Quote:
Originally Posted by babyluau
...I thought majority of the ollie height comes from jumping, and the back foot pops the board to follow....although I do remember a difference when I switched from larger softer heavier wheels to smaller harder lighter wheels...
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There's an easy way to tell what's limiting your ollie (jump vs. technique):
If you can jump higher than you can ollie, then it isn't your jump that needs work, it's your technique.
If your jump needs work, I'm sure whatever those links posted above will help.
If your technique needs work, try to break it down:
Three parts: Jump, Pop, Level.
Jump-
I teach little kids to ollie, and I tell them to start by standing in an ollie stance, and jumping in the air - off their boards - and then landing back on their boards. But the key is, you have to learn to jump high from this position
without causing your front wheels to come off the ground. The reason is - it biases your jump in exactly the same way you jump when you ollie - more front leg than rear (the rear has to control the flick of the tail
). So practice that, silly as it might seem.
Pop-
I then tell them to stand on the ground and put their foot on the tip of the tail, touching the grip tape, where it would be when ollieing. Without lifting off the grip tape, I have them quickly flick the tail down at the ground to pop the board off the ground (and catch it in your hands, off the ground). As you already know, your foot, the tail, and the ground
can't all come into contact at the same time, or you
stop the bounce from happening. In your case, you might just practice the flick, getting a snappier and snappier pop.
Level-
With the little ones, I don't usually get this far -
but this is the real trick as far as ollie height goes.
You've probably noticed, when you ollie, you can almost always get your front wheels over whatever it is you want to ollie, but you hang up on the back end. If that's the case, all you are screwing up is the level.
What you need to do is jump up in the air as high as you can, really suck your knees into your chest (it can help practicing by standing on the ground and lowering your body so you are in that "tuck" position), and as you do, not only sucking your back leg up, but sliding your front foot up the grip tape and pushing it forward slightly, even down as it clears the object you are ollieing. Both of those things will bring your back end up. That's usually where the height is missing.
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Equipment helps too, as you noticed - simple physics - you only have so much "pop" in a deck, and it'll spring higher if it has lighter parts on it. Lightweight trucks and hollow-core wheels really do help (I highly suggest the flatspot-proof, air-core Darkstar Light Knights - never had a ligher, better performing, more durable wheel - unbelievable).
And when you practice practice practice, you can clear the world record flat-ground ollie height of 44.5"...