Tips for beginner skateboarders: 3 things you haven’t considered

If you’re looking for tips for beginner skateboarders, there are tons of great videos on Youtube as well as many creators on social media with specific trick tips. But as an experienced skateboarder, I wanted to share three tips that I believe are important, but you probably won’t hear elsewhere.

Beginner skateboarding tip #1: Don’t go to skateparks

Skateparks are generally not designed for beginners. The obstacles can be intimidating and will build up speed quickly. Depending on the park, skateparks often feel busy and intimidating for beginners.

I wouldn’t start making trips to the skatepark until I reached an intermediate level. Meaning, you could at least 50-50 a decent sized ledge and have solid ollies.

All you need to start learning the basics is flat ground. Most experienced skaters started learning in their driveway or street.

Got a curb outside your home? Great, thats the only obstacle you’ll need for a while. Once you got nose slides and 50-50s on a curb you can start thinking of bigger obstacles.

Beginner skateboarding tip #2: Skateboard everywhere you go

I’ve seen this way too much with adult beginners. They only skate at skateparks. They’ll drive over to the skatepark, have their session and then pack up and drive home.

In order to learn to skateboard, you need to get comfortable on your skateboard. The best way to get comfortable on your skateboard is to ride it everywhere.

Grabbing lunch? Skate there. Running an errand? Skate there. Going to work or school? Skate there.

And don’t get a longboard or cruiser set up with huge wheels. Use your regular skate set up for tricks.

Comfort on your board comes from adapting to all the little bumps, pebbles and imperfections while riding in the streets, not from cruising smooth concrete. You will gain way more board control from skating back and forth through the city than spending hours in the skatepark.

Beginner skateboarding tip #3: Don’t take lessons

Don’t get me wrong. If you take lessons you will probably progress quicker. But the fact is, if you are motivated you definitely don’t need lessons.

Another serious thing to consider is that skate coaches often focus on transition first (skating small half pipes or quarter pipes). Learning basic tricks on transition doesn’t require the board control needed for ollies and flat ground tricks, so they believe you will progress quicker, which in turn will motivate you.

But I think that misses the point and it makes you dependant on skateparks and ramps for your progression. Street skaters have no limits on their progression, any paved area is prime for skating.

So I suggest the following:

Start by skating everywhere you go, so you quickly get comfortable on your board.

Then search Youtube for tips on any basic trick you want to learn. It’s not going to be easy to learn tricks, but the general tips will get you started.

Anytime you get even a tiny bit of motivation, head outside and practice your basic tricks. Keep riding your board everywhere you go.

Once you progress and feel comfortable on your board, its time for a new challenge. Find new spots and start heading to some local skateparks. The friends you make along the way will fill in the gaps of skate knowledge to take you to the next skill level.

Bonus tip: Which tricks to start with

My tips for beginner skateboarders is to first learn manuals, riding on the back or front two wheels.

Then I recommend learning flat ground tricks starting with ollies, then pop shuvits and kickflips.

And if you got a curb nearby, wax it up and start with backside nose slides and front side 50-50s. You don’t even need to know how to ollie to backside nose slide a curb.

Bonus tip: Don’t waste money on pro boards or cool graphics

First, a warning. Never buy a skateboard from Walmart, Canadian Tire, Decathlon, Amazon or any other big retailer. You’re gonna get a great price, but a terrible product that will limit your progression and break quickly.

But here’s a little secret the big board companies don’t want you to know. Most good quality skateboard decks come from only a handful of factories in North America.

And yes, cool graphics are impressive, but they get scratched off quickly, and essentially double the price of your skateboard deck.

If you can find a trusted source for high quality blank decks, then you can get the best quality decks at the lowest price.

And lucky for you, you just stumbled across the best source for blank decks online: Canada Skate Shop.

All our decks are 7-ply, 100% Canadian hardwood maple, manufactured in North America’s best woodshops.

Our shapes have been developed and tested by experienced skaters.

We have a great selection of shapes to choose from, but for beginners we recommend our OG shape blank decks. Available in sizes 7.75 through 9.0, grip tape included for only $59 CAD.