How to Pop Shuvit on a Skateboard

The pop shuvit (or shove-it) is a great early skateboarding trick to learn. A shuvit is where you jump into the air without spinning and your skateboard spins underneath you. The skateboard doesn't pop into the air, it just spins, usually around just once at first, but really, as many times as you want it to.

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Pop Shuvit Setup

How to Pop Shove It
Nick Dolding / Getty Images

The difference between a shuvit and a pop shuvit is, of course, the pop. In a pop shuvit, the skateboard pops into the air and spins around. In a shuvit, you don't need to know how to ollie. A pop shuvit is a combination of a shuvit and an ollie. Take some time getting used to riding your skateboard before learning to do a backside pop shuvit. 

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Shuvit Stance

How To Pop Shuvit Skater: Matt Metcalf
Michael Andrus

The first thing to master is the shuvit. The stance is the same whether you're doing the trick backside or frontside. You can shuvit while either rolling or standing still --- whichever is easier for you. Some people can only shuvit rolling, and others say it's easier when standing still. If one way doesn't work for you, give the other way a shot. It's easier to learn how to shuvit with the wheels rolling, however. Get a little speed. Not too much. Place the ball of your back foot in the middle of the tail of your board.

Your front foot is a little tricky. Once you have the shuvit down, you want to have it in the center of your board, with your toes off the edge a little. Some people like to have the ball of their front foot in the center of the board. The rule in skateboarding is that if it works for you, then do it. If you have problems with this positioning, try moving your front foot around a little. When you are first starting to learn to shuvit, put your front foot up further on the board, closer to the front trucks. Then, as you gain confidence and skill, try it with your front foot closer to the middle of the board.

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Shuvit

How To Pop Shuvit Skater: Matt Metcalf
Michael Andrus

Check out the difference in backside and frontside shuvit in the skateboarding dictionary to get a long definition. But basically, a backside turn is where someone turns with his back toward the outside of the turn. If you ride regular, then when you turn clockwise, that's a backside turn.

Frontside would be turning the other way, with the front of your body facing the outside of the turn. If you already know how to ollie, focus on the backside shuvit and then the backside pop shuvit. Otherwise, just focus on shuvits and figure out the pop versions once you know how to ollie. In a shuvit, you shouldn't spin at all. But your board will spin backside or frontside.

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Shuvit Jump and Push

How To Pop Shuvit Skater: Matt Metcalf
Michael Andrus

Place your feet correctly and bend your knees. You don't need to go as low as on an ollie -- just enough to jump. Now, jump.

 

For a Backside Shuvit

When you jump, you want to push the tail of your board back behind you, using the ball of your foot. Your front foot should stay just above the board so it keeps the board from popping into the air. Some people like to also kick with the heel of their front foot to help it spin more --this only works if your foot is not in the center of the board, which is where you want to have it once you have the shuvit figured out. In a shuvit, your back foot does most of the work.

For a Frontside Shuvit

When you jump, you kick the tail of your board out in front of you. Otherwise, everything that works for the backside shuvit works for the frontside version. Your front foot should stay just above the board so it keeps the board from popping into the air.

Spinning

Either way, you want to make sure that you push that tail hard enough to get the board to spin around, at least 180 degrees -- all the way around once, so that the tail ends up where the nose was. If you end up making it spin around twice (360 degrees), that's fine too. But for now, just aim for one spin.

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Shuvit Landing

How to Pop Shuvit - Pop Shuvit Landing
Michael Andrus

Keep an eye on the board while it spins around and you are in the air. When you see that it has spun once around, catch it with your feet. This means put your feet down on the board, with your front foot near the middle or toward the nose, and your back foot near the tail. Make sure you catch it, or it will keep spinning, and you might land with your board sideways (which means you will eat pavement).

Bend your knees when you land to absorb the shock, keep your balance and ride away. If you weren't rolling, then just land and keep your balance.

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Pop Shuvit Pop

How to Pop Shuvit - Pop Shuvit Pop
Michael Andrus

A pop shuvit is a combo of an ollie and a shuvit. You must learn how to ollie before you attempt pop shuvits.

Set up for a pop shuvit just as you did for a shuvit. it's best to learn this while rolling. Once you have some speed, put your feet in the same places you did for the shuvit (back foot -- ball of your foot in the middle of the tail; front foot -- across the middle of the board). Now, ollie.

Backside Pop Shuvit

In the middle of your ollie, instead of just popping the tail with your back foot, you want to pop it and push it back behind you. It's something of a kicking or flicking motion, combined with the pop. It might take some practice.

 

Frontside Pop Shuvit

For a frontside turn, in the middle of your ollie, instead of just popping the tail with your back foot, you want to pop it and kick it forward in front of you. Use the same motion as with the backside version, 

This motion, the popping of the tail and the pushing of the board, is often called scooping. The secret is to make sure you pop the board but also push the board right after the pop. This combines into a sort of diagonal push, or scoop. Make sure you push the tail of the board toward the nose -- this will help keep the board from going behind you. Also, rolling should help with that, too. Pop and scoop the board.

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Pop Shuvit Front Foot

How to Pop Shuvit - Pop Shuvit Front Foot
Michael Andrus

Normally in an ollie, you would slide your front foot up the board -- for a backside pop shuvit, you don't. Just pull it up out of the way (straight up -- don't pull it out toward the side). Your front foot can either be right above the board, touching it to make sure the board doesn't turn wrong in the air, or your front foot can get out of the way.

If the board tries to do anything besides a varial spin (a spin around in a circle below you), keep it steady with your front foot and practice getting that spin cleaner. Some skaters keep their front foot touching the middle of the board through the entire pop shuvit.

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Pop Shuvit Landing

How to Pop Shuvit - Pop Shuvit Landing
Michael Andrus

So you're in the air, the board has spun around beneath you, now what? Catch the board with your feet once it has spun around once (or twice or three times, if that's what you are going for). Just like with a backside shuvit, make sure you catch the board or it will spin too much.

For a good, clean backside pop shuvit you want to catch the board when it is right at the top of its pop, just before it starts to fall back to the ground again. It'll take some practice to figure out when this is. Land, bend your knees and roll away.

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Pop Shuvit Problems

How to Pop Shuvit - Pop Shuvit Problems
Steve Cave

 

  • The board flips (as opposed to spinning, which is all it is supposed to do) -- Try pop shuviting with your front foot closer to the board. If you still have the problem, then let more of your front foot touch the board while it spins. You can always focus later on learning to do the backside pop shuvit without touching the board.
  • The board spins too much or not enough --  Well, that would be a problem with your back foot, as it should be doing all the work. Your front foot is just there to steady the board, get out of the way and help you land. If your board spins too much, you are pushing it too hard. If it doesn't spin enough, you are not pushing it hard enough. It's that simple. To fix this problem, try pushing it only a little. Now try again, pushing a little more. Keep doing that, until you get it to spin just as much as you want.
  • The board lands behind you -- You want to do this entire trick with your back foot. You are either using your front foot too much or when you scoop you aren’t pushing the board forward enough. When you pop and scoop,  push the tail toward the nose, all with a diagonal combo pop. This will help push the board along. It will want to fly behind you, but with this push you should balance that out.
  • Chickenfoot --  This is the most irritating problem to have. This is where you pop up into the air, but when you land, for some reason one of your feet always seems to land on the ground. You should have gotten over this problem when learning to ollie -- if you need to, go back and re-learn to ollie without chickenfooting.