Skateboarding is not only extremely fun; it is self-fulfilling when you land a trick for the first time. Skateboarding is comprised of many elements of math and physics. Many skateboarders do not know this; neither did I until I researched several articles on this topic.
One thing I did know about skateboarding is that foot placement is key in doing certain tricks. For example, the pressure flip, which results in the board flipping in many different ways, depends on how hard you push your foot down on the skateboard and where it is placed when you apply the pressure.
Forces applied to one’s skateboard when performing tricks is crucial when one is skateboarding. There are three main forces acting upon a skateboarder when they perform such trick:
the weight of the skater
the force of gravity
the force of the ground pushing up on the skateboard and the skateboarder’s body.
In order to keep one’s balance, the skateboarder must keep a low center of gravity and crouch toward the skateboard. Without doing so, the skateboarder is more susceptible to falling and injuring him or herself. “Pumping” is a form of getting speed while a skateboarder is moving over a hump in the ground. The skateboarder changes the amount of pressure applied on his/her skateboard which makes the skateboarder go faster.
In order to become “consistent,” one must practice. When a skateboarder practices he/she is figuring out the right formula for that specific trick Some tricks, like the “Kickflip,” take people years to completely master. Other tricks such as the “Nollie Pressue Varial Heelflip” can take as little as two days. A skateboarder just manipulates forces in such a way to get his/her skateboard to move in a way the skateboarder wants it to.
In order to become successful at skateboarding, such as some of my friends, one must never give up: persevere and practice. One of my friends has a brother who is well known in the skate community. I convinced my friend, Graysen Jobst, to pick up skateboarding like his brother, Jack. Now we practice together and he is landing “Kickflips” and “three stairs”!
Skateboarding Key Terms
Kickflip: a skateboarding trick in which the skateboarder jumps off of his/her board and while in the air the skateboarders board does a horizontal flip in mid-air and the skateboarder, after the board rotates lands on the board.
Heelflip: the same thing as a kickflip just the board rotates the opposite way (away from the heel).
Nollie: A trick in which the board of the skateboarder is sent into the air by slamming on the nose of your board and leveling the skateboard out with your back foot
Pressure Varial Heelflip: A trick in which one applies pressure to ones board; sending it into the air making the board rotate 180 degrees along with a heelflip.
Mateo Valencia, Thomas Pyle Middle School, used his knowledge of skateboarding as background information for his first published article.
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