Switch riding is unique compared to your normal ollie or grind, but one of the most important parts of learning switch is having the proper positioning.
No matter what trick it is that you are trying to learn in switch stance, you need to have the proper positioning to be able to get the desired results. The proper positioning is with your front foot high, near where your toes will end up when you slide into a nose or tail, and most importantly the back foot in the back of your trucks.
SWITCH TO FOOT GRAB TO SIDE WALKING OLLIE
When you’re in a switch stance, it’s essential to be parallel with your board. The reason that we want to do this is so that we can transfer our weight easily from one side to the other and get a good pop when we ollie off of one rail.
If we were in a normal stance (goofy or regular) then when we transfer our weight from one side to the other, we would find that it is much harder. This is because when you’re goofy, your front foot is on the tail of the board and your back foot is on the nose with the toes hanging off. This means that when you jump from one side to the other, you tend catching your toe edge in the transition which makes it hard to move around. With goofy, your weight is distributed evenly from front to back so transferring from one side to another is much harder. It’s the same story with regular, just switch the positions of your feet and you get the idea.
One of the easiest tricks that you can do in switch stance is the sidewalk, also known as the foot grab. When you transfer your weight from one edge to another, you must have your front foot high in the air. This allows you to catch more of your toe edge into the transition when you go from one rail to the other, giving you much better pop.
Conclusion:
When I do a sidewalk I find that it’s best to concentrate on having most of my weight on my front foot. This way, I am using my front foot to push down more than my back foot which puts me in a position where I can catch more of my toe edge into the transition. Another trick that will help you with getting used to switching sidewalks is doing them without your bindings on. It’s easier to transfer your weight from one side to the other when your bindings are off because you don’t have them pushing down on you.
So keep these things in mind when learning to switch sidewalks and remember that they can be done on both sides equally well so there’s no need to favor one side over the other. If this trick is just too hard for you right now, I’d recommend staying away from doing the switch for a little while until you get comfortable with these things.
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