How to Drop In

with Jennifer Willis

Transcript: How to Drop In

What happens when most people go to drop in is they take one look at it, they get nervous, and the walk away. It's understandable, it's not an easy thing to do. If you follow some simple rules, or simple, basic fundamentals, you should have no problem with it.

Hi - my name is Jennifer Willis from Uptown Skate School here with About.com and I'm going to show you how to drop in.

Place Your Skateboard on the Ramp

To drop in, what you have to do is you have to put your tail basically on the coping, with your wheels over the coping. You don't want your wheels behind the coping or they'll probably get caught up and you'll go, and your board will stay. So with your wheels over the coping - almost into the ramp - you're going to have your one foot behind you and then you're going to place it on the front of your board and follow through, keeping your shoulders parallel to the board as you drop in to the ramp.

Position Your Body to Drop In

Like all things in skateboarding, dropping in is counterintuitive. You start off in a vertical position with the nose of your board facing up, and then essentially you're going to end up in a vertical position with your nose pointing down. Some people say that a good way, if you're doing this for the first time, is keep yourself bent, very close to the board - some people like to grab the nose of the board as they go in.

I tend to find that you don't have very good balance once you're in. It's easier to get yourself motivated to do it, but once you're down there you're kind of too bent. The best thing that you can do is to start off with your knees already slightly bent, and your foot off to the side and to try to make a smooth motion and go forward.

How to Practice the Drop In

If you feel like you're not ready for it - a good way to try to practice without actually having to be on a ramp - is to take your board onto a curb and try doing it with a curb. You can drop straight off of a curb, and that feeling is almost the same motion you would get as if you were dropping onto a ramp. A good way to start riding a ramp is actually before you even drop in - to get used to it - start just right in the middle of the ramp and pushing up and down.

Pump up the sides a little bit, get some motion - even get your wheels actually to touch the coping, so that you're not afraid of it. And then that's probably the best time for you to take the plunge and just do it and drop in.

Falling When Dropping In

I know it's scary - you're probably going to fall - it's a good idea to wear pads and helmet. Don't worry about what other people think - it's all about you and you'll probably do it, and you'll probably find that you're pretty successful with it on the first try. One of the fundamentals is don't lean back. Everybody leans back the first time - you're probably going to do it - don't get discouraged. Just try to remember that you want to keep your shoulders parallel to the board at all times. And, as you're going from the vertical up position to the vertical down position, just try to follow it with you whole body.

Flexibility and Dropping In

Just keep yourself nice and loose - try not to get too stiff. Especially right when you're about to drop in, people tend to get real tense right before they do something that they're afraid of. Try to mentally picture yourself doing it and then go through with it. Make sure that you're relaxed and that's it. So that's all there is to dropping in and just remember that when you're standing up there, what's the worst thing that can happen?

This is Jennifer Willis with Uptown Skate School - for more trick tips, check out About.com.

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