When skaters discuss how to hold their boards, it’s typically to avoid appearing like a “poser” or to seem like a “true skater.”
That’s all well and good if that’s important to you. However, there are correct and incorrect methods to hold a skateboard that has nothing to do with what the other people believe and everything to do with avoiding injury. Here’s how you should handle your skateboard if you care more about maintaining it in good shape than whether Steven down at the skatepark thinks you’re “for genuine.”
How to Properly Hold a Skateboard
Hold your skateboard horizontally under your arm, with your arm about centered between the trucks & your fingers wrapped over the bottom edge of the deck, to preserve it in the greatest shape. If you don’t want your clothes to get ruined, turn the wheels or trucks toward you. If it seems more natural and you don’t care about your clothes, face the wheels and trucks aside from you and then let the grip tape do its thing. It makes no difference. The carry will be the same in either case and will not cause any harm to the board.
How to Hold Your Skateboard on Your Shoulders
The shouldered grip, sometimes known as “stocks,” is a variant of the classic side hold. This hold does the same thing as a standard hold, but instead of carrying the board by its components, it carries it by its deck. Place your skateboard across your shoulders with wheels and trucks facing you and your arms up behind it, grabbing the top edge, for a shoulder hold.
A shoulder hold, like a side hold, should not harm your board. The main disadvantages of a shoulder hold are that it may get tiresome after a while (as does holding your board with one arm) and that it’s easier to lose your grasp because your hands aren’t on the bottom of the board.
How to Hold a Penny Board
Because penny skateboards are essentially little plastic skateboards, it’s not surprising that the same rules apply to them as they do to full-size skateboards. A penny may be tucked under your arm, held across your shoulders, or pressed against your nose. However, because penny skateboards are much smaller than normal skateboards, you have a few more alternatives for carrying them.
Holding Your Skateboard By The Nose
A nasal squeeze is completely fair when you’re not going to have been holding your skateboard for lengthy periods. Simply grip the front kick tail & pull it up to nose pinch your board. After popping your board up between tricks, you’ll usually carry it by its nose. There’s nothing wrong with carrying a skateboard this way forever (it won’t hurt), but your hand won’t appreciate it, so it’s more of a temporary solution.
Hold Your Skateboard However You Want
Welp. That is all there is to it. These are the safest ways to hold your skateboard to avoid damaging it by slamming it against steps and curbs. You should be alright as long as you can obtain some leverage below the board and retain a hand on without pushing at the functional components. Do you need to move your board more than a few steps? See How to Carry a Skateboard for further information.
