Why does the kickflip spin backside?

Is it because of your foot placement?

I have seen many people struggle with their board unintentionally spinning backside, almost turning the trick into a kind of varial flip. The same thing happened to me, and at first I assumed it was due to my foot placement.

But I was also certain about the following:

• I knew I was not scooping my back foot.
• I was popping straight down with my back foot.
• The pop felt identical to a normal ollie.

So why does the board spin?

I think I watched practically every tutorial on YouTube, yet none seemed to offer a clear explanation. Many of them simply stated:

• You should not put your back foot in the pocket.
• You should not open your shoulders.

These tutorials were not necessarily incorrect, but they left me with the impression that something important was missing.

Is there an underlying factor that truly causes the board to spin?

If keeping your shoulders aligned parallel to the board is essential, then how can Luan Oliveira kickflip with his shoulders opened almost ninety degrees?

And why do some skaters recommend placing your back foot in the opposite pocket, as Mike Mo does? Why does that not automatically create a hardflip?

Unintentional varial flip type.

In this case, the board begins to spin immediately after the flick. This results in a motion similar to a varial flip, even though you are not attempting one.

Unintentional backside flip type.

In this situation, you rotate after catching the board. The flip itself appears correct, but your feet turn backside during the landing, making the trick resemble a backside flip.

Is foot placement really the reason?

According to many existing tutorials, you should not place your back foot in the pocket when performing a kickflip, because doing so supposedly makes the board spin backside.

Let us verify this using a 3D model.

• The skateboard weighs 5 kg, measuring 30 inches long and 8 inches wide.
• The ball weighs 5 kg and has a diameter of 10 cm.
• The green line indicates the ball’s trajectory.

If I let the ball free-fall directly into the pocket of the tail, the board clearly pops straight upward and returns straight downward.

This occurs because the outermost edge of the tail makes the final contact with the ground as the board leaves the surface. Therefore, whether you pop at the center of the tail or the pocket, as long as the force is applied straight downward, the board’s direction of travel does not meaningfully change.

This is merely my perspective, but I personally believe you do not need to force yourself to place your back foot precisely at the center of the tail. It is more important to place your foot where you feel stable—even in the pocket—because popping there alone does not create unwanted rotation.

Should we avoid opening our shoulders?

I can assure you that you can still perform a kickflip with your shoulders open—although I do not necessarily recommend it. Before discussing the details, it is important to understand why the shoulders tend to open in the first place.

In kickflips, the front foot is positioned with the heel hanging off the edge. To avoid falling toward the heel side, we naturally counterbalance by shifting the back foot slightly toward the toe side, especially for those who ride loose trucks as I do.

This foot positioning often leads the shoulders to open. Opening the shoulders itself is not the source of the problem, as doing so does not generate horizontal momentum unless you actively swing your upper body.

However, when your shoulders open, your back foot shifts further toward the toe side. This gradually tilts your body axis, distributing excessive weight onto the toe side.

With the body axis leaning toward the toe side, even if you intend to pop straight downward, your pop becomes aligned with your tilted axis, resulting in a slight diagonal push toward the heel side.

What is overpop?

Overpop refers to popping with excessive force.

In the previous post, we learned that overpopping makes it more difficult to flick your front foot. It transfers too much energy into the tail, giving the nose more upward force than your front foot can counter through sliding and flicking. I also noted that this can make the board feel unusually heavy to flick.

Normally, a large portion of the energy is absorbed by sliding your front foot upward. However, when you pop too hard, excess force may remain even after the front foot reaches the nose. The issue is that this excess energy cannot simply disappear. It must be released somewhere.

How the excess energy can spin your board

If the nose receives more force than necessary, it will continue traveling in the same direction even after the point where the front foot usually flicks. Because nothing stops the nose on the toe side, it can keep moving outward.

By contrast, your front foot blocks the heel-side motion of the nose, preventing the energy from escaping upward. This imbalance of forces causes the board to spin.

To prevent this, pop only as hard as needed. In other words, the board should lose its upward momentum right when its nose reaches the point where your front foot flicks.

To achieve this, it helps to understand the difference between jumping and popping. First lift your body using your thighs, then pop the tail with your calves. You can read further details here.

What is overflick and what happens if you do it?

Overflick occurs when you flick your front foot harder than necessary, even though the board requires less energy to rotate.

Let us consider what happens over time:

1. When you flick, your front foot moves off the side of the board and usually stops near it. By striking the side of the nose, the board opens toward the heel side.
2. After the flicking motion, you must bring your foot back onto the deck. Doing so rotates your body around its center of gravity and closes the board toward the toe side (clockwise for regular stance).

Balancing the opening and closing forces is essential for keeping the board aligned with your original direction of travel. In other words, “the energy that opens the board toward the heel side during the flick” and “the energy used to bring your front foot back onto the deck” must be equal.

Comparison between a normal flick and an overflick

When you overflick, your front foot travels farther away from the board. As a result, you must move it a greater distance to bring it back to the deck, which requires more force. If that force is excessive, your body continues rotating in the same direction even after catching the board, due to the law of inertia.

Recommendation & Practice

I recommend visualizing where your flick should end before you pop the tail. Doing so helps keep the flick compact and prevents unnecessary extension of the front foot. Practice flicking while stepping off the board; this allows you to focus on the movement without worrying about the landing.

For more details, please refer to the previous content on overflick.