Kickturn

also known as: Pivot · Tic-Tac · Pivot Spin · Backside Kickturn · BS Kickturn

spin flatgroundparkvert difficulty 1/10
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roll 0° yaw 0° pitch 0° body 0°
surface

Shown for a regular-footed rider. Teal ring + arrow = the rider's facing direction; teal band = the tail; a dot is where a hand holds the board - bright yellow for the front hand, amber for the back one, which is the whole difference between a mute and an indy. Board and rider rotate independently - each follows its own component. Drag to orbit.

How it works

The rider shifts weight onto the tail to unweight the front truck, then pivots board and body around the vertical axis on the rear wheels, setting the nose back down on a new heading. Unqualified, a kickturn is the backside one: the rider's back turns toward where they came from and the toes and chest stay over the board the whole way, so the balance corrections are natural rather than blind - which is why it is the first way most skaters learn to change direction. Chained small alternating kickturns (tic-tacs) generate forward propulsion by pumping the turns. On a transition it is the same movement and the whole basis of riding a ramp: carve up the face, pivot partway up as the speed runs out - not at the coping, which would make it a stall - and come back down having turned.

Step by step

  1. Roll at a comfortable speed, feet over the trucks, knees soft.
  2. Weight the tail just enough to lift the front wheels - a pivot, not a manual.
  3. Let your back turn toward where you came from and the nose sweep around after it.
  4. On a ramp, do this partway up the face as your speed runs out, before you reach the coping.
  5. Set the front wheels back down on the new heading.
  6. Ride away - or, on a ramp, straight back down the transition you came up.

Body mechanics

Front footRests over the front bolts, rising with the nose and steering it laterally.
Back footOn the tail, controlling how high the nose lifts - the fulcrum of the pivot.
ShouldersInitiate and lead every degree of the turn; the board follows the torso.
ArmsSwing in the turn direction to add rotational momentum.
GazeToward where the nose is heading.