4. The pick up

OK, how do we pick up our board? We want to be able to pick up our skateboard like this, by popping the tail, and catching it in the air. Now, it takes a fair bit of practice to do this without hurting our fingers or looking a bit silly by missing it completely, so first we’re going to learn to a simpler method and work our way up to popping it up.

Using the foot which usually goes on the tail, so that’s right foot if you’re regular, and left if you’re goofy, you are going to step on the tail til it touches the floor, the nose comes up, with the hand on the same side as the foot you are using, you then take the nose of the board.

Once we’ve got this, we can start to pop the tail a little, so we don’t need to reach down quite so far. Eventually this will become a fluid movement, like so.

There, you’ve learnt to pick up your board.

To then carry your board, hold it horizontally under your arm, making sure the grip tape is facing away from your clothes. Don’t hold the trucks because you get greasy fingers.