1. back foot on the tail, ball of your foot right on the end. front foot in the middle of the board, kinda behind the front bolts.
2. crouch down. like really crouch.
3. SLAM the tail down with your back foot and jump up at the same time. the board pops up.
4. as it pops, drag the side of your front foot UP the board toward the nose. this is the part everybody messes up. its like your front foot is wiping something off the grip tape. this is what levels the board out.
5. pull your knees up. let the board come up to you.
6. land with both feet over the bolts. bend your knees.

1. same as an ollie but your front foot is a little further back and angled, with your heel hanging off the side a little.
2. pop the tail like an ollie.
3. when you slide your front foot up, instead of going straight up the board you flick it off the corner of the nose, off the side, with your toes. like you're kicking sideways off the edge. the board spins.
4. THIS IS THE HARD PART: you have to keep your feet up and let the board do a full flip under you, then catch it with your back foot when the grip tape comes back around.
5. land bolts, knees bent.

1. roll toward the ledge at kind of an angle, not straight at it, not parallel either. like 20 degrees.
2. ollie high enough to get both trucks up on the ledge.
3. land with both trucks on the edge. keep your weight in the middle, straight over the board. if you lean back you slip out. if you lean forward you go over the front.
4. grind! keep your knees bent.
5. at the end, either just roll off if the ledge ends, or lean on your tail a little and pop off.

• deck: 7.75 inches wide, medium concave, from the skate shop in the city (an hour away, we go like once every 2 months). the graphic is already gone from the bottom cause of the loading dock. it's on its 3rd month which is good for me. i've broke 2 this year.
• trucks: regular size, kinda loose. i like them loose. my friend Danny likes them so tight he can barely turn. we argue about this a lot.
• wheels: 52mm, hard ones (like 99a). small hard wheels are better for street and for flip tricks cause they're lighter. big soft wheels are for cruising. i had big soft wheels when i started and it was fine but you can't really do tricks on them.
• bearings: whatever's cheap. everyone says get the expensive ones. i cant afford the expensive ones. i clean mine with a rag and put a little oil on them which is more than most people do.
• grip tape: black. i cut a lightning bolt out of the middle with a razor blade. it looks sick. it also means theres a spot in the middle with no grip which is probably why my kickflips took so long. dont do this.
• shoes: destroyed. theres a hole in the side of the right one from the kickflip flick and i put shoe goo on it 3 times. birthday's in november.

THE BANK PARKING LOT. after the bank closes at 5 the parking lot is empty and it's the smoothest asphalt in town. theres a little 2 stair by the drive-thru, a long painted curb (waxed. by us. you're welcome) and a handicap ramp we use as a little bank ramp. we skate here until the cops come, which is usually like 45 minutes. the cops are actually pretty cool about it, they just say "alright guys" and we leave and come back the next day. one of them told us he skated in the 80s. we dont skate here in the morning or during bank hours, we're not stupid, theres cars.

THE LOADING DOCK. behind the old grocery store thats closed now. concrete loading dock with a metal edge which is THE best grind spot in town. theres also a 4 foot drop off the end that Danny ollied off once and landed and i have not tried yet. its kinda gross back there (dumpsters) but nobody bothers us. we cleaned it up one time and picked up all the glass. the ground is kind of rough so you need to pump hard to get speed.

THE SCHOOL. saturdays only. the front steps are a 5 stair with a good landing but you have to go pretty fast. theres a flat rail by the gym that none of us can do yet. the janitor doesnt care as long as we stay off the new gym floor which duh.

MY DRIVEWAY. where i learned everything. flat. my dad built me a little launch ramp out of plywood which is sketchy but it works. we also have a piece of PVC pipe on 2 bricks as a "rail" which is really more of a "trip hazard."

me and Danny and Marcus and Jess (yeah a girl skates with us, she's better than Marcus, sorry Marcus) got sick of getting kicked out of everywhere so in august we started a petition for the city to build a skate park. we typed it up on my computer. it says basically: there's like 40 kids in town who skate, we have nowhere to go, we get kicked out of the parking lot and the school, a skate park would keep kids out of trouble and off the street (literally), and lots of towns smaller than ours have one now.

we went door to door and stood outside the grocery store for 3 saturdays and we got 212 SIGNATURES. a lot of them were parents. a lot of them were old people who said "well at least you'd be off the sidewalk." we'll take it.

THEN we went to the city council meeting on september 14, 1999. the 4 of us plus my mom and Danny's dad. we had to sign up to speak in the "public comment" part. i was so nervous i almost threw up. i read the petition and said what i said above and Jess talked about how she skates instead of doing other stuff after school and Marcus held up the signatures. we all wore collared shirts. Danny's dad talked about how the park could go in that empty lot by the ball fields and how the concrete wouldn't cost that much if the city did it with the road crew.

what happened: the council said they would "look into it" and "refer it to the parks committee." one lady on the council said it was "very impressive that young people were getting involved" which, ok, thanks, but we want the park. one guy asked about "liability" like 5 times. Danny's dad said other towns handle it fine. so its not a yes but its not a no. the parks committee meets in october and we're going to be there.

WHAT YOU CAN DO: if you live in our town, and you know who you are, e-mail me and i'll tell you where the petition is (it's at Danny's house). if you're a parent, come to the parks committee meeting, they listen to parents more than kids, thats just how it is. if you're a skater in some other town who got a park built, E-MAIL ME AND TELL ME HOW. seriously. what did you say, who did you talk to, how long did it take. i'll put it on here.

what i like: the old ones where they skate real street spots, not just contests. the parts where a guy tries the same trick like 30 times and you see all the bails before he lands it, cause that's what it's actually like. the ones with good music. the ones where you can tell they're just friends messing around.

what i dont like: when it's all slow motion. when it's all vert (we dont have vert). when the whole video is like 20 minutes and 10 minutes is the intro.

so: helmet. at least for the drop and the stairs and anything you're learning. wrist guards too if you're just starting cause you'll fall on your hands like 500 times. yeah it looks dorky. you know what looks dorkier? a helmet you have to wear because of the first time you didn't. if the city builds the park, helmets are probably going to be a rule anyway, so get used to it.