The Z-Boys or the Zephyr team invented the Bert Slide, and it was named after Larry Bertleman, who was a famous surfer. For all of you out there that aren’t familiar with the Bert Slide, it is where the skateboarder crouches down very low and he plants a single hand on the ground, while at the same time allowing their board and their feet slide out one hundred and eighty degrees. All-in-all, the Bert Slide is a very smooth, stylish, old school trick which anyone can learn; the best part of it all is that you don’t have to know how to do an Ollie in order to be able to learn how to perform the Bert Slide.

Below, you will find a list of things that you need to know before you learn the Bert Slide:

1) First and foremost, you have to know how to ride a skateboard. All you have to learn is the basics and possess a slight increase in your confidence. As a rider, you want to have the ability to ride comfortably and you want to have the control of the skateboard as well as your body.
2) Secondly, you will need to become comfortable with the lowering and rising while riding the skateboard. Make sure that you allow yourself the time to get up some speed and then crouch yourself down low with your knees bent deep and then touch your skateboard. Once you have completed this, you can straighten back up. Before you move on to the next step, you need to make sure that you are comfortable with doing similar things to this.

Bert Slide Instructions

1) Make sure that you are wearing gloves, this can’t be stressed enough. But you will realize why this is so important yourself, if you don’t listen and you end up with your hand being bloody, scraped and in a heap of pain. You also need to make sure that you take care in the type of gloves that you use. Wool or Cotton gloves probably would be the absolute worst choice because they easily grip the pavement. Leather gloves would be a good choice but they scratch to easy. So, the best choice possible would be work gloves or snowboarding gloves. Both of these are good choices because the material isn’t going to allow them to snag on the concrete’s imperfections. You should also use a little tape, but the real pain will come when you try to get the adhesive off once you are done.
2) Focus on speed, when you perform the Bert Slide, you are going to need to have a descent amount of speed up or otherwise you aren’t going to get the spin that you intended.
3) Practice, as the old saying goes “practice makes perfect”. You are going to have to realize that in order to perform the Bert Slide perfectly you are going to have to keep practicing and after time, you will get smoother and smoother.

This is for the stance:

1) First and foremost, you are going to need to get some speed up.
2) Once you have your speed up, you are going to grab your board with one of your hands which is normally going to be your right hand.
3) Once you have grabbed your board, you are going to put your left hand on the ground and try to keep it controlled as you begin to spin. You shouldn’t be afraid to fall off or to have the skateboard to smack you. All of these things are a part of learning.

Once upon a time, the humble skateboard evolved as a simple device for low-tech locomotion. Early enthusiasts concerned themselves primarily with retaining an upright position while pursuing at high speeds the transition from point A to point B. Whether racing, simulating surfing, or just getting a jump on pedestrians (or making pedestrians jump!), classical skateboarding was a fairly simple skill requiring little more than balance and the courage to go with gravity along the lay of the land.

The popularity of various forms of skateboarding ebb and tide, but nothing brings in spectator and aspirant alike as the idiosyncratic and creative world of trick stating. Drawing some of the world’s most daring devils and hardcore athletes, specialty trick skaters have brought the world’s eye, once again, to exciting and dangerous extreme sport.

Just like most people have more control over one hand than the other, most skaters have a preferred foot. Regular foot is the traditional skating stance, with the left foot holding most of your weight and positioned in front of the other, while the right foot is used to propel yourself along the ground. It is occasionally necessary, however, to assume the opposite orientation- especially during your skateboard tricks when landing complicated jumps and twists. Standing with your right foot forward is quite descriptively called “goofy-foot” because most skaters do not have quite as much control while in this position.

As skating is becoming more focused on tricks and jumps, and less on sidewalk surfing, many skaters have become ambidextrous with their foot placement. Especially as skaters rush to copy the latest tricks from goofy-footed professional skaters like Tony Hawk, Eric Kosten and Bam Margera.

Many of the more famous tricks are nicknamed for the pro who invented, or popularized it. For example, the Caballerial, named for the first pro skater to successfully execute this skateboard trick in competition, Steve Caballero, is a Fakie Ollie followed by a 360.

The classic old-fashioned Ollie, for that matter, was monikered after for Allen “Ollie” Gelfand. This aerial tail kick jump spawned a whole class of variations including the one footed “Ollie North”, popularized by Tony Hawk, crooked grinds, the late-flip shuvit, as well as just about all of the tail and nose slides and grind tricks.

To execute any aerial requires practice and flawless timing. Position your leading foot near the board’s middle and your rear foot against the tail. Crouch slightly, being sure your knees are flexed. When the moment feels right, kick hard against the tail of your deck, bringing your front shoe ahead and pointing it so it matches the angle of the riding surface. The tighter you flex your knees, the greater your elevation in flight will be.

Keep practicing until you can land it every time; once you’ve perfected your ollie, an entire world of kickflips, heelflips, slides, grinds will be opened up to you. Whether you’re a street or vert skater, you will soon be relying on this move an intrinsic part of your routine.

Learning to perform skateboard tricks takes time and tolerance for pain, as well as well-oiled wheel bearings and reflexes paired with the courage of a lion. The rewards, however, can be as satisfying as landing a triplane on a tiny peninsula.

Well, after many requests, I’ve added back in the Ollie Kickflip (or as you newschoolers called — just a “kickflip”). This clip is a couple of years old. At the time, I had just met Fletcher. He was 12, and already had his kickflips and variations locked-down tight. The Ollie Kickflip was invented by Rodney Mullen, I think in the mid 1980s. Before that, kickflips were all old-school style. Ollie Kickflips used to be a pretty advanced move, but now they are a new-school skating basic.

In frame 1, Fletcher sets up for the trick rolling forward, in a normal ollie stance. As he takes off with a nice pop, Fletcher begins dragging his front foot up the board. He’ll use the front foot to flick the board into a flip.
In frame 3, Fletcher starts the board flipping. As he drags his foot up the board, he flicks his foot to his heel side, which is what makes the flip happen. Notice that is back foot is not in contact with the board — this is important. The board will not flip if you still have your back foot on top of it. He continues the flick, as his front foot kicks out in front and to the side. Actually, Fletcher flicks it off the side of the nose. The board is almost halfway flipped, and his rear foot is in perfect position — right above the board, but out of the way too. From my own experience with this trick, I can tell you that staying right above the board is very, very important. If you stay right above it, your front foot will come right back to the correct landing position after flicking it. The board should be right underneath you. If not, you will come down with your front foot off the board.
In these frames, Fletcher is in the classic ollie kickflip position that they love to show in magazines. His front foot is fully kicked-out, which gave the board a nice, quick, strong, flip. Look at his back foot. It is right above the board, in a perfect position to come down and catch the board. Pretty amazing.
In frames 7 and 8, the board is completing the flip. Fletcher’s front foot is returning naturally to a good landing position. The rear foot is positioned to slap the board back down solidly.
I really like these frames because they really show the function of the rear foot. In frame 9, you can tell that the board really wants to continue flipping, but Fletcher uses the rear foot to control it into a single clean flip. Finally, the front foot comes down and he rides away smoothly. Killer!!!!