The Beginner's Guide to Skateboarding

By Steve Cave, About.com Guide

Step 1 - Beginner Skateboard Gear

So you've bought or borrowed your first skateboard, and you are wondering what to do with it. You've seen skaters at the park or on TV, and you know what skating's supposed to look like, but how do you get started? What sort of beginner skateboard gear do you need?
Well, the first thing you should do is get a pair of skate shoes (check out the Best Skateboard Shoes List). You can skate in regular shoes, but it will be a lot harder and even sometimes dangerous. Skate shoes are built with a large flat bottom, to better grip the board, and often with other features like reinforcement in areas where you'll likely wear the shoe down.
You should also get a helmet (check out the Best Skateboard Helmets list). You might see skaters not wearing helmets, and worry that wearing one will make you look weak or stupid, but don't worry about it. It's common now for skateparks to require helmets, and it's just plain smart, especially when you first start out.
Wearing other protective pads can be good too, but what you need totally depends on what you are doing (see the Best Skateboard Pads list). If you are trying to do tricks in your driveway, elbow pads might be a good idea, but you really only need knee pads if you are skating on a ramp, or trying some pretty crazy tricks. Wrist braces can be nice, but be careful not to get too used to using your hands to catch yourself when you fall.

Step 2 - Standing on a Skateboard

Now you should be ready to start learning to skate. First, before you try anything crazy, you need to get comfortable standing on your skateboard. If you borrowed it, or if you went to a shop and bought a complete skateboard already built, there's a chance that there may be some things about it that you might find uncomfortable. Set the board either in some grass, or on the carpet in your living room, and try standing on it, jumping on it, whatever you want. Try balancing only on the front or back wheels. Standing on the board, move your feet into different positions. Get used to the feel and size of your board, and get used to standing on it.

 Step 3 - Skateboard Stance: Goofy vs. Regular


Next you need to figure out your skateboard stance, whether you are goofy or regular footed. This means whether you should skate with your right foot forward, or your left. If one feels more comfortable than the other, then simply go with that!
The two different ways to stand are called stances - Goofy (skating with your right foot forward) and Regular (skating with your left foot forward).
Here are three tricky ways to figure out how you will most likely feel most comfortable standing on your board:

ONE

- go get a ball or something like that, and sit it on the ground in front of you. Now kick it. Whichever foot you kicked it with will likely be your back foot. You want the balancing foot in the front, and the kicking foot in the back.

TWO

- go to a staircase, and walk up it. What foot did you use to step up the FIRST step? That's likely your back foot.

THREE

- this one's hard, because once you read it you'll know the trick. So just read this first spot and then stop when I tell you to stop. Go find someone, stand with both your feet close together, and ask them to shove you from behind. Go do this now -- STOP READING! Ok, so hopefully you didn't just fall over. You should have caught yourself with one foot. The foot you used to catch yourself is likely the foot you'd put in back. Just like most people are right handed, most people are regular footed. That's why it's called regular. Just remember that there's no RIGHT way to do it. If all of these tricks tell you that you are regular, but you just like riding goofy, then ride goofy!

Step 4 - Skateboard Pushing

 
ext, we'll learn to push your skateboard. Take the skateboard out to some pavement or concrete somewhere. I recommend a parking lot, after the business that uses the lot is closed. That way there are no cars around, or people.
Get comfortable just like above, but this time on a surface where your board can roll.
Now try cruising around the parking lot. Take your front foot, and put it so your toes are right over the front truck, or a little behind it, on top of the board. Use your back foot to push off with so that the skateboard starts rolling, and put your back foot back on the skateboard once you are rolling the speed you want to (read is it ok to push with my front foot? if you are more comfortable that way). When you slow down, push off some more with your back foot. To turn, if you are going downhill, you can lean in the direction you want to turn, but this will turn you slowly. A better way to turn is to balance for a split moment on your back wheels, and swing your front wheels the direction you want to go. This might take some practice.
Get comfortable with riding around like this. You should spend some time practicing -- don't get too anxious to do tricks. After you feel pretty good with riding like this, try going down an easy hill, so long as you're careful that there won't be traffic. Spend some time learning to skate. You can try skating at your local skate park, if you have one. At first you might try to go at a time when there won't be very many people around.

Step 5 - How to Stop on a Skateboard

 

Now that you know how to get going, you may want to know a little more about how to stop on a skateboard! There are several ways to stop your skateboard. Footbreaking - The easiest way is to take off your back foot and drag it on the ground. It takes some practice, and you should really spend some time focusing on it now, before you need it, so that you can stop when you need to! Read How to Footbreak for instructions and help.
Heel Drag - This takes some practice, but it's a common way to stop with people who have been skating a while. Basically, you put the heel of your back foot so that it is sticking off of the back of your skateboard, and lean back so that the front of your board comes up into the air. Step down on your heel, but make sure that the front half of your foot is still on the board. Your heel should drag a short ways, and you should stop. This will take practice - you may fall on your back a few times, and launch the board out in front of you a few times while you learn.
Power Slide - Powerslides are popular in the Tony Hawk video games, but they are actually fairly advanced. I mention them because I'm guessing you've played the game and want to do it - it does look pretty cool! Well, hold off on that for a while - you haven't even gotten to kickturns yet!
Bail! - When all else fails, just jump off of your board! If your knees are bent while you ride, this shouldn't be to hard. And if you jump forward, your skateboard will usually stop. Just remember - buying a new skateboard is much cheaper and easier than getting a broken arm, or a new face!