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 Manual playing skate

As a skateboarder, you know that you want to learn how to do the different tricks that you see on TV performed by the pros. You need to consider the fact that skateboarding is a painful sport to learn and more pain will come as soon as you try out different tricks on your skateboard.

If you are going skateboarding and are comfortable riding your skateboard, then it may be time for you to start learning different tricks that will surely impress anyone who sees you.

One trick for beginners that you will definitely want to learn is the Manual. This particular trick is like doing a wheelie on a bike but in this case, you will be using a skateboard. You will ride the skateboard with only the back wheels rolling and the front wheels on the air.

The Manual is a great trick to learn and every skateboard enthusiast should learn how to do this trick.

Basically, this trick is very different from flip tricks which are more technical. What you need here is good balance and also a lot of practice in order to achieve this trick.

If you are new to skateboarding, it is recommended that you get comfortable riding your board first and perfect your balance. Also, it helps if you know how to Ollie.

Because this trick is not very technical, you can try it even if you are just beginning to go skateboarding.

To properly execute this trick, proper foot placement is important. To do the Manual, you need to place your back foot at the tail of the skateboard and your front foot just behind the front trucks.

You will want your back foot to cover most of the tail of your skateboard.

You need to remember that there is no right or wrong way to skateboard. You just need to be comfortable. So, if you feel more comfortable doing the manual with your front foot a little bit in front of the skateboard, do it.

Remember that safety is everything. So, put on your helmet before attempting this trick.

To do the manual, you need to have a lot of flat ground to practice it on. A skate park or long stretches of flat sidewalk are great places to practice. Make sure that the surface is mostly flat and smooth.

You need speed to perform the Manual. If you gained enough speed, then you better get ready to do the trick.

To manual, just put most of your weight slowly to the back foot. Never lean backwards as this will result in falling. When you see that the front wheels are lifted, you now need to balance your weight so you will not fall behind and send your skateboard flying across the street.

To end the Manual, just shift most of your weight in front and bring your weight back again to a balanced level once you land. Make sure that you put your shoulders forward. Again, never lean back unless you want to hear your own skull cracking.

These are the things that you need to remember about doing the Manual on a skateboard. All you need is balance and good speed.
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Eric Koston Basic Bio Information:

    * Name: Eric Koston
    * Gender: Male
    * Hometown: Los Angeles, California
    * Date of Birth: April 29, 1975
    * Family: Single
    * Occupation: Pro Skater, Co-owner of Fourstar Clothing Company
    * Began Skating: 1986
    * First Sponsored: 1991
    * Turned Pro: 1993
    * Favored Discipline: Street
    * Stance: Goofy
    * #1 Sponsors: Girl Skateboards, eS Footwear, Fourstar

Eric Koston Skateboarding Style and Strengths:
Eric Koston is a fearless skater. He has technical skill combined with the willingness to try out new, untested tricks in the middle of a competition. Eric Koston is one of the few ultra successful pro skateboarders who retains his reputation for throwing everything he's got into every competition he comes across, be it the X Games, or Koston's famous games of SKATE.
Eric Koston Favorite / Signature Skateboarding Tricks:
Eric Koston's signature trick is the K grind, or crooked grind. The K is for Koston. Though he didn't in fact invent the trick, he was the first person to show it to the world in a video. Eric Koston has a battery of other tricks that he has invented.
Eric Koston Skateboarding Career Highlights:

1993 - Helped start Fourstar Clothing Company
2000 - Eric Koston won Globe World Contest, X Games and Gravity Games
2001 - won TransWorld Skateboarding Best Video part for his segment in eS Menikati
2002 - won gold in Gravity Games Street
2003 - won gold in X Games Street competition
2005 - Listed in Thrasher's '15 Most Loved Skaters of All Time'
2005 - Koston's Game of SKATE went international, with 24 contests world wide, and the winner competing against pros in the fall.
Eric Koston Personal History:
Eric Koston's father, Bob, was in the airforce when he and Eric's mom met. Wanida, Eric's mom, was from Thailand. Eric was born in Bangkok, and moved to the states at 9 months old. His parents were divorced when he was only 5, and Eric grew up in San Bernardino, CA. Eric's older brother Chris gave him his first skateboard. Eric later went to a skate camp in MI, and met Eddie Elguera. This is where Eric realized his potential as a professional skateboarder.
Eric Koston Interesting Fact:
Eric Koston plays basketball on an NBA Entertainment league in the winter. The team is called the Maverics, and he plays with Ashton Kutcher, Justin Timberlake and Mike Marlin to name a few. Eric also loves to play golf.
Eric Koston Quote:
From skatinghazard.com - "The progression of skateboarding seems to be getting more technical with a flip into a slide then a flip back out as well as going down bigger rails and down more stairs. I like to do all that stuff, especially when it feels good. I don't stick myself into one type of style, I would get bored with that."
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Forward and Backward Crossovers


A great way to pick up speed going around corners on the ice - not to mention looking like a pro in the process - crossovers are where it's at. Learn how to do crossovers.
 Forward and Backward Crossovers
These moves are the fundamentals for everything else that you wind up doing in skating. Hi - thanks for tuning in. My name is Sean - I'm part of the management team here at Pickwick Ice in Burbank, California, and About.com has invited me to talk to you about forward crossovers and backward crossovers.
Form and Posture During Crossovers
So, the most important thing - as we know at this point - is that you want good form and posture: your feet centered - parallel on the ice, your knees bent, your torso up, your chin up, and then your hand position.
Forward Crossovers
With forward crossovers the first thing that we're going to wind up doing is we're going to go onto the ice and we're going to find one of the hockey circles. Because what's going to wind up happening in a crossover, is you're going to be moving around the circle. With crossovers, what I normally suggest, is starting from a "T" position, stepping on your hockey circle, working with a one-foot glide. You can either do a half-swizzle, working around the circle, or you can do a stroke position, towards the left. So if we're going towards the left, our left skate is going to be on our outside edge, and we're going to pivot around the ice, going that direction. This left foot is not going to leave that hockey circle.

So now we're going to start getting a little more complicated. Your right foot is going to cross over your left foot. How do we do that? We start from the "T" position - we're going to push off, at this point we're going to be gliding around the circle on our left outside edge. At this point we've picked up our right foot, and we're actually going to cross over our left foot onto our right blade. At this point you are riding on your right skate, and then you're going to push off behind you with your left skate. We'll get back to balance and we'll push off again - we're going to cross over onto our right, putting our weight onto our right, and then pushing again off on our left. We're going to do the exact same thing for the other foot.
Backwards Crossovers
So, with a backward crossover, we're going to start with our right foot planted on the ground. We're going to push off with our left foot, gliding on our outside right leg. We're going to cross onto our left, and it's going to be our inside blade, and then we're going to push off again.

Now, these moves are a little complicated, and it takes a lot of practice. Don't get discouraged if you don't pick it up right away. You'll find people that work on these moves for a long time, but don't feel afraid to ever talk to a coach or sign up for one of these classes if you're not getting it quite on your own - it's a great idea.

If you have any more questions regarding these topics or anything else regarding ice skating, feel free to visit us on the Web at About.com. Thank you.