skate stance – the goofy regular switched to fakie
Before stepping on a skateboard for the very first time you should find out about your preferred skate stance – “regular” or “goofy”. No matter which but one skate stance will feel more natural and thus makes it easier to progress.
REGULAR STANCE
Regular stance or regular-footed in any boardsports is when – in the direction of motion – your left foot is positioned in the front and your right foot at the back end of the deck. Riding in this skate stance the right leg should be the one to push with. The term “regular” possibly originates from the (disputable) assumption that most riders in boardsports are regular-footed.
GOOFY STANCE
Goofy stance or goofy-footed is when – in the direction of motion – your right foot is positioned in the front and your left foot at the back end of the deck. Riding in this skate stance the left leg should be the one to push with.
The term “goofy” possibly originates from the 1937 Disney cartoon “Hawaiian Holiday” where Goofy surfs with his right foot forward. Nevertheless “goofy” has no negative, clumsy associativity.
PREDICTING YOUR STANCE
Unfortunately skateboard stance can’t be deduced from handedness. But there are simple methods to predict your skateboarding stance – try all of them to make sure:
The foot you instinctively kick a ball with is usually your back foot. So if it’s the left you should be goofy-footed, if it’s the right you should be regular-footed.
Run and try to slide across a slippery floor. The foot you automatically lead with should be your front foot on a skateboard.
Stand still with your feet close together and your eyes shut. Let someone suddenly push you from behind – the foot you catch yourself with is your likely back foot on the skateboard.
Remember that one skateboard stance is not better than the other. Roll with whatever feels more natural and comfortable!
MONGO PUSHING
“Mongo” is not a skateboard stance but a way of pushing – with your front foot instead of your back foot.
Example: If you are goofy-footed you would push mongo with your right (front) foot while keeping your left (back) foot on the board.
Often this might seem easier to beginners as they can control their board with their stronger back foot while pushing. But as you progress in skateboarding you will quickly learn that pushing mongo not only looks weird and is hence frowned upon, it also proves awkward and less controllable in the long run (e.g. when having a short run-up to an obstacle or when going really fast).
Some professional skateboarders push mongo – however this is when they want to emphasize they are skating “switch”:
SWITCH STANCE
To increase difficulty and variety many skateboarders try tricks in “switch stance”: “Switch” means skating in the stance you did NOT chose when you started skating. Compare it to doing something with your left hand if you are usually right-handed. Hence to predict if a skater does a trick switch you need to know his original stance.
Example: As an originally goofy-footed skater you would skate switch with your left foot on the front and your right foot on the tail of the the board.
In conjunction with switch-stance-skating a skater’s original stance is often confusingly called his “regular” stance, no matter if he is originally “goofy-footed” or “regular-footed”.
FAKIE
“Fakie” and switch stance are often confused by skateboard beginners: While switch stance means riding in your less favored stance and now popping tricks with your original front foot (which now becomes your back foot), fakie means keeping your preferred stance but rolling backwards and popping tricks with your strong foot on the tail which now becomes the front part of your board.
Example: If you are goofy-footed you roll backwards and pop a trick fakie with your left foot – which is still positioned on the tail of the board, however rolling backwards this now becomes the front/nose of the board.
Landing a trick “to fakie” means rolling away backwards from a trick you originally started in your preferred stance.
NOLLIE
(To add to your confusion) “nollie” is the proper term for doing a skateboard trick “switch fakie”. Nollie means you skate in your preferred stance however you use your front foot to pop the trick using the nose of the board.
Example: If you are goofy-footed you roll as usual with your right foot in the front and your left foot on the back of the board – but instead of popping a trick with your left foot on the tail you now pop a nollie trick with your right foot over the nose.
