Open Your Knee Angle
Mechanism / Why It Happens
When your knees are closed, your body's structure makes it unnecessarily difficult to keep your front foot in contact with the board.
When people jump, they naturally point both knees forward. This provides a stronger position to push off the ground and makes it easier to tuck the legs in the air. In an ollie, however, this position forces you to manually match the board's upward speed with the speed of your front foot. If you focus on "jumping higher" or "lifting your front foot as much as possible," it's easy to lift your front foot too quickly, causing it to lose contact with the board.
What to Do
Take advantage of your body's natural mechanics—simply opening your knees makes it much easier to keep your front foot in contact with the board.
Imagine letting your front leg hang straight down with your knee opened outward. This is the "starti