Skateboarding is hard. It can be frustrating, painful, and downright unforgiving. But why is it so hard?
I think most skateboarders appreciate how difficult their sport really is on a level that non-skaters don’t usually understand. They have spent months falling again and again onto concrete to learn to land that kickflip. They have bailed and fell while skating ledges and concrete bowls which can be downright dangerous without the right protective gear.
The amount of punishment you take from skateboarding doesn’t really compare to most sports. I would rank the difficulty of the sport up there with contact sports such as rugby and American football.
Why is Skateboarding So Hard?
Skateboarding requires a mix of dexterity, coordination, and persistence to progress in the sport. It can also be incredibly unforgiving as failing often means slamming into concrete. Progression of even the simplest tricks often takes months for beginners as skateboarding has a very steep learning curve.
Let’s take the example of the ollie. How do you ollie?
To do an ollie, you need to flick your back foot on the tail of the board while jumping up. As you jump up you need to have your front foot push forward at an angle to slide up against the board. Then you need to use your back foot to catch and level out the now airborne skateboard.
Keep in mind how leaning to any side, not jumping straight up, or turning your shoulders can ruin this seemingly simple trick.
The reality is that even the simplest skateboarding tricks require full-body coordination, impressive lower body dexterity, and training your body to go against its natural impulses.
While you perform any of these tricks your body is fighting you the whole way as it realizes the danger of jumping above a moving board on wheels. It understands how dropping into a concrete bowl could result in serious injuries.
Even for the ollie, so many people struggle with turning their shoulders as they anticipate a fall and then fail to land the ollie.
Skateboarding is an incredibly difficult sport to learn well and some people have been skating for years who still skate sloppily. So when you think of skateboarding, imagine the dexterity of a ballet dancer coupled with the impacts of a football player. That should give you an idea of what it’s like. Or better yet, go try and skate for a month and you’ll understand.
If you’re an adult trying to skateboard, check out our complete guide for adults who want to skateboard with a reality check.
How Difficult is Skateboarding?
Personally, I’ve tried quite a few sports. I’ve done baseball, pick-up football, ultimate frisbee, rock climbing, hiking, caving, basketball, and occasionally even soccer.
While I am a casual player at best in most of these sports, I was still able to do the basics of the sport within the first few times playing it. I wasn’t an expert, but I could hit and catch a baseball. I couldn’t climb El Torro, but there are definitely beginner walls I can scale rock climbing.
It isn’t quite the same with skateboarding. Of the beginners I have introduced to skating, most struggle to ride the board the first few times. Then beyond that, they are likely a month or two at least away from doing an ollie.
So for the first few months, a new skateboarder really can’t do much other than push around. In what other sports do you need to wait months to perform the basic moves?
I understand that you can push each sport to the point where they are all immensely difficult, but early on I think skateboarding might be the hardest sport. This is coming from an athletic person who has dabbled in many different sports and outdoor hobbies.
The learning curve is skateboarding is just so brutal compared to other sports.
How Long Does It Take to Become Good at Skateboarding?
This is a manner of opinion as to what good at skateboarding means. Personally, I consider being good at skateboarding as someone who is comfortable on their board and can land some basic tricks smoothly and cleanly.
Learning to skateboard well is quite difficult and takes years of practice. Even learning an ollie takes most skaters months to learn. Realistically, if they practice often and consistently, someone can expect to become good at skateboarding after 1-4 years.
I wouldn’t really consider myself good at skateboarding. I can land some tricks smoothly while there are some basic tricks I’ve never landed or learned (heelflip being one). So keep that in mind as we go forward.
Board and Wheels did an internet poll and asked skaters how long it took to learn how to ollie. The results are below.
45% of skaters we asked took 3 or more months to learn an ollie and 68% took at least a month to learn how to ollie. This data isn’t perfect as some people mean a decent, clean ollie, and others meant just getting wheels off the ground. However, the results still speak for themselves.
Even learning the basic building block of skateboarding takes most people a month or more to learn. But just being able to ollie doesn’t make you a decent or good skateboarder. So you understand that it takes years to become good at skateboarding.
I have been skating for about 1.5 years total as an adult, but am still not a good skateboarder by any means. I am often busy though and can only skate once a week.
If you’re struggling with your ollie, check out our data-driven review of the most common moving ollie problems.
Expected Beginner Progression
You really need to temper your expectations when it comes to learning skateboarding. Most people don’t understand exactly how long it takes to get good at it.
Below is a chart of your expected progression if you skate 3-4 times a week for around 1.5-2 hours a session. This is quite aggressive for most people and skating less will slow down your expected progress. Don’t stress too much if your progression doesn’t match this table.
| Month | Working On | Mastered |
| 1 | -Standing on your board, pushing off, stopping and turning | |
| 2 | -Standing on your board, pushing off, stopping and turning -Kickturns -Ollie | |
| 3 | -Getting comfortable on your skateboard -Kickturns -Ollie | -Standing on your board, pushing off, stopping and turning -Can do kickturns, but not mastered |
| 4 | -Getting comfortable on your skateboard -Kickturns -Ollie | -Standing on your board, pushing off, stopping and turning -Can do kickturns, but not mastered -Can ollie, but not mastered |
| 5 | -Ollie -Backside 180 -Pop-shuvit -Dropping in | -Standing on your board, pushing off, stopping and turning -Comfortable on your board -Kickturns -Can ollie, but not mastered |
| 6 | -Ollie -Backside 180 -Pop-shuvit -Dropping in | -Standing on your board, pushing off, stopping and turning -Comfortable on your board -Kickturns -Can ollie, but not mastered -Can backside 180, but not mastered |
Conclusion
So there you have it. Skating is difficult and honestly, I think it has the steepest learning curve out of all the sports I’ve tried. This means that skating might be the hardest sport for beginners.
Also, it takes a really long time to get good at skateboarding. Even learning an ollie takes most skaters a few months. But don’t get discouraged. Skating is about having fun, not being good or better than someone else. Just enjoy the little victories and be patient.
So thanks for reading and look out for more content from Board and Wheels.
