Tony Hawk's Trick Tips Volume Two follows on the heels of the first Tony Hawk instructional skateboarding video. If you've mastered the basics, then this might be the next video for you. In in, Tony Hawk teams up with legendary street skater Eric Koston to go into some more intermediate or advanced street tricks, and Colin McKay teaches some ramp skateboarding tricks with Tony Hawk. Volume Two continues the in most of the style of Volume One, keeping everything light, comfortable and approachable. It's not quite as well done as the first, but should still be useful for skaters who want more challenge.
Tony Hawk's Trick Tips 2 Overview
Tony Hawk is a vert skater, and so he turns the largest part of the video over to Eric Koston. Eric Koston knows street skating, and is easily one of the best. Throughout this section, Tony Hawk helps explain tricks, but is also re-learning some of these tricks right along with the viewer. This adds in some great insights, and a cool feel to the video. Plus, it should encourage you that if Tony Hawk is taking some time to re-learn this stuff, don't be stressed if it takes you a while too!
Here's a list of the street tricks covered in Tony Hawk's Trick Tips Volume Two, the Essentials of Street:
- Backside Feeble Grind
- Frontside Smith Grind
- Frontside Boardslide
- Backside Lipslide
- Frontside Noseslide
- Backside 180 Kickflip
- Frontside 180 Kickflip
- 360 Flip
- Backside 180 Heelflip
- Frontside 180 Heelflip
- Frontside Varial Kickflip
- Hardflip
Even though the video is called, "The Essentials for Street", the second part of the video covers ramp tricks. Colin McKay teams up with Tony Hawk on this part, and they teach these ramp tricks:
- Knee Slides
- Axle Stall
- 50-50 Grind
- Pivots
- 5-0 Grind
- Frontside Ollie
- Fakie Disaster
- Backside Disaster
The tricks are covered with a good amount of depth. For each one, Eric Koston explains it and demonstrates it, and then Tony Hawk gives it a shot, adding his own insights. They keep a good attitude, and I was very satisfied with how well they explained everything. Several of these tricks work into each other, and I like the tricks that these pros chose to teach.
Impressions and Extras from Volume Two
Just like in
Tony Hawk's Trick Tips Volume One - Skateboarding Basics, Tony Hawk and the other instructors all seem relaxed and easy going in this video. It has a strong un-rehearsed feeling, like Tony Hawk is just sitting around and talking with you about how to skate. Eric Koston is relaxed and funny, and Colin McKay is ridiculous and entertaining.
In the first video, there were little pop-ups with fun information. In Volume Two, these take the form of creepy paper cut out heads with puppet mouths that say hardly anything useful or interesting. They're just weird and creepy.
In the middle of the street instructions with Eric Koston, there is a part where Tony Hawk and Eric Koston are just sitting in the grass, and Tony asks Eric about how he started skateboarding, and other stuff about his background and history. It's interesting, and provides a nice break if you are watching the entire video in one sitting.
In the second part, the ramp section, there are several "Stylin with Colin McKay" parts where Colin McKay gives you funny advice on how to look cooler while NOT skateboarding. Things like how to pick up your board in a cool way, or how to spice up your knee slides to impress the ladies. It's very funny, and doesn't distract too much from the instruction. Colin McKay is a very funny guy.
Complaints About The Essentials of Street
The teaching in this video is pretty solid, but there are a couple of little things that I didn't care for.
Like I mentioned earlier, the little pop-up talking heads of the skaters are just plain creepy. Plus, they don't offer much extra info or help, like the pop-ups in Volume One.
The background music is terrible through the whole film.
And, people might complain that even though this video is called, "The Essentials of Street", there's a whole ramps section. Of course, this is a lame complaint. Just think of the ramp stuff of "bonus".
The Final Word on Tony Hawk's Trick Tips II
I liked this video. If you are past the basics, and looking for some tricks to learn to push you to the next level, Tony Hawk's Trick Tips Volume Two is a great choice. Even if you skate mostly at the skatepark or on ramps, this is a good video to use. Just like in the first Tony Hawk Trick Tips, this video has comfortable, relaxed instruction that manages to get the whole point across in a way that's easy to understand.
If you are a new skater, I would recommend getting a beginner skateboarding video like Tony Hawk Trick Tips Volume One, or something else. But for intermediate skateboarders, this is a fine instructional video choice. I recommend it.
