S

Sal Flip

A 360° palm flip.

Salad Grind

A combination of a 5-0 grind and a bluntslide - a grind/slide with both the back truck and tail of the skateboard on the obstacle. Think of it as a 'crooked 5-0'.

Saran Wrap

A freestyle trick done while in a 50-50 truckstand or pogo, where the front (or top) foot traces a circle around the nose. Usually, the aim is to pull off multiple saran wraps in a row without loosing balance.

Scarewalk

When done very well, a scarewalk should look like a split kick (see airwalk), but grabbed with the back hand with the board between the legs - right below your crotch, hence the name.

Seatbelt Air

A grab trick where the front hand extends across the front of the body and grips the tail of the board on the toeside. Looks like the action of putting a seatbelt on.

Semi Flip

A quarter kickflip followed by a late backfoot frontside varial one and a quarter heelflip. So the board flips two ways (1/4 kickflip, then 1 1/4 heelflip) and also does a varial. It's called a semi flip because the flip is split up into two halves.

You need to break it down into bits and put it together in your mind bit by bit, but I promise it makes sense eventually...

Sergio Slide

A downhill slide much like the Coleman slide but with the back hand planted on the road instead of the front one.

Sex Change

A kickflip with a body varial. I discuss how to do sex changes in this article on kickflips and kickflip variations.

Shifty

The act of tweaking an air trick by turning your hips so that the skateboard rotates in midair before rotating back again to a normal position. To execute this trick the hands must not interfere; a shifty is achieved solely by rotating the hips and controlling the skateboard with the feet. Backside or frontside shiftys are possible.

As with all tweaks, the purpose of a shifty is to inject extra flair into a trick. In this case, shifty airs out of ramps and shifty ollies are appreciated because they demonstrate fine control of the skateboard which is especially difficult in midair without using the hands, and because they look really stylish.

Shuvit

A simple trick where the board does one or more varial rotations. Can be done backside, frontside and in any increment of degrees from 180° to 720° (a 900° shuvit has, to the best of my knowledge, never been accomplished).

'Shuvit' on its own is invariably a 180° shuvit. A shuvit is not popped and generally spins on the front or rear wheels or just above the ground.

See also Pop shuvit and this article on shuvits.

Shuvit Shuffle

Although many people do them as a bank trick, some people have started doing a wide range of shuvit shuffles on flat. It basically is a shuvit (generally done without popping) caught to a pivot that rotates in the opposite direction to the shuvit. On a bank, this would commonly mean a backside shuvit off the nose to a frontside pivot on the tail. They can also be done with a 360° shuvit to a pivot, but I am not sure if anyone has done either a bigger shuvit (540°, 720° etc) or landed to a bigger spin (continuing the pivot to spin round 360° or more) in a shuvit shuffle.

Sideride

You know when you start skating and you tilt the board to do a wheelie on two side wheels? That is called a sideride.

Sidewinder

A sidewinder is a specific type of truck-to-truck trick where you throw the nose of the board down towards the floor as you jump, catch the tail with your back hand, and land with your front foot on the front truck in a switch 50-50.Sidewinders can also be done into a switch or nose casper, or by reaching down to grab the back truck and merely dropping the nose down.

Skateboard

Developed originally in the 70's as 'sidewalk surfboards' and little more than a plank with roller boot wheels on, the skateboard has developed today into the highly tuned instrument we all know and love. A skateboard is made up of a deck with griptape on it, attached by the bolts to the trucks on which are mounted the wheels.

Skid Plate

A skid plate (or sometimes just called a "skid" is a lump of plastic often found on bolted to the underside of the tails of freestyle boards. People use them to protect the ends of their boards from the beatings freestyle gives to the tails.

Skitching

Hitching a ride by holding onto the back of a bike or vehicle while riding a skateboard in true Back To The Future style. Non interesting fact - the term 'skitching' actually predates skateboarding in it's reference to being pulled about on ice by a vehicle.

Slalom

Like freestyle, this was very popular in the 70's, and although thought to be dead and gone, is currently becoming steadily more popular. Basically, slalom involves weaving in and out of cones at high speed to beat your opponent's time. It may sound lame, but those guys go really damn fast, and it can be pretty fun to do.

