In the early days of street skateboarding, only the best skaters could do shuvits — sometimes spelled shove it. The progression of the sport has been a beautiful thing, though, and now the shuvit is pretty much the first trick most riders learn. Once you have the basic shuvit down, you can step up your game and learn how to pop shuvit. So, here’s how to get it done.
What Is A Pop Shuvit?
For the uninitiated, a shuvit is where you throw the skateboard around 180 degrees beneath your feet and land back on top of it. If you’re not sure what it looks like, this Video shows a skater doing a shuvit in slow motion.
The first thing to notice is that the back foot does all the work to make the board spin. The front foot simply moves up and out of the way. It is not a scissor-kick motion.
The next thing to notice is the setup. The front foot goes somewhere in the middle of the board. Its exact placement is irrelevant. The back foot is key, though. It goes on the tail, and the toes basically hang off the side — or edge — of the board. This placement gives you leverage to spin the board.
Be sure you are comfortable just rolling around on your board before you try this trick. Once you can push, roll and turn, you’re ready to start learning shuvits. They are as basic as it gets. If you’re not there yet, check out this article on skateboarding tips.
Landing Shuvits
You can learn this trick with your wheels stuck in a crack in the pavement if you wish, but you will then have to learn to do it all over again when rolling. I find it best just to skip the baby steps and dive right into the deep end. If you fall, that’s okay. Chicks dig scars.
So, get rolling at a slow rate of speed and then set up for the shuvit as described above. Then, in one smooth motion, jump up and use the bottom of your foot to throw the board sideways. You will be making the wheels lose traction and the board will spin beneath you. The front foot rises and the back foot spins the board. You don’t need to catch it in the air. Just land on top of it.
Putting Some Pop In It
You can set up for the pop shuvit the same way as a regular shuvit, but it really is not necessary to hang your toes off the edge to pop shuvit. I have always simply centered my foot on the tail and used the traction on the grip tape to provide leverage to spin the board. The right way is the one that you feel comfortable doing it, and the one that works for you. It’s okay to experiment.
The difference between a shuvit and a pop shuvit is obvious, but some beginners have the misconception that they need to throw the board hard sideways. You don’t need to do this, though. If you hear a scape of the tail across the concrete, you are overdoing it. When you get it right, you’ll hear a distinct “pop” when you hit the tail. This Video shows pop shuvits in slow motion from several angles.
The Catch
When you pop your tail off the concrete, the board will rebound and bounce up into the air. The slight sideways motion you make with your back foot will spin the board around. Be sure you jump with your weight evenly distributed between both feet, then pop with the back foot and leave the front foot in place, lifting it slightly higher in relation to the back foot than it was when you started.
When you leave the front foot in place, the back of the board will spin around and smack into the bottom of your shoe. If it doesn’t go perfectly, you can save the trick by reaching for the board with your front foot. The catch is done all with the front foot, which can also stop the board from over spinning. If you pop it right, though, overspinning won’t be an issue.
Start out small, and, once you can catch the board regularly, start working your way up to higher pop shuvits. Soon, you will find that a pop shuvit is easier than most other tricks, even the ollie. The pop shuvit has always been, and will always be, a cool trick. Once you have it in your bag, it will be there forever. You can then go for 360 pop shuvits, pop shuvit to grind, nollie pop shuvit and more.
Conclusion
Don’t be in a hurry to learn pop shuvits, sooner you also have to learn other skateboard tricks such as how to heelflip or ollie. Remember that everyone progresses at an individual rate. If you skate for the rest of your life like a true-blood, one day you’ll look back at this time and smile, no matter how frustrating it may seem at the time.
If this article helped you out, please share it so the next guy can add pop shuvits to his bag of tricks as well. Also, let us know what worked for you, and what didn’t, in the comments section below. We have more articles on the basics of skateboarding on the site, and we’ll be adding more regularly. So, check back often. Until next time, keep ripping!