The GirlsRiders.Org is launching its *Local Gro Crews* on May 2nd!
The First Saturdays 10am-12pm Every Month there is an open call for all girls of all ages and abilities to come ride together, learn from each other, and grow the sport of skateboarding together. It’s free and it’s fun! Meet at the Costa Mesa Volcom Skate Park (970 Arlington Drive) from 10am-12pm May 2nd. Bring your gear in case the poes show and tell your friends! I’ll see you there.

-Mandy Esch, professional skate instructor

360SkateSchool.com

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Blunt stalls are sick. They look super cool and the variation possibilities are endless. In my opinion the easiest place to start is with a Blunt Stall then Rock-to-Fakie out of it. It’s pretty tricky at first but if you are comfortable on coping you’ll be loving this trick in no time at all.

How it’s done:

After that the rest of the trick is a simple Rock-to-Fakie (see rock-to-fakie trick tip.) Lean back, pull your front wheels in over the coping, and roll away. Once you’ve got this trick down and have developed a good clean pop off the blunt stall, cut out the Rock-Fakie part and just go all the way in from the coping to make it a Blunt-to-Fakie. If that’s not challenging enough, go crazy with the blunts. You can blunt 180 out, finger flip out of it, or whatever you can think of. The possibilities really are endless so have fun with this one. If you have any trouble, book a lesson with me at 360SkateSchool.com for some one on one help.

-Mandy Esch

Popularity: 100% [?]

A rock to fakie is a half pipe trick in which the front wheels of your skate board roll over the coping/top of the ramp and pause on the deck before you roll back in the ramp backwards, or fakie. Physically the maneuver is not very difficult, but mentally it can be scary if you’re not comfortable/familiar with fakie. So get very comfortable rolling backwards on everything you can find to prepare yourself for this trick.

That being said the rest is pretty simple. Find a quarter pipe or half pipe that isn’t bigger than you are comfortable with. If you can find one without coping this trick will be a cake walk. You need to hit the ramp going forward with enough speed that your front wheels roll up and over the top. The middle of your skateboard deck should contact the coping/edge of the ramp and pause there momentarily.

After you hang out on the lip for a sec the key is to lean back away from the ramp and lift your front wheels by pressing on your tail and allowing your front leg to rise up out of the way. As you roll back into the ramp backwards/fakie you need to keep your front wheels up until you clear the coping/lip of the ramp. Only after you clear the lip put enough pressure on your front foot to lower your wheels back to the ground WITHOUT LEANING FORWARD. If you lean forward at all on this trick you will wipe out. Keep leaning back away from the ramp and stay low, bending at the knees. It’s as simple as staying on and leaning back. If you can fight the natural instinct to lean forward you wont fall.

A common mistake with this trick is lifting the front wheels on the way up toward the lip of the ramp. When you lift the wheels too soon (while you are still traveling up the ramp) you will drop them down right on the coping/lip and cause a “hang up.” Hang ups make you fall fast and fall hard so try to avoid lifting your front wheels to early.

Think of this trick in steps- Roll On, Lean Back, Lift Off. As always been your knees to land it. This one takes a few trys but it’s worth it, so don’t give up. Good Luck!

-Professional Skate Instructor

Mandy Esch

360SkateSchool.com

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