Guide // Progression
Skate tricks build on each other. Each one borrows the pop, balance, or rotation you learned from an earlier trick, so the order you learn them in matters more than how hard you grind. Learning in sequence keeps progress steady and prevents the plateaus that come from skipping fundamentals.
Everything else is built on balance, pop, and board control. The ollie is the single most important trick you will ever learn, because almost every flip and grind starts with one. Manuals teach you to find and hold your balance point over the wheels, and rolling switch-of-direction control (fakie and nollie) doubles your vocabulary before you have learned a second trick. Do not rush past this stage: a clean, high, controlled ollie makes the next two years of skating easier.
Once your ollie is consistent, you start making the board rotate under your feet. The pop shove-it teaches back-foot scoop without the flip, so it is the gentlest introduction to a spinning board. The kickflip and heelflip then add the flick that defines street skating. The prerequisite here is non-negotiable: you need a reliable ollie first, because a flip is just an ollie with a flick added at the peak.
Spinning your body and board together unlocks ledges, banks, and transition. Frontside and backside 180s teach you to commit to rotation and spot your landing, which is the same skill every spin trick relies on. The cab (a fakie 360) and the frontside shove-it round out your directional control. Learn 180s in both directions early, before bad habits set in, so you are not stuck only spinning one way for the rest of your skating.
Obstacles are where street skating opens up. Start on a low ledge or rail: the 50-50 and 5-0 grind teach you to lock your trucks on and ride the edge, while boardslides and noseslides teach the same commitment with the board crossing the obstacle. Nosegrind and crooked grind are precision balance tricks, so save them until your basic grinds are solid. The real prerequisite for this stage is a clean ollie up onto and off of an obstacle without looking down.
These tricks combine the flip and the spin into one motion, which is why they sit at the end of the path. Varial flips marry a shove-it with a kickflip or heelflip and are the natural bridge to the harder stuff. The tre flip (360 flip) is the milestone most skaters chase for months. Hardflips and laser flips demand precise foot timing and full confidence in your kickflip and heelflip mechanics, so do not attempt them until those are second nature.
Learn in stages: foundations first (ollie, manual, fakie and nollie), then first flips (pop shove-it, kickflip, heelflip), then rotations (frontside and backside 180s), then grinds and slides, and finally advanced flips like the tre flip. Each stage borrows pop, balance, or rotation from the one before it.
Start with the ollie. It is the foundation almost every other trick builds on, since most flips and grinds begin with one. A clean, controlled ollie makes everything that follows easier.
Most skaters spend a few weeks to a couple of months getting a consistent ollie, then several more weeks on their first kickflip. Progress depends on how often you skate, but daily practice in short sessions beats occasional long ones.
The order is a guide, not a strict rule, but the prerequisites are real: a flip is an ollie with a flick added, so you do need a reliable ollie before a kickflip. Skipping fundamentals usually causes plateaus, so following the progression keeps you improving steadily.
Browse the full library to see every trick with step-by-step breakdowns, or open the skill tree to see how each trick unlocks the next.