To do Frontside 180 Ollie, you need to Ollie for air while turning the board and fingers so they rotate 180 degrees in the same direction.
- Finger placement: Setup your fingers in an Ollie position, with your frontfinger between the middle and the bolts of the deck and with your backfinger in the center of the tail for a solid pop.
- Pop the tail: Apply pressure on the tail for a solid pop with a slight scoop to begin the Frontside rotation.
- Ollie while turning: Slide your front finger forward for an Ollie motion to let the board air while turning hand and wrist towards your chest to continue the frontside rotation.
- Complete the rotation: While the board is descending in the air, complete the 180 degree rotation by turning the rest of the way.
- Land and roll away: Press down gently on the board with both fingers for control while landing. If you did not complete the full 180 degree rotation, no worries – you can revert the rest of the way as you land.
To practice the rotation itself, it can be helpful to try and do the 180, but instead of focusing on a high Ollie, try just to focus on the pop of the Ollie and the rotation of fingers, hand and wrist. This way you can always add more height later on by focusing more on the Ollie itself before rotating. Before learning 180 Ollies, it is important to have learned a consistent Ollie – Click here to visit my guide on learning Ollies.
Common challenges when learning Frontside 180 Ollies
Under rotating
It can be difficult to get the full 180 degree rotation when learning Frontside 180 Ollies, sometimes you land with in a 90 degree “powerslide” position. You can let the wheels slide and revert the rest or add more scoop when popping the tail (step 2) which should help to a faster rotation.
Not catching air
If you struggle to catch air, try to focus more on the Ollie itself rather than the rotation by doing the rotation slower when popping the board and giving slightly more time to Ollie higher. It is important to have learned a solid Ollie before trying 180 Ollies.
The difference between Frontside and Backside 180 Ollies
Comparing this to skateboarding, the palm of your hand is considered your back, while the back of your hand is considered the front.
When rolling forward to Ollie, bringing the back of your hand in the direction you are rolling is considered a Frontside (fs) rotation.
While bringing the palm of your hand in the direction you are rolling is considered a Backside (bs) rotation.
When comparing the difficulty of Frontside and Backside 180 Ollies, the Frontside 180 is definitely the easiest learning to begin with. This is because the Backside 180 is slightly more technical, often requiring you to tuck your backfinger when landing the rotation.
After learning Frontside 180 Ollies
Ollie into slides
180 Ollies are essential when trying to learn slides on a fingerboard, where the 90 degree Ollie is needed to land in boardslides, noseslides and tailslides.
180 Ollie into grinds
You can also experiment with doing 180 Ollies into grinds, which is more advanced and very stylish!
Backside 180 Ollie
Another variation is Backside 180 Ollie which is rotating the opposite way instead of Frontside. To visit the full guide on Backside 180 Ollies press here.
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