Skateboarding Glossary

A grind in which both trucks slide along an edge such as a rail or ledge. The most fundamental grind, and a common building block judges read for setup difficulty before the rest of a line.

Short for Already Been Done — a trick or trick-on-obstacle combination that has been landed before. The opposite of an NBD; landing an ABD scores on execution and style rather than progression credit.

A trick performed with all four wheels off the riding surface, typically out of a transition or off a ramp. In park, amplitude (how far above the coping) is a major factor judges weigh into difficulty.

Stepping or jumping off the board before completing a trick to avoid a harder fall. A bail ends that attempt with no score, but in a 45-second run a quick bail can preserve time for the rest of the performance.

The single-trick phase of street competition: skaters get five attempts at one obstacle and only the highest-scoring lands count. Under the Olympic street format, the two best trick scores add to the best run for a maximum of 300 points.

A slide in which the board crosses an edge perpendicular, sliding on its underside between the trucks. Distinguished from a lipslide by which way the skater approaches and turns into the obstacle.

A pool-shaped concrete structure with continuous transitions, used in park skating. Judges reward flow, line choice, and use of the full bowl including the deep end, extensions, and hips.

Stopping a flipping or spinning board with the feet and bringing it back under control before landing. A clean, high catch is a core execution marker; a late or sketchy catch lowers the score even when the trick lands.

Landing tricks cleanly and repeatedly under pressure, especially across runs and best-trick attempts. Judges factor consistency into the overall impression because a run carried by one stuck trick reads weaker than one that holds together throughout.

The rounded edge (usually steel or pool block) at the lip of a ramp, quarterpipe, or bowl. Tricks done on or above the coping are reference points for measuring amplitude and grind difficulty in park.

A grind on the front truck with the nose angled into the obstacle, the board crooked relative to the edge. A technical grind that reads as higher difficulty than a 50-50, especially switch or nollie.

The technical complexity of tricks — flips, grinds, slides, combinations, and stance (switch and nollie add difficulty). World Skate lists it as the leading criterion, but there is no difficulty table or multiplier; judges weigh it by experience inside one overall score.

Entering a transition from the top by tipping the board over the coping and committing weight forward. A common start for a park run; not itself a scored trick but the gateway to line and speed.

How cleanly tricks are performed: solid pop, controlled catch, stable landing, and a clean roll-away. A wobble, sketchy landing, or sideways credit-card landing reduces the score even on a difficult trick.

Rolling backward while standing in the regular stance, with the tail leading. Tricks done fakie are scored as harder than their standard-stance versions because the skater pops and lands moving backward.

Smooth, continuous movement that links tricks without unnecessary pushes or pauses. A core judging consideration, especially in park, where maintaining speed and rhythm through transitions raises the overall impression.

A stance with the right foot forward, the mirror of regular. Stance itself is neutral for scoring; what matters is whether a trick is done in the skater's natural stance versus switch.

Holding part of the board with a hand during an air. Different grabs (indy, mute, melon, stalefish) add style and variety in park and vert, and combining grabs with rotation raises difficulty.

Sliding along an edge on one or both trucks rather than the board's underside. Grind type (50-50, smith, crooked, feeble), the obstacle, and the stance all feed the difficulty and variety judges read.

A flip trick combining a frontside pop shove-it with a kickflip, the board rotating between the legs. Considered a technically demanding flip; landing it clean reads as high difficulty.

The senior official who oversees the judging panel, manages scoring procedure, and handles disputes and signal calls such as TNS. The head judge ensures the five-judge panel applies criteria consistently across all skaters.

A scored group of skaters competing together within a round or section, often used to seed athletes toward semifinals and finals. Heat draws and progression rules are set by the competition format.

A flip trick where the board spins along its length off the heel-side flick of the front foot — the mirror of a kickflip. A foundational flip used as a difficulty and variety reference.

A point where two ramp or bowl sections meet at an angle, used to launch airs or transfer between sections. Using hips well shows use of course and adds variety in park judging.

An air grab where the trailing hand grabs the toe edge between the feet. One of the most common grabs in transition and park; recognizable and stylish, often combined with rotation.

A flip trick where the board spins one full rotation along its length off a flick of the front foot. One of the foundational flip tricks; a clean kickflip with style can outscore a sloppy harder trick.

A connected sequence of tricks performed across multiple obstacles in one run. Creative, well-linked lines that use different features score higher than repeating tricks in one spot.

A slide where the back of the board crosses over the obstacle before the skater slides on the board's underside, the body turning into the edge. Approached and rotated opposite to a boardslide, generally read as harder.

