I'm been skateboarding for about 6 weeks now and I've decided it is time to pick up some few tricks... So I started with the ollie... I don't know if this newsgroup has an ollie faq or something... but this is the way I do and I did several ollies but I couldn't land any of them Right now I am practicing a standing ollie placing the rear wheels of my skateboard in a crack on the sidewalk and... 1.  Assume the proper stance, front foot in the middle of the board, my back foot has the ball of its feet on the tail 2.  My rear foot pushes down on the tail of the board and at the same time my front foot raises (actually grazes, there is a hole in my tennis shoe, anyone know how to prevent that, or can recommend some good, durable, long-lasting skateboard shoes?) 3.  Then I land the board with both of my feet over the trucks (hopefully) This is kind of working for me, does anyone have any tips or modifications to my steps? The biggest problem I am having is that I have a hard time getting the rear wheels of the board up off the ground, I can see getting the rear wheels of the ground is my lack of timing when I kick the tail down and I graze my front foot up the board... And one more thing, does anyone out there skateboard in Phoenix, Arizona? Maybe help me out with some actual visuals or something?  I'm in the Arcadia neighborhood, and sometimes (hopefully a lot more) around ASU on an entirely blue skateboard, if you see a blue board its most likely me. Daniel Silverman

You sound like you know what to do.. The biggest thing is practice. Once you practice, you'll eventually get it, and than take it to motion. Also, in terms of long-lasting skate shoes, try a pair of Saviers.

This is kind of working for me, does anyone have any tips or modifications to my steps? There are a lot of details you have to get right before you can do the perfect ollie. I find that the hardest thing to do is to pull up my legs high enough. So, when I don't pull up my right leg high enough (I'm goofy, right foot forward), the deck tends to move too much forwards. And when I don't pull up my back leg quick enough, the ollie looks more like a quick manual . I find that if I do some 'dry' jumps (simply jump into the air without the deck) and focus on pulling up my legs before going out to practice ollies, my ollies come out much better. But maybe that's because I'm 35 and tend to be a bit stiff in the legs and shoulders when I wake up. I really have to do a warming up these days, guess it won't get any better . PeterV

How I learnt the ollie basics was standing infront of my parents freezer which is about 1m high, and I'd ollie and push up with my hands in order that I got more hang time in which time I could practice the ideal timings of when to slide (graze) and when to peak/level off. This was the best thing about my method of learning to ollie. The worst thing I did was to not be particularly keen on the *moving* ollie, and thus it took me a ridiculous amount of time to learn the ollie moving. Thus when I learnt the heelphlip I instantly moved on to _moving_ heelphlips making my learning process infinitely faster. The lesson: progress to ollying moving very soon otherwise it'll be much longer until you learn it properly.

Hey, do you have a certain model of Saviers in mind? it really depends on how much money you want to spend. want you should understand is that every shoe, no matter how tough, durable or stylish it is, will eventually rip up until you can no longer wear them. Brian Anderson 1's and 2's, Sherman's etc. Check out their website, Savier.com and see what you like - they break each shoe down in terms of its cushioning / durability selling points.