Kickflip

Kickflip

The kickflip (originally magic flip) is a skateboarding trick where the skateboarder swipes his foot at an angle up the nose of the skateboard in order to make it flip 360 degrees along the board's long axis. Rodney Mullen invented the kickflip concept on August 13, 1983; however, he did not actually execute a kickflip until August 21, 1983.

Skateboarders execute kickflips similarly to the ollie, and like the ollie, it has become a defining trick of "New School" skateboarding. Other boardsports have adopted the kickflip: notably surfing, snowboarding, wakeskating, and skimboarding.

Variations

Once a skateboarder has mastered the kickflip and is used to the pressures and positioning needed to perform it, they may learn many variations on the kickflip. Some of these may include:

• double kickflip, where the board flips two times before being caught. Invented by Rodney Mullen.

• triple kickflip, where the board flips three times before being caught

• quadflip, where the board flips four times before being caught

• varial flip, a combination of a backside pop shove-it and a kickflip

• 360 flip (also called a 360 kickflip, a tré flip/treflip, a 3-Flip or a kolmari, particularly in Finland): a combination of a kickflip and a backside 360 pop shove-it

• 540 kickflip (also called a backside 540 flip or a 540 flip): a combination of a kickflip and a backside 540 pop shove-it

• 720 double kickflip: a combination of a double kickflip and a 720 pop shove-it

• (Frontside or Backside) Kickflip 180: A combination of a Kickflip and a (Frontside or Backside) Ollie 180, where the board and the skateboarder rotate in the same direction. (AKA Backside flip, Frontside flip, BS Flip, FS Flip.)

• The kickflip indy, a variation on the indy air where the rider flips the board and catches it with his hand rather than the feet. It was first done on a vertical ramp but now is very commonly seen done on launch ramps or other surfaces which can generate sufficient air time. It is also common to see the kickflip combined with grabs other than the Indy.

• kickflip sex-change or body varial is where the board spins a kickflip and the skater does a full 180 degree spin, lands on the board in switch stance.

• hardflip, a combination of the frontside pop shove-it and the kick flip, the board does a flip while in the motion of a partial back-flip, spinning halfway end over end, then flipping over.

• mother flip, where the board spins a 360 kickflip while the body rotates 360 degrees in the opposite direction.

• big flip: skater's body does a 180 while their board does a 360 flip.

• late kickflip (lateflip) is where the tail is popped and the front foot flicks the board later than a usual kickflip.

• late back-foot kickflip, the same as a late kickflip, but is kickdown by the back foot.

1970s kickflip

There was a different skateboard trick also named 'kickflip' that was common in 1970s freestyle skateboarding. The skater would stand on a motionless or slow-moving skateboard with two feet side by side, facing forward in the center of the board. One foot was then placed slightly under one side of the board, and the skater would jump up in the air, lifting the board with the toe of the foot. The board would spin and land back on its wheels, and the skater would land back on the board. Most skaters today know also this trick as the old school kickflip.

External links

• Ollie Kickflip Tricktips