The pop shove-it looks like a simple spin, but it teaches a scoop motion with your back foot that shows up in half the flip tricks you’ll learn later. It’s also one of the more frustrating beginner tricks because the board can spin out from under you if your timing is off. Here’s how to break it down.
What Is a Pop Shove-It?
A pop shove-it rotates the board 180 degrees under your feet while your body stays facing forward, unlike a 180 where your whole body turns. The board pops off the ground and spins flat, and you catch it with both feet as it comes back around. Our Skateboard Tricks for Beginners guide covers it as one of the five moves to learn after your ollie, and this guide walks through the full technique.
Why the Pop Shove-It Matters
The scoop motion your back foot makes during a shove-it is the exact same motion that flip tricks like the kickflip and heelflip build on, just without the flick from your front foot. Riders who skip straight to flip tricks without a solid shove-it often struggle with inconsistent board rotation, since they never isolated that scooping motion on its own. Learning it separately first makes everything that follows click faster.
How to Pop Shove-It: Step by Step
1. Set Your Foot Position
Place your back foot on the tail at a slight angle, with your toes hanging slightly off the edge rather than pointing straight across the board. Your front foot sits near the middle of the board, angled slightly too, ready to catch the board rather than pop it.
2. Practice the Scoop Motion Standing Still
Before adding any pop, practice just the scoop: push down and back with your back foot while sliding it off the tail’s edge, spinning the board 180 degrees on the ground without leaving it. Getting this motion familiar with your board stationary makes the full trick far less overwhelming once you add a pop.
3. Add the Pop
Combine a normal ollie pop with the scoop motion: snap the tail down and immediately drag your back foot off the edge in a scooping motion instead of straight back like a regular ollie. The board should pop up and begin spinning flat beneath you.
4. Let the Board Rotate Under You
Resist the urge to jump forward and chase the rotation. Stay relatively still in the air and let the board spin underneath your feet; your job is to bring your feet back down to meet it, not to follow it around.
5. Catch It With Both Feet
As the board completes its rotation, bring both feet down evenly onto the bolts to absorb the landing and stop the spin. Catching it off-center or with just one foot is what usually sends the board shooting out sideways.
Common Pop Shove-It Mistakes
- Scooping too hard — an aggressive scoop over-rotates the board past 180 degrees, so it’s already turning past flat by the time you land. Ease into the motion.
- Jumping with the board — following the rotation with your whole body instead of staying still just adds unpredictable spin. Keep your upper body calm.
- Looking down instead of ahead — like most tricks, watching your feet throws off your balance more than it helps.
- Catching with just your front foot — this is the most common cause of the board sliding out from under you on landing. Both feet need to land together.
Practicing the Scoop Separately
If your rotation is inconsistent, go back to the standing-still scoop drill and repeat it until it feels automatic before reintroducing the pop. Rushing straight to full speed attempts without isolating the scoop is the single biggest reason this trick takes longer than it needs to. Once your ollie pop is consistent on its own, our How to Ollie for Beginners guide is worth revisiting to make sure your base pop technique isn’t the bottleneck.
What to Learn After the Pop Shove-It
Once you’re landing pop shove-its consistently, the kickflip is a natural next step since it borrows the same scooping motion and adds a flick from your front foot. Riders who nail the shove-it first typically land their first kickflip faster than those who jump straight to flip tricks. See our How to Kickflip for Beginners guide when you’re ready for that next step.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does it take to learn a pop shove-it?
Most riders with a consistent ollie already can land their first pop shove-it within a few sessions, though catching it cleanly every time usually takes longer.
Why does my board spin too far or not enough?
Too far usually means an overly aggressive scoop; not enough usually means you’re not committing to the scoop motion fully. Both are fixed by practicing the standing-still scoop drill until the motion feels consistent.
Do I need to learn an ollie before a pop shove-it?
Yes, a consistent ollie pop is the foundation the shove-it builds on. Trying to learn both at once usually just leads to more frustration with each.
Is a pop shove-it or a kickflip easier?
Most riders find the pop shove-it a bit easier since it doesn’t require the precise flick timing a kickflip needs, which is why it’s commonly learned first.
Final Thoughts
The pop shove-it rewards patience with the scoop motion more than raw pop power. Isolate the scoop standing still, add a controlled pop, and stay calm while the board spins under you instead of chasing it. Once it clicks, you’ll notice it makes every flip trick that follows feel more familiar.
