Rodney Mullen Skateboard Methods

There is maybe no other skateboarder in record who has contributed a lot more to skateboarding than Rodney Mullen. Mullen invented a lot of, if not most of the frequent street methods widely applied nowadays, as effectively as inventing the skateboard deck shape now shared by 90% of present-day contemporary skateboards.

In the 1980’s the place freestyle contests dominated the pro skateboarding circuit, Mullen entered his 1st contest at only eleven several years previous and gained. He would go on to dominate the freestyle contests throughout the 80’s. It was through this time that he invented most of his tips.

When the 80’s came to a close and the 90’s commenced, freestyle skateboarding was going out of fashion and street skating was taking about. Mullen co-launched Entire world Industries with fellow freestyle skateboarding pro Steve Rocco. Mullen was persuaded by pals to ditch his outdated compact freestyle deck and take to the greater street decks that all people else was skating. He adapted all his freestyle tricks to road skating. Even though at Earth Industries, he also experimented with deck shapes of the boards they designed, rounding the nose and tail and generating them much better and longer, with straight sides, producing them basically much larger variations of the freestyle boards he employed to skate. This essential shape is now the template for about 90% of present-day recent decks. Environment Industries went on to become the best skateboard business in the globe, possessing 80% of the industry share, ahead of they offered it.

Mullen is the inventor of many street skateboarding tips, even the flatground ollie as we know it now. Alan Gelfand is credited with inventing the ollie, but he did it is swimming pools, needing the velocity of the vert to do it, and he in no way actually tapped the deck to the floor. Mullen w2as the first to find that by hitting the tail to the floor for the pop, that it could be finished on flat ground and ollies could be larger. Mullen was likely the first to at any time ollie higher than six inches. If this was Mullen’s only contribution, he would continue to be a legend. But that is only the beginning. He also invented the kickflip & the 540 double kickflip, the heelflip & double heelflip, the unattainable, the tre-flip (360 flip) as properly as the 360 stress Flip, the ollie fingerflip, airwalks, casper slides, darkslides, and 540 Shuvits. Here are just a several additional:

· Godzilla Rail Flip
· 50-50 Saran Wrap
· Helipops (360 Nollie)
· Gazelles
· No Handed 50-50 Kickflip
· Sidewinders
· Casper 360 Flip
· 50-50 Sidewinders
· 1 footed Ollie
· Backside 180 Flip
· Ollie Nosebones
· Frontside Heelflip Shove-its
· Switchstance 360 Flips
· Helipop Heelflips
· Kickflip Underflip
· Caballerial not possible
· Fifty percent-taxi kickflip underflip
· Handstand flips
· Rusty slides

A number of a lot more interesting Rodney Mullen factoids:
Mullen won the incredibly very first freestyle levels of competition he at any time entered in 1977, not to mention winning just about every freestyle levels of competition he entered thereafter. In truth, he only shed after in his whole everyday living. When he arrived in 2nd mainly because he was unwell. He is also not only the the co-founder of Earth Industries, but also the founder of Pretty much skateboard corporation.

“Do what you enjoy and test not to look at what other men and women occupy themselves with. Most people today appear restless and bounce all around much too considerably to aim or even pay out focus sufficient to on their own to determine out just what they truly do like, as opposed to what the individuals that encompass them are undertaking.”

– Rodney Mullen