Good Afternoon everyone, and wow are my elbows really scrapped up! This week I’m super excited to tell all about my journey landing the varial kickflip. The reason why I chose to do this trick week 3 is because I already had my kickflips down, and my pop shuvits. For my readers that I don’t know yet, varial kickflips are essentially just a kickflip and a pop shuvit mixed into one trip. Although I don’t cover it in my blog, pop shuvits are super easy to learn, and I have included a link below to my favorite tutorial video on how to do them. But without further ado, let’s jump right into this varial kickflip!
The varial kickflip is a super dope trick that actually looks WAY more complicated than it actually is to do. As mentioned above, if you really do have your kickflips and shuvits down, the trick should take you no more than 30 minutes to learn. But if it does take you longer than 30 minutes to learn, there is absolutely no shame in that! :).
For starters, before I jumped into learning the trick I practiced landing 5 kickflips in a row, and then five pop shuvits in a row. After feeling confident about these tricks, I then decided to give varial kickflips a go. I went online and found a video by one of my favorite skateboarders; Aaron Kyro. Initially I was struggling the most with how to place my feet on on the board, and which way to kick out on the board. After watching the video all my questions were answered, and I was ready to start practicing the trick.
Instead of holding onto rails, or a protective structure as I had done when trying to learn other new tricks. I decided to just go all out and give it my best go with the varial kickflip. I also found that practicing the trick stationary made it harder for me to land, it was easier, and looked much cooler when I was in motion landing the trick.
I found the trick was easiest to land when I placed my feet in the same position as if I was trying to land a kickflip (front foot hanging off top right side of the board, back foot on the tail of the board). But my back foot would be doing a slightly different motion than just the usual pop back. Instead, I would use my back foot to kick back and sorta scoop the board, all while kicking out with my front foot the same exact way if I was kicking out for a kickflip. You can see all this in the photos above. And then lastly, when coming down and landing the trick I quickly realign my feet in the air, and then land down on the screws of the skateboard, all can be seen in the photos above.
In the end, this trick is super fun to land, and whether you’re playing a game of S.K.A.T.E., trying to show off a cool trick to your friends, or just chilling and skating, I highly recommend the varial kickflip!
Thanks for reading, and feel free to tune in next week as I take on the backside flip. Have a great rest of your day!
Skateboard Tricks for Dummies 