How To Heelflip Like A PRO w/ Cairo Foster! | Santa Cruz Skateboards

What this video teaches

Cairo Foster (Santa Cruz) explains that beginners instinctively kick the board sideways, but the upgrade is extending the front foot fully toward the nose just like a kickflip, which levels the board out and gives it lift. He uses a duck-footed front stance so the foot naturally goes forward rather than sideways, and keeps the back foot in the heel-side pocket with the ball of the foot on the board rather than hanging off.

Key tips

• 1Extend the front foot fully toward the nose rather than kicking it sideways off the rail, the nose extension is what gives the board lift and levels it out
• 2Use a slightly duck-footed front foot angle so the foot naturally shoots forward toward the nose instead of drifting sideways
• 3Back foot goes in the heel-side pocket with the ball of the foot on the board, not hanging off
• 4Front foot toes should hang off (gorilla grip), positioned an inch or so behind the front bolts so the ollie portion completes before the flip motion begins
• 5Think of the motion as kicking straight out in front of you, which keeps the board under your body instead of shooting behind you
• 6A forward kick keeps the board centered under you during the flip, the most common beginner mistake is rolling the board backward
• 7Commitment and body confidence over the board during the flip are the final unlock, the mechanics come before that mentally
• 8The front foot does active work on a heelflip: it is not passive like some tricks where the back foot does everything

Summarized from the video transcript.