This is a very difficult technical trick that is not really seen often. The execution is awkward and a bit different than at any other flip trick. You will need to practice some odd moves, but in the end, it is not too messed up to not get it eventually. It can be done in all stances, but the best-looking and most common nerd flip is probably the nollie version, so let’s see what is going on with it!
So, prepare the stance. Your front foot is on the pocket of the nose, and your back foot is on the tail just where the tail concave starts. Your toes should hang off the board to let you rotate the board. Roll in with a comfortable speed and make a slight nollie pop. At the same time, push your board with your back foot into a nollie backside shove-it rotation. This is the first tricky part, as you don’t flick as you would normally do, but rather like you are trying to grab the edge of the board with your toes that are set hanging off.
Once the board is going shove it, kick the bottom side of the board with your back foot in order to flip, just behind the inner side of your front truck. This must be done very quickly and precisely because otherwise, you won’t have time to catch the board into landing.
It should all happen centered under your feet, and the body weight should be on your front foot before the pop.
The landing is not much different from any other flat ground flip trick, because when you learn the tricky part of how to accurately spin the board into a nerd flip, it becomes just another nollie varial heel.
We’re not gonna break down every single step here—this one’s for skaters who already have some solid flip tricks under their belt. If that’s you, this trick shouldn’t be too hard to wrap your head around. Feel free to try other variations later, or add a shove-it to turn it into a 360 nerd flip—but before all that, make sure you’ve got the flick dialed in, or your nerd flips are gonna live up to the name.