollie technique is strongly associated with street skateboarding; mini ramp and vert riders can also use this technique to gain air and horizontal distance from the coping, but half-pipe riders typically rely more on the board's upward momentum to keep it with the rider, more similar to Gelfand's original technique.

The rider begins the ollie by crouching and jumping directly upward. As the rider begins to leap, instead of lifting the feet from the board, he/she "pops" the tail by striking it against the ground, which raises the board nose-first. Maintaining contact with the board, the rider lifts the front leg and bends the front ankle so that the outer or top side of the shoe slides towards the nose of the board. The friction between the shoe and the board's grip tape helps to guide and pull the board upward, while the rear foot only maintains slight contact with board to help guide it. When nearing the peak of the jump, the rider lifts the rear leg and pushes the front foot forward, which levels the board and keeps it in contact with the back foot.

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Wikipedia