Learning to skateboard

[dern]

I taught my daughter how to ride her bike with no stabilisers this weekend which we're both pretty happy about. Turns out the next thing she wants me to teach her is how to ride a skateboard. I've never done this so can anyone point me toward a fool proof guide to learning the basics of going forwards... cheers. I know that the answer is probably going to be just go and try it but as learning to ride a bike was a piece of piss for her once a mate had pointed out the teaching method and difficult and scary for us both when we didn't know the method so I wondered if there was one for skateboarding.

Cheers,

Mark

[alman]

Watch skate videos on youtube etc. and see how they do it. Then fall on your arse a billion times until you either give up or get good.

[dmitsi]

Buy some knee/shoulder/wrist pads and a helmet, then send her off at her own peril to imminent pain and twisted body parts. You'll be in more danger if you try to show her what to do. Leave her to it, she's young and will bounce back up, you won't.

[jmorgan]

I just got on with it and learnt not to fall off. Was also before all that malarky with pads so it also hurt a lot.

[Get Karter]

It's like slipping on ice.

Pad up!

[dern]

Chaps, at the risk of not getting any more replies I could have worked out the 'just send her out there' method myself but from the experience of teaching her to ride a bike some methods work better and are less painful than others. So, any tips from people who have taught young children skateboarding?

Thanks,

Mark

PS. We have pads and a lid.

Edited by dern on Monday 20th October 13:43

[Mc Lovin]

I used to longboard, always hated short boards with a passion, hard to use and take decades of practice to master.

Either way, you will hurt yourself, badly, i would suggest something else.

If you really have to do it, spend some money and buy a long board, that way you stand more of a chance and you wont hurt yourself as much, although if you try showing off it could get messy.

As an example, when i last boarded when i was 17, i came carving down a massive hill, full on sideways slides ect, giving it beans, a car slowed down up ahead so i tried to slide to a stop as normal, my foot slipped, i flew a good 7-8 foot down the road, i just missed smashing my head on the rear bumper of the car, knocked myself out, grated off the skin on the inside of my elbow, just above my hip and my knee, my belt buckle had the logo ground out of it so god knows what'd of happend to my skin on my stomach!

I came in bleeding and pretty fuzzy and fired up a spliff, before my mum came in and insisted i go to hospital

My tips are,

get a long board

let her get used to it, then try some tricks, and then move onto a short board

Edited by Mc Lovin on Monday 20th October 13:52

[Davi]

dern said:

Chaps, at the risk of not getting any more replies I could have worked out the 'just send her out there' method myself but from the experience of teaching her to ride a bike some methods work better and are less painful than others. So, any tips from people who have taught young children skateboarding?

Thanks,

Mark

Yeah, get her fully padded up, just get her to stand on the board and wheel her around on it on a flat surface to start with, just like you probably did on your bike training. You pushing while she leans to steer, works out how best to stand on the board etc. The thing she has to learn is how to balance and other than falling off there isn't really an easy way to teach this! very gentle smooth slopes after that again with you providing a leaning post - make sure there is no debris on it to catch a wheel.

[ihatesissycars]

There isn't a quick, easy fool proof method of teaching someone to skateboard.

Either you're a natural meaning she'll get on fine and you'll have to do now't or you're someone with some skills and can learn yourself to a reasonable level or you're crap and will get mashed.

Like the others have said give her the board, pad her up and send her off on her way. The most you can do is maybe show her some vids (as already suggested) other, encouragement or maybe run alongside and catch her when she falls.

ETA, elbow + knee pads and helmets are obvious but with gloves see if you can get some that cover the wrist bones as I've taken lots of skin of those in the past,

Edited by ihatesissycars on Monday 20th October 13:51

[Wado-Ryu]

I can skateboard, but i can only do an ollie (jump) It took me a good few month's before i could even skate around!

If you are gonna buy a skateboard, try and buy it in bit's and build it urself.

Don't go and buy an allready made one from ToysRus ( they are st )

HTH

[dmitsi]

dern said:

Chaps, at the risk of not getting any more replies I could have worked out the 'just send her out there' method myself but from the experience of teaching her to ride a bike some methods work better and are less painful than others. So, any tips from people who have taught young children skateboarding?

Thanks,

Mark

PS. We have pads and a lid.

Edited by dern on Monday 20th October 13:43

OK, you need to figure out which foot she should lead with. So get her to stand with both legs right next to each other and push her so she has to take a step forward to stop falling. Whichever foot she puts out to stabilise should be the one at the front of the skateboard, the other on will be her pushing leg.

Make sure she keeps her board leg in the centre of the board (slightly to the front, just behind the front trucks) and slowly get her confident in using the other foot to push foward without upsetting her balance. Once she's happy with the balance she'll keep getting faster and better. It's about building the confidence to believe you won't fall, then you can get used to moving your feet around on the board. So eventually she'll be able to take a few pushes with her leg then put that foot on the board too, just over the rear trucks.