Slappy Grind

The lazy mans trick - any grind that is performed without ollying. You just ride into the grind on an appropriately sloped object, such as a rail that slopes into the ground, or the sloping bits of kerb edges. Although a slappy slide could theoretically be done with some difficulty, the constraints of having to ride into it mean that slappy versions of nosegrinds, 5-0 grinds, 50-50 grinds and smith/feeble grinds are the most common slappy grinds.

Slide

The act of riding along on an obstacle - usually a kerb, rail or ledge - on the deck of the skateboard. Similar in nature to a grind, a slide is usually faster due to the smooth nature of the underside of a deck, and generally harder to balance than a grind. Some common slides are the boardslide, noseslide and tailslide.

Slob Air

This is a vert trick that, like quite a few, is dependant on the direction of the air. A slob air is just a frontside mute grab, as mutes on vert are strictly backside.

Smith Grind

A grind performed on the back trucks with the front wheels pointing down towards the ground on the left hand side of the obstacle if your left foot is forward, or the right hand side of the obstacle if your right foot is forward. This places the front wheels next to the obstacle rather than on top of it, and the deck itself will often slide along the obstacle as well as the back trucks because of the positioning.

Spacewalk

A spacewalk is a wheelie where the nose swings from side to side. Kinda like doing tictacs in a wheelie.

Stalefish

A difficult grab trick requiring plenty of flexibility; the back hand grips the heelside of the skateboard roughly in the middle, and both knees are bent and pointed towards the nose of the skateboard.

Stall

A trick with positioning the same as a grind or slide of some sort but without moving. The name of a stall is usually derived from the grind or slide it is based on, as in bluntstall, but may also have a completely different name as in disaster.

Stelmasky

Almost unheard of now, a Stelmasky is a melon grab where you grab the heelside rail between the legs instead of taking your arm around the front leg.

Street Plants

Back in the 80s, when street skating was still evolving, street plants became all the rage as a way of imitating the inverts done in vert skating. People would hold the board in one hand, take a couple of steps, plant the other hand on the floor and kick into a one handed handstand. Once inverted, people would flip the board in their hands, put it to their feet and tweak out grabs, or maybe go to a Ho-Ho plant.

Needless to say, these are barely done anymore. Mike Vallely still does them, but like many non-ollie tricks, most people see them as a bit of a joke. They can be quite fun, though.

Street Skating

The name given to the style of skateboarding that has developed from skateboarders tricking off of every day objects found in the urban environment - kerbs, benches, ledges, banks etc etc... Street parks are specially constructed to replicate this environment.

Sugarcane

Like a hurricane, only the skater spins in the other direction during the 180° so that the back wheels of the board go over the obstacle first.

Suski Grind

This grind was named for the pro skater Aaron Suski, although he wasn't the first person to do the trick. It's a 'crooked' backside 5-0 grind, where the tail also slides along the obstacle as well as the rear truck. Aaron Suski stated in an interview "that's just the way I did my backside five-0s quite honestly; it was just a good lock".

Swedish Wheelie

This is a nose wheelie following the same concept as the Danish and English wheelies. You position the front foot off the nose and behind the front truck, then use the toes of the back foot to pull the tail up.

Sweeper

A frontside footplant on ramps where the back foot is planted, the nose is grabbed with the front hand, and the tail is "swept" across the coping. Note that a good sweeper should have the front foot touching the grip at all times.

Switch

The most difficult stance to ride and trick in. Switch is whichever stance is opposite to your natural stance. If you prefer to ride with your right foot forward then you are in switch if your left foot is forward, and vice versa.

Note that this is different to fakie because even though in fakie your off-foot is technically 'forwards', you are still in your most comfortable stance, just travelling backwards, and your legs do everything the same as in your natural stance. In switch, everything feels very odd indeed, and your legs perform the opposite role to those they normally do.

Switch Flip

A kickflip performed in switch.

Switching

The act of changing between the four common stances - fakie, natural, switch and nollie - by pivoting or reverting 180°.

Part of a skateboard - the rear kicktail. Although some skaters have an end they prefer to use as the tail, the tail is always defined as the rear regardless of which way the board may be facing.

