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Start the tricking

Author: Kevin the Flying man

Published: January 2004

I had the day off of school today so I decided to write this channel that I've been itching to
write. So yea, have a good read thru, I've put a fair amount of thought into it and any
constructive criticism is welcome.

Yes, welcome to the wonderful world of tricking! When we start tricks we often have no idea
what exactly we are getting ourselves into and most likely just stumbled upon a video or a
site. So if you want to learn how to jump start your tricking career, like a bowl of sugar filled
cereal starts my day, then you've come to the right place.

If you've just come from watching a tricks video you probably said to yourself I wanna be
able to do that!, and yes you will be able to do it but there is a certain progression you must
follow to get there. Chances are if the first trick you want to learn is a 1080 hook you're going
to fail, get frustrated, and leave which would make you a stupid loser and you deserve to die!
But if you want to be HARDCORE then read on.

The Essentials

Like all other martial arts tricking does have basics that you must have in order to become a
well balanced trickster, but what sets tricking aside from others is that the basics are hard!
Don't let this scare you off though, once you get the 6 essential basic tricks tricking starts to
get much easier. Almost all tricks are essentially just variations of the following six basic
moves: 540, 360 crescent, aerial, back flip, butterfly twist, and the double leg. This has an up
side and a down side. The bad thing about this is that it could take you awhile to get good at
tricking and if you don't have the dedication you could end up not getting very far. The good
side is that once you learn these moves all you have to do is get good at these. After that
learning the more difficult moves will be fun and no where near as challenging as learning
the basics for the first time. All you're doing from here is adding spins, kicks, and merging
moves or taking a new approach to the move. Even the hardest moves like the snapu-swipe is
just the merging of a 540 variation (sideswipe) and a butterfly twist.

Ok so you've listed what the basics are, but I still have no idea what to do! That's because
you're a retard! Haha, no I'm just joking. Well it's a good thing you are joining now when TT
is here because before you'd be pretty much on your own. If you want to know what these
moves are and what they look like all you have to do is click around and you'll figure out what
you have to do in no time. There are tutorials for 5 out of the 6 basics here and the other
basic is quite simple. The only trick without a tutorial is the 360 crescent which doesn't have
one because you really don't need a tutorial for it. All you do for a 360 crescent is jump off
two feet, turn in the direction of your back foot, spin 180 degrees, throw out a crescent kick,
finish the last 180 degrees and you're done. Some do not consider this to be a trick but you're
better off learning it because it is a prerequisite for moves such as 360 gyro, 720, 720 double,
and so on. So if you're trying to get into tricking learning these 6 moves should be on the top
of your list.

Still can't find the tutorials? Here are the links to the tutorials:
540 - http://www.trickstutorials.com/content/t_540.php
Aerial - http://www.trickstutorials.com/content/t_aerial.php
Double Leg - http://www.trickstutorials.com/content/t_doubleleg.php
Back Flip - http://www.trickstutorials.com/content/t_backflip.php
Butterfly Twist - http://www.trickstutorials.com/content/t_btwist.php

Common Problems

You've read onto here, yay! That means you're not bored out of your mind reading through
my tricks theory, or I've told you stuff that you already know and you still need help. So that's
where I'm going to go and give more tips from my own personal experience for some possible
common problems.

I've been working on trick (insert trick here) for so long, what am I doing wrong? If you've
been having trouble with one particular trick the best thing to do is to study more videos and
understand the technique perfectly. Figure out what he is doing that you aren't and don't just
watch one video of your favorite trickster, watch a variety of videos. There are very few
guidelines for the proper technique for most tricks, so someone may be using a technique
that doesn't work for you and another might be using one that makes life ten times easier for
you. Ask yourself questions like, Am I using my run up into the trick efficiently? (i.e. keeping
your momentum) If the trick requires height ask yourself, Where does the height in this
move come from and when do I need to get it? If it's a kick figure out if you're just swinging
your leg through or if you're actually kicking. For instance, if that kick was to take someone's
head off would you or would they laugh in your face. Don't forget to play around with it
either, try something new and it might give you that extra edge to land it.

I'm scared and I don't want to break my neck, what do I do? This is the most common
problem with getting a back flip and the easiest way to solve this problem is to get a spotter
or even better, go to an open gym and have the gymnastics coach spot you. I don't have
either, what do I do now? Wow, you're just full of questions aren't you? Anyway, that's no
excuse! Regardless of the fact of how easy it is to get someone to spot you I can still
understand your problem but you don't need a back flip to trick! My best advice would be to
work on everything else you're not scared to do. There are countless amounts of kicks that
you can get before you get a back flip, I know that's what I did. There is nothing scary about a
540 or a 720 and they actually take much more work to learn than a back flip does, so you
might as well start now. While doing so look for an open gym. If you look hard enough you'll
probably find one eventually. If you still can't, you'll end up with some decent kick tricks and
you can try to get a friend of yours into tricking as well, and then he/she can spot you.
Problem solved!

I've been tricking for so long and I only have one or two of the basics and I am losing
motivation..... What do I do to get it back? As I said before, the basics of tricks are hard
compared to the basics for any other martial art, so it may take you awhile to get them; If you
don't have the patience you might give up before you do. The best way to avoid this is to try
other 'non-trick' tricks. These are the tricks that some people don't classify as tricks but are
still seen often in the tricking world. Don't let other people discourage you to try them, work
on all the random moves like the au batido (l-kick), kip ups, front handsprings, and all that
good stuff. Yes people may rag on you for it but remember, average people are easily
impressed so it may come in handy and the joy of getting a new move may aid in your
motivation. Just don't forget about the other tricks while getting caught up in doing these
simple moves all your life because you'll eventually run out and just look stupid. The point is
not to work on these really, it's just something you do while you're trying to get harder tricks
and to keep you from getting too frustrated in the process.

Important Tips and Facts

There are a couple things that I have kept in mind that I believe have helped me progress
well at tricks.

The first is to try everything! Just because a trick is hard for someone it does not mean it will
be for you; Similarly a trick that's easy for someone else may be hard for you. The only way to
know if it is easy for you or not is to try it! *duh* Then if there's a trick that you want but
have lots of problems with, just keep at it because you won't be getting any closer by not
trying. Oh, and don't forget to call that move the devil, that works well too sometimes.

One thing that you should strive for while learning various tricks is increasing your body
awareness. Body awareness is being able to feel where your body is when you are doing
something. Being able to feel what it is like when you are going backwards will make going
backwards much easier the next time, so the better a feel you get for your moves the better
the chance you will keep it. There are lots of tricks that are hard to get a feel for, so the better
you are at knowing your body the easier things will be.

My final point is to find other tricksters and help them! Can't find any tricksters? Then make
them! Send videos to your friends and get them as hyped about it as you are. Sure going out
to the park all alone to try new tricks is cool for a couple times, but eventually you will get
bored. If you have a group of people they can get you pumped. This also relates to the point
about other people being better at certain tricks. They might be able to learn something
faster then you and then you can learn off them. Going onto the point about helping them, do
not hold back! Not helping your tricking partners get better is as stupid as sticking a fork in
your eye. (mind you sticking a fork in your eye is pretty stupid) Mindsets like Ohhh I want to
be the best so I won't help them won't get you anywhere! You should try to help them as
much as possible, and the closer in skill they get to you the better. It will put the pressure on
yourself to get better so that you will have to get tricks that they do not have. You should be
constantly improving anyway, so you shouldn't be worried about stupid stuff like this right?