[raceboy]

Well trying to be slightly helpfull.
If you give most kids a skateboard for the 1st time chances are they will either sit or kneal on it, this is usually a good starting point to get used to the movement and cornering technique. Either push them on it or better to get them to push with one leg, you can also use this to gauge whether the rider will be regular or goofy (the way you stand on the board with either your right (reg) or left (goofy) foot forward )
Then the progression is to standing up and to be honest the 'just get on with it' method isn't bad, failing that you'll be running along side holding the kid in case they fall, they will fall and they will hit the ground hard, luckily kids bounce as I'm finding out teaching a 6 year old how to ride the local skatepark on his BMX.

[El Capitano]

dern said:

Chaps, at the risk of not getting any more replies I could have worked out the 'just send her out there' method myself but from the experience of teaching her to ride a bike some methods work better and are less painful than others. So, any tips from people who have taught young children skateboarding?

Thanks,

Mark

PS. We have pads and a lid.

Edited by dern on Monday 20th October 13:43

got to find out how she skates first.. weather its 'regular' stance of 'goofy' (ie backwards) .. if she is right handed then the chances are she will skate in the 'regular' stance. In this case, put the board facing forward and get her to stand on it left foot at the front and right foot at the back.. when 'cruising' (not pushing) her feet should be on the 4 bolts of the trucks.. so left foot on front 4 bolts, right foot on rear 4. Also her toes should be pointing out to the right hand side of the board.
When she is pushing, front (left foot) stays on front 4 bolts pointing outwards again, and the right foot should be pushing.

Probably best way to get her balance is if she stands on the board and you gently push her around for a while.

Edited by El Capitano on Monday 20th October 13:54

[Mc Lovin]

plonk her on the board, give her a push, and see what happens, thats pretty much what its all about really

[sassthathoopie]

I skateboarded loads as a kid 11-15. Got back into it 19-21. A skateboard session always results in an injury, it is just a case of how serious. Usually just skinned hands, bruised shin etc. The bigger you are the harder you fall. Trying to learn to skateboard as an adult without having done it as a kid strikes me as an extremely painful process possibly resulting in time away from work - be careful!

As for her get her sitting/kneeling to start, then scooting as described. Either she'll love it and get into it or it will end up unused in the shed. Does she have friends with skateboards - this would be the best bet.

[dern]

Davi said:

Yeah, get her fully padded up, just get her to stand on the board and wheel her around on it on a flat surface to start with, just like you probably did on your bike training.

For bikes that's pretty much the painful method . The method we found got her going very quickly was whipping the pedals off an getting her to scoot round using her feet on the floor... that way she learned the steering and how it affects balance without worrying about the pedals. Adding the pedals when she had that down took 5 mins.

Thanks for the advice though... we'll get stuck in

Mark

[dern]

sassthathoopie said:

Does she have friends with skateboards - this would be the best bet.

No. I suspect the incentive behind wanting to learn is that she was the last to learn to ride in her class and wants to be the first to learn to skateboard

[bodhi]

Best way is to get her a Vew-Do board first. They're balance boards, like skateboards but with rockers on the bottom instead of wheels. They are aweseom balance trainers and work wonders for skateboarding and snowboarding. You can also do plenty of tricks on them - in fact you may find she doesn't want a skateboard and will stick with the Vew-Do board instead. I've got one here, normally spend half an hour on it a day just rocking from side to side, building stranght in my legs and working on my balance for the next time I go snowboarding. Falling on carpet is also a lot less painful than tarmac.

http://www.vew-do.co.uk/acatalog/Sports_Boards.htm...

They aren't cheap (mine was 80 bucks), but they'll last forever and are totally worth it.

[dern]

bodhi said:

Best way is to get her a Vew-Do board first. They're balance boards, like skateboards but with rockers on the bottom instead of wheels. They are aweseom balance trainers and work wonders for skateboarding and snowboarding. You can also do plenty of tricks on them - in fact you may find she doesn't want a skateboard and will stick with the Vew-Do board instead. I've got one here, normally spend half an hour on it a day just rocking from side to side, building stranght in my legs and working on my balance for the next time I go snowboarding. Falling on carpet is also a lot less painful than tarmac.

http://www.vew-do.co.uk/acatalog/Sports_Boards.htm...

They aren't cheap (mine was 80 bucks), but they'll last forever and are totally worth it.

They look like a very cool idea. Could I not just achieve the same thing with a plank of wood though just to get her going? The risk that any parent faces is that you spend a small fortune and they decide within the first ten minutes that it isn't for them

[shadowninja]

dmitsi said:

Buy some knee/shoulder/wrist pads and a helmet, then send her off at her own peril to imminent pain and twisted body parts. You'll be in more danger if you try to show her what to do. Leave her to it, she's young and will bounce back up, you won't.

Yes, I was going to post similar.

If you don't mind leaping up in the air and landing on concrete on your elbow 50 times in a row, then you are going to have a lot of fun learning to skate. OTOH, if you dislike pain, you might want to try something else.