Tailblock Slide

Grabbing the nose and pulling the board up so you are sliding just on the tail of the board; all 4 wheels are in the air.

Taildrop

From a tailstall, dropping off the obstacle by shifting your weight off it.

Tailgrab

Fairly self explanatory, and the opposite of a nosegrab; a grab trick involving gripping the tail of the skateboard with your back hand while in the air.

Tailslide

A slide on the underside of the tail only. The skateboard is at right angles to the obstacle.

Tailstall

Stalling with your weight centred on the tail. Like a tailslide without moving.

Tailstop

1. Coming to a halt by grinding the tail of the skateboard against the ground. 2. Standing on the tail when stationary, as a position to do tricks from in freestyle.

Tailtap

In vert skating, a brief tail stall on the coping of a half pipe on the way down from an air trick.

The Loop

Simply a classic loop-the-loop. Few skaters have done it, but Bob Burnquist mastered it, doing it switch and taking the roof out to essentially do a switch frontside air from one side of the loop to the other.

Tic Tac

The act of carving the skateboard repeatedly left and right in order to speed up while rolling. The front wheels are lifted between each carve causing the skateboard to make a distinctive 'tic tac' noise. If you're a beginner looking to learn how to tic tac, please see Skateboarding For Beginners, Part 2.

Toeside

Referring to a flip in the direction of the toe edge of the skateboard, or a railstand where the grip tape is facing your front. The opposite of heelside.

Tre Flip

Another name for a 360° flip.

Truck To Truck Transfer

A truck-to-truck transfer is a type of pogo or 50-50 truckstand where you effectively throw the board into a flip or rotation that results in you landing back to 50-50 or pogo on the other truck. Tommy Harward does more of these than I can even name.

Truckhook Impossible

A nosehook impossible performed by hooking your front foot behind the front trucks instead of under the nose of the board. Generally done on longer boards, where stretching to the nose can be uncomfortable, or as part of a freestyle trick called a broken fingers.

Trucks

Part of a skateboard - the mounting system for the skateboard wheels. Each consists of a base plate, hanger, axle, two cushions and two washers held together by a kingpin, and two nuts to hold on the wheels.

Truckstand

A flatland skating stance more accurately called a no handed 50-50. In a truckstand the skateboard is held almost upright with the top of the deck facing the ground slightly and balancing on one of it's kicktails. The skateboarders 'back' or bottom foot stands on the bottom truck while his 'front' or top foot is hooked on the other side of the deck to keep the skateboard upright, usually but not always near the top (it is positioned lower down when the skater wants to do a pogo.

This trick is more commonly known as a "no handed 50-50". See also the 50-50 truckstand.

Tuck Knee

Another name for a Japan Air.

TV Stand

A handstand in a pogo/truckstand position. One hand grips the back (or bottom) bolts, while another holds on to the nose of the skateboard. This is something I've never attempted or even seen done, and needless to say I imagine it's extremely difficult.

Tweak

A tweak is a general term used to describe a fine adjustment applied to a trick in order to make it more stylish or difficult (or both). Tweaks are usually applied to grab tricks by vert skaters. Some examples of specific types of tweaks are boning a trick or doing a shifty.

Twisted Flip

If you've read my articles about flatland skating you'll know all about spinning the board one way and jumping the other. The twisted flip is an advancement on this - a varial heelflip or varial kickflip with a body varial in the opposite direction to the spin of the board. In essence, a twisted flip is a boomerang with a flip thrown in for good measure.

A flip trick performed by flicking the skateboard from the underside of the skateboard. This can be achieved whilst on the ground by hooking a foot underneath the board (the original kickflip, the classic flip, was essentially a type of underflip) or after a normal flip trick performed in the regular fashion in order to get into a position to underflip.

The most common of this type of underflip is performed as part of a kickflip-underflip. Riders kick slightly downwards on the kickflip instead of forwards and sideways, so that when the board comes round to finishing it's flip the front foot is underneath the board, in a position to quickly kick back up so it flips another full time in the other direction.

It can be hard to spot someone doing one of these, since the whole motion is really fast, but if you see someone doing a weird disjointed flip trick where the leg moves two ways, chances are it's an underflip of some kind.