Getting on a longboard: 5 first steps

Summer is not over yet, which means that you have every chance to learn something new. For example, join Quiksilver ‘s free training sessions in Gorky Park and learn longboarding. At the training sessions riders are divided into groups: beginners learn to stand on the board, and those who have been riding for a long time, pump up their skills, hone their style and master freestyle and downhill. For young longboarders there is a special group open from the age of five.

For those who will not be able to join the classes next Thursday, but really want to start riding today, we together with Olya Ugryumova, the coach of Quiksilver Go Longboard School, have compiled a list of five simple steps.

1. If you have decided to get on a board seriously and for a long time, and most importantly to start mastering longboarding on your own, you need a helmet. Any riding should begin with the fact that a person must pick up a helmet. And it will be useful to you both in summer and winter. All the protection put on you should sit so that during the movement it does not dangle.

The helmet is measured in the store so: put it on, shake your head from side to side – it should not wobble.

2. Let’s go to the selection of the board. Choose a board that you like more, which suits your height and weight. By height, by weight it can be selected as follows: put your front foot on the board, try to press the toe forward, and heel to push back. The board should squeeze freely under you. Otherwise, if it does not, it is not the right weight for you.

3. After you have picked up the board, you should go out on a flat area, without a slope, where you can try to stand correctly on the board and keep your balance. The correct stance looks like this: feet are shoulder-width apart. Knees are necessarily bent. Is it comfortable? If yes, then you can start training.

4. Next, try pushing off. To learn how to push off, keep your shoulders over your lead foot: leave only your lead foot on the board, turn your shoulders as you go, look forward as you go.

5. After that we move on to the push-off itself. Push off the back leg try to powerfully, from the hip. The movement itself looks like this: bring the back leg forward, bend the knee, bring it forward and starting from the heel make a powerful push-off. Then put your foot on the board and stand in your basic stance (return to the starting position).

Quiksilver Go Longboard classes are held at the Big Mass Field in Gorky Park (next to Mercato Cafe) every Thursday starting at 19:00. The landmark is the red Quiksilver bus. Pre-registration is required.

If you have already acquired a skill, but you can’t decide on a new board, read our material, prepared together with the Unique Longboards team from St. Petersburg, where we will tell you how to choose a board that suits you.