What's up this is Tim with tactics Boardshop.
Today I'm going to explain the differences between the four stances in skateboarding.
Your "Natural" stance, Nollie, Switch, and Fakie.
The most important thing to remember with stances,
is that they are relative to each skaters instinctual footing.
Regular footed is when somebody's primary footing is left foot in front and right foot in the back to push.
Goofy footed is when someone's primary footing is the opposite,
with their right foot forward and their left foot in the back.
If you don't know if your regular or goofy footed,
check out our "How to Skate - Basics" video for a tutorial on how to figureout your footing.
For the sake of this video I'm going to use the term "Natural Stance"
to refer to your most used in most comfortable stance whether your regular or goofy footed.
Any trick that is done with your native footing will be in your "Natural Stance".
For example, I'm Regular Footed,
so if I do an ollie where I'm leading with my left foot and my right foot is on the tail,
that would be a Natural Stance Ollie
And if a Goofy person did an ollie, leading with their right foot and their left foot on the tail,
that would still be a Natural Stance ollie because the stance is relative to their instinctive footing.
You can leave off the stance for any trick in your natural stance because it's implied,
unless you specify with a different stance first.
So if you just say kickflip, skaters will know that it's just a kickflip with their natural footing.
Nollie stance is when you're riding with your primary foot forward,
but your feet are shifted to the front of the board with your front foot on the nose.
The word Nollie is literally short for "Nose-Ollie."
Riding Nollie should feel comfortable
because your feet and body are still facing the same direction as your natural stance.
Switch stance is when you ride opposite of your native footing.
It's similar to writing with your opposite hand or kicking a ball with your non-dominant foot.
For example since I'm Regular Footed when I skate leading and pushing with the opposite feet,
(my right foot forward and my left foot in the back)
I'm riding Switch.
It wouldn't be called riding Goofy because it's relative to my Regular-Footing.
So if a Goofy skater rode opposite of their natural footing, it would also be called Switch.
Fakie stance is when your riding switch and your feet are shifted to the front kick.
It's kind of like Natural stance in reverse.
You could also think of Fakie as the Nollie of Switch.
For tricks that are in stances other than Natural,
you need to add the stance of the trick before the trick name.
For example the kick flips in all four stances would be:
(Natural) Kickflip
Nollie Kickflip
Switch Kickflip
Fakie Kickflip
This applies to every trick in a stance other than your Natural Stance.
In order to properly identify the stance of a trick, you need to know that specific skaters footing.
The untrained eye often can't see the difference between the stances.
But there are some clues that indicate the stance of a trick especially for Switch and Fakie.
Many times skaters who are doing Switch or Fakie tricks have their shoulders lightly closed off of the backwards,
and it doesn't look quite as innate as your Natural or Nollie stances.
In this clip, look at his shoulders while he's rolling up.
He's kind of closed-off and angled backwards.
This is an indication that he's rolling up in Switch Stance.
Now that you can tell it's Switch, you can discern his regular footed.
and now you'll be able to identify the stances of all the tricks that he does from now on.
Some skaters are so good in every stance that it's hard to tell what footing they are
because all of their tricks looks so natural.
And not being able to figure out someone's footing makes it hard to know what stance a trick was.
If you're playing skate with someone be sure to figure out what footing they are first,
so you can know which stances they're doing or tricks in.
If they did a trick and you're not sure which stance it was
don't be afraid to ask what stance it was because generally skaters are pretty understanding.
"Was that Fakie?"
"Nah, that was Nollie."
It takes a lot of practice to be able to immediately identify the stance of a trick.
But after doing and watching a lot of skating it will become automatic.
I know this can kind of be a confusing topic but I hope this helped clear things up a little bit.
If you got any questions or tips of your own about how to identify switch stance tricks,
just leave them in the comments down below
and have fun learning all the stances. Peace!