Slingblade

freestyle freestyle difficulty 6/10
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roll 0° yaw 0° pitch 0° body 0°

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

A hard frontside 180 pivot that slides into a 360 shuvit, and the momentum shift between the two is what the trick is for. The 180 is not a gentle kickturn: the weight goes past the heel edge and the back wheels are pushed forward into what is effectively a two-wheeled powerslide, right on the edge of losing grip. That slide stops the board moving forward while the rider keeps going - and it is that mismatch, the sling, that throws the 360 shuvit and gives the trick its name. Its author is emphatic that it is NOT a "spacewalk 360 shuvit": a small 45 or 90 degree wiggle produces none of the sling, and a half-hearted version simply is not the trick. The tail must not drag. It lands rolling backwards. NOTE ON THE MODEL: the net movement - board 540, rider 180 - is exactly a frontside biggerspin, so that is what the grammar composes; `stepped` is what records that it arrives as a pivot and then a shuvit rather than as one airborne rotation. The source does not state which way the shuvit turns, so it is recorded as continuing the frontside direction of the pivot, and should be checked against footage.

Step by step

  1. Roll into it with the front foot at a loose 45 degrees over the front truck and the back foot behind the truck, not on the tip of the tail.
  2. Look over the front shoulder at the exit before anything moves - head and shoulders lead.
  3. Pull the front shoulder back and lean hard into the rotation, twisting the chest through a full 180 with no hesitation.
  4. Lift the front wheels, settle onto the heels, and push the back wheels forward into a two-wheeled powerslide to finish the 180.
  5. As the slide kills the board's forward motion, bring the nose back round before the board throws you off.
  6. Jump, throwing the board into a 360 shuvit, leaning slightly forward to keep the weight over it.
  7. Hover and let it come round; catch with the front foot, compress the knees, and roll away backwards in a straight line.

Body mechanics

Front footAt 45 degrees over the front truck; brings the nose round to throw the shuvit, and takes the catch - the back foot is usually still repositioning.
Back footBehind the truck rather than on the tail, because nothing is popped here; the heel drives the back wheels through the powerslide.
ShouldersThe engine. A full 180 of torso twist with the rider leaning into it - anything less and there is no sling.
ArmsSwing with the shoulders into the turn, then settle as the shuvit is thrown.
GazeOver the front shoulder from the very start, at where the trick is going.