How to Teach Your Child to Ride a Skateboard

How to teach a child to ride a skateboard? Where to start? There are some basic elements, tricks and where to practice the best. Tips from professional skateboarders for beginners and parents.

Teaching a child to skateboard

Looking at peers and older children, it seems that boarding is easy and simple, but the first experience mostly ends with broken knees and torn palms. That is why parents should know how to teach a child to ride a skateboard so that he doesn’t get seriously injured and after the first lesson doesn’t cool down to this sport. The most important thing is to teach a child how to keep a balance and this is the most important thing, which parents should teach their baby first of all! Don’t leave the child alone with the board, take him by hand and help him to stand on the skateboard. After that, holding the baby and roll the skate a little on a flat surface.

Do not expect from your child, that he or she will immediately get on the board and ride on their own. You may have to train for several days or even weeks until the baby feels how to maintain the balance. Only after mastering the most important lesson, you can proceed to study other basic elements.

Is it hard to learn how to skateboard?

Despite the unsuccessful first experience, learning to ride a skateboard is not difficult at all. The key thing for the successful learning will be the right board. You need to choose a skateboard according to the height and age of the child. It is also necessary to have some protective equipment that will protect the child from various injuries and damages.

The best option for teaching a child is to enroll him in a specialized section or choose a school where professional coaches will work with a young athlete. In this case, the child will quickly understand the basic elements and will be able to control the board after a few lessons. If you prefer some winter sports activities, it will help the baby more easily get on it, because the technique of snowboarding and skateboarding is very similar.

Where is the best place for training?

If you decide to teach your child skateboarding by yourself, it is important to choose a place where it is better to train. Don’t train on the roadway, or on sites with poor coverage. For a fresher skateboarder, any stone that gets under the wheel can cause serious injury for the kid, so try to be very attentive. The best way to train a beginner skateboarder is a special area which you can easily found in any large city park. If you don’t have such a platform nearby, you can train in the empty parking area, or on a park alley without a crowd of people around you.

Please note, that the road shouldn’t have any steep ascents, as well as potholes on the road. First of all, you need to understand the basic elements that will allow you to learn how to control a skateboard.

Basic elements

Skateboarding for kids should start from learning and mastering the following basic elements:

• Starting position, standing on the skateboard. Before learning the starting position, you need to determine your leading foot. Try to use a simple trick. Give your child a little push and see carefully which foot he puts forward to keep his balance. Now you need to accept the starting position. Fix the skateboard and place your lead foot over the front wheels with your other foot over the rear wheels. Let the young skateboarder feel the board, rock back and forth. At this moment, it is important to maintain the balance, moving the center of gravity from the toes to the heel and vice versa.
• Start of movement. Once the child understands the principle of maintaining balance, you can begin to move smoothly the skateboard. To start the movement, you need to firmly stand and lightly push off the ground with your foot, immediately putting it back on the skateboard. There is no need to push off strongly, because at this stage of training, we don’t need any speed, the most important thing is the coordination of movements.
• Turns. As soon as the child has learned how to drive in a straight line on his own, you can move on to study how to make turns. For those who are learning to ride a skateboard from the beginning, you need to start by mastering smooth turns. To do this, you need to slightly tilt the body in the direction where you want to turn, while transferring the weight of the body to the socks or heels. Sharp turns can be taught after the child learns how to ride confidently.
• Braking. Often young skateboarders simply do not know how to slow down and jump off the board if necessary. This method is valid only at low speed. The correct braking looks like this: the weight of the body must be transferred to the supporting leg by pressing on the rear wheels. The skate will start to slow down and gradually stop. For emergency stop, experienced athletes transfer their body weight to the rear wheels so that the back edge of the board comes into contact with the surface of the site.
• Acceleration. After a few lessons, the child will definitely want to ride faster and feel the speed. To avoid any injuries, the child must be taught how to accelerate correctly. For acceleration, it is necessary to push off sharply and strongly with the entire foot of the supporting leg, at the level of the front wheels. After the push, the leg must be returned to its original position and try to keep balance.

Skateboarding training for children should take place in full gear that will protect your children from any injuries in the event of a fall.

Skateboarding gear and how to choose the protection

When you choosing the protection for a child, you should buy a completed set, which includes some gloves and helmets, protective trays for the knees and elbows, as well as special shorts. When choosing the protection, try to give some preference to a high-quality branded ammunition. All protection items should be measured before purchase in order to select the correct size for your child. Also note that the child should wear some comfortable clothing and convenient shoes.