It doesn’t matter a bit whether a skateboarding trick is in or out of style as long as it’s fun to do. At least that’s the way it should be.
All too often skateboarders get wrapped up in trends. This is true of clothing, equipment, music, and just about everything else. It is also true of skateboarding tricks.
One of my favorite things about skating today is that just about every trick is “acceptable.” Skateboarders, in general, just seem a lot more supportive of individual styles and preferences than they did while I was growing up.
In an effort to keep this article from getting lame and sappy, let’s move to the point. Old-school skate tricks are coming back. A ton of dudes incorporate them into lines these days and you see them in Internet videos and actual company films more and more frequently.
Frankly, I’m stoked. Here are eight fun old-school skateboarding tricks that are making a comeback. Obviously, I’ve left some off. Which is your favorite? Which should I have put on this list instead?
Boneless
I still think the boneless is one of the coolest skateboarding tricks around. Though it’s definitely an old-school trick, it has never really fallen out of fashion. My favorite thing about the boneless is that it can be done by just about anybody, beginners included. And, better yet, you can throw a little 180 or a flip trick in there or do it off a drop or over a gap.
No Comply
Another old-school skateboarding trick that you see more and more these days is the no comply. In fact, the trick has almost become a trend in itself. Dudes are doing this trick all over the place. Who cares though? The no comply is a rad skate trick that you can fit into just about any line. Plus, there are about a thousand different variations to it. Sebo Walker is one dude with a wicked no comply. Check out this little video where Sebo and the SK8Rats get into some no comply wildness.
Slappy Grinds
I’m realizing that this list of old-school skateboarding tricks is turning out to be more like a list of my favorite skate tricks. Another one that’s up there is the slappy grind. If you don’t know what the old slappy is, it’s basically any type of grind that you do without an ollie. They are commonly done on curbs. You basically just ram your board up onto the curb, lock into whatever grind is on your mind, and slide. Wax is a definite help.
Bert Slide
I actually didn’t know that this little trick was known as the Bert Slide until pretty recently. But it is. It’s one of the first skateboarding tricks that I learned and was invented by the legendary Z-Boys (the Zephyr team). All the Bert Slide takes is crouching down, planting a hand on the ground, and sliding the board out in a 180 or an arc. It’s a damn stylish trick and it’s easy to boot. It looks especially cool on a bank.
Handplant
Handplants are an awesome old-school skateboaridng trick that we've been seeing a little more of recently. Though they're not as easy to throw down as some of the other tricks on this list, they are a fun little trick to have on lock. Better yet, you can throw them down on flatground or on a quarter or even over a rail. You've got a lot of options with handplants.
Wall Ride
Though they've never exactly been an unpopular trick, wall rides have been taken to all new heights by skateboarders in the past handful of years. Modern day renditions of the classic trick involve bigger wall rides than ever before: over gaps, down stair sets, you name it. Skateboarding just keeps getting gnarlier and gnarlier, even when the same old tricks are involved.
Hippy Jump
Made famous by Mark Gonzales, the hippy jump is an old-school skateboarding trick where you jump off your board over an object, letting it roll on flat underneath, and then land back on top of it. Benches, rails, and fences are only a few of the objects that have been demolished by hippy jumps. It's a fun little trick to throw into a line. And these days dudes are getting really buck with hippy jump flip tricks where the board does the trick under or through an object and the skateboarder jumps over the top.
Transition Skating 
Yeah, yeah, I know, transition skating isn’t exactly old school. But you can’t deny that skateboarding was bowl and pool oriented until street skating cropped up and took over. For a while there in the 90s and early 00s, it seemed like no one was riding tranny. Not anymore. A whole crop of young rippers have come up that can absolutely demolish anything transition oriented. And a lot of the older guys seem to be putting out quite a bit of new pool footage as well. It’s rad. Tranny is even starting to make its way into more feature length company skate films as well. Here are two little videos from Raven Tershy and Ben Raybourn that show just how dope the new breed of tranny is.