Balancing on the back two wheels (nose manual on the front two) while rolling, without the tail touching down. Manual combinations and manual-to-trick links add technical difficulty and variety.

Short for Never Been Done — a trick or trick-on-obstacle combination landed for the first time. NBDs represent progression and are weighted heavily by judges when assessing difficulty.

Popping off the nose while standing in regular stance (nose ollie). Nollie tricks are scored as harder than their standard counterparts and add stance variety to a run.

The foundational trick: popping the tail to lift the whole board off the ground with no hands. Almost every other trick builds on the ollie, including jumping onto obstacles and into grinds.

The whole-run judging standard in skateboarding: each run is scored as one whole performance on a 0–100 scale, not trick-by-trick. Difficulty, execution, variety, flow, consistency, and use of course are weighed together into one number.

An Olympic discipline skated in a bowl-like course of transitions. Skaters take 3 runs of 45 seconds and only the best run counts, for a maximum of 100 points; there is no best-trick phase.

The snap of the tail against the ground that launches a trick into the air. Strong, consistent pop is a baseline execution marker — height and crispness off the pop feed both difficulty and style.

A single curved transition a quarter of a pipe in profile, used to gain air and change direction. A standard park and vert feature where amplitude above the coping factors into difficulty.

A stance with the left foot forward, the most common natural stance. Stance is scoring-neutral by itself; the contrast that matters to judges is natural stance versus switch.

Doing the same trick or trick type more than once in a performance. World Skate lists repetition as a judging factor — repeating tricks lowers variety and the overall impression, though TNS lets a skater retry a trick without a repetition penalty.

Riding away cleanly and in control after landing a trick. A controlled roll-away confirms the trick counts; rolling away sketchy, slow, or having to put a foot down lowers the execution score.

A timed performance (45 seconds in Olympic street and park) in which a skater strings tricks across the course. Judges score the run as one piece on a 0–100 scale; street counts the best of 2 runs, park the best of 3.

A distinct part of a course or competition — an obstacle area in a park or a scored block of a contest format. Using multiple sections rather than one area contributes to use-of-course credit.

A hard, uncontrolled fall during an attempt. A slam ends the trick with no score; in a run, recovering quickly to use remaining time matters more than the fall itself.

Street League Skateboarding, a flagship pro street series. SLS scores on a 0.0–10.0 scale with a ranked, knockout-style format — distinct from the Olympic 0–100 trimmed-mean system, not a different scale for the same method.

A grind on the back truck with the front truck dropped below the edge and the nose pointing down. A technical grind read as higher difficulty than a 50-50, more so switch or nollie or with a flip in or out.

An Olympic discipline skated on rails, ledges, stairs, and gaps. The format is 2 runs of 45 seconds plus 5 best-trick attempts; the score is the best run plus the two best tricks, for a maximum of 300 points.

Skating in the unnatural stance — a regular skater riding as if goofy and vice versa. Switch tricks are scored as significantly harder than their standard-stance versions and add major variety.

A slide along an edge on the tail with the nose pointing away from the obstacle. A technical ledge trick whose difficulty rises with switch or nollie entry and flip-out.

Trick Not Scored, introduced for Paris 2024. In the Street best-trick phase, a skater who lands a trick can reject the score by crossing both arms above the head within 5 seconds. It counts as 0, but the same trick can be re-attempted with no repetition penalty. The rule applies only where individual tricks are scored, so it does not arise in the Park run format.

Curved ramp surface (quarterpipes, bowls, vert walls) as opposed to flat ground and rails. Skating transition rewards flow, speed, pumping, and amplitude in park judging.

Also called a 360 flip: a kickflip combined with a 360-degree backside shove-it, so the board flips and spins flat at once. A signature technical flip that reads as high difficulty when caught and rolled away clean.

The scoring math used to combine the five judges: the highest and lowest scores are dropped and the middle three are averaged. This prevents any single judge from having outsized influence and is applied to every run and trick.

How fully a skater uses the obstacles and sections available rather than staying in one area. A standalone judging criterion — in park it means using the whole bowl including the deep end, extensions, and hips.

The mix of trick types, obstacles, and stances in a performance — flips, grinds, slides, manuals, switch and nollie. Judges factor variety into the overall impression; a run heavy on one trick type scores lower than a varied one.

Skating on tall ramps that go vertical at the top, where tricks are large airs above the coping. A distinct transition discipline (not on the current Olympic program) judged on amplitude, difficulty, and style.

The international federation governing competitive skateboarding, including Olympic qualification and the World Skateboarding Ranking. World Skate publishes the street and park rules and the judging criteria used at sanctioned events.