ollies

Question
first off all, let me give u some background info on myself, im 13 n if u havnt guessed, im a girl (the only girl sk8r i no around is me unfortunatly) and i've been skating for about a year n i think its great! i have really just been focusing on ramp skating mainly, although i sometimes get some grief from some boys down my local skate park cos im a girl which is soooo annoying!But what is really annoying me right now is my ollies! i just can't get them right! everyone else's ollie's go like 2 ft high n mine goes 2 inches! i think im going wrong on my pop at the begginning as i just can't get enough height!i've been tring n tring but its just not working! please help

Answer
Don't let the boys get you down, you know they love having a girl skater around!  Just let your skating do the talking.  Ramp skating tends to have a different ollie rythm, so you have to adjust it a bit.  Now if you are talking about olieing on the street, that's a different story. I'll give you both.

Ramp ollie - quarter pipe / half pipe is different than going over a pyramid or something like a bank. For a ollie 180 on a half or  1/4  pipe:
   Get going a decent speed, then head almost straight up (angled a bit towards the side your going to do the 180 - that means if you are regular footed, you'll be doing a slight frontside carve. A very slight carve! too much and you'll just slip it up) Wait until your front wheels almost hit the coping and then pop the ollie. Guide the board by sucking up your legs as much as you can and jumping towards the flat bottom a little - this will keep you from locking up on the coping on re-entry. Turn your board not quite 180, maybe like 175, look at where you want to land (that would be about the height you ollied at, and farther down the ramp).  Extend those legs to meet the ramp and roll away ready to pump up the other side.


Bank / Pyramid ollie:
    Go fast, ollie slower letting the ramp throw you.make sure you level out and keep the board straight - or you'll eat pavement.  Once you're getting clean snaps across the deck / top of the pyramid, try going faster to clear the top deck, or adding a cone or board on it's side (wheels ALWAYS facing you!)at the top to ollie over.


Street ollie:
 Practice, practice, practice.  Always go full speed if you can, it will give more confidence later - trust me. oh yeah and learn to roll out of your bails!  Find some curbs that are various heights and practice ollieing up them clean, keep increasing the heigth, and make sure you suck up that back leg.

Hope this helps, and get out there and skate.