Why freestyle?
A freestyle trick is never truly concluded. There are always other possible variations or combinations it can be weaved into, thus providing a seemingly endless source of often very challenging but rewarding possibilities.
I’m no flatland purist by any means but freestyle certainly has the most influence on my skating. Finding ways to use the skateboard in a technical and somewhat unconventional manner is simply more interesting to me.
Can you tell us where you get your inspiration from?
With the internet now constantly feeding us sooo much skate content on multiple platforms, I feel my inspiration…often comes from 50 different skaters an hour, many of whom I’ve never even heard of.
I can recall however the most pivotal source of inspiration for me, the one that fundamentally changed the way I skate. Rewind some 20 years, back when I was a teen skate rat ollieing 2 sets and bombing hills, before I even knew freestyle existed. I had no skate videos. 🙁 But my local video rental had one, just one. It was a copy of Future Primitive (1985), Bones Brigade Video II, on VHS. Mullen and Welinder blew my little mind.
What was teen Michael’s most epic freestyle trick battle?
Carousel! A battle [that w]as a result of naive ambition…
I took on carousels way too early, before my abilities were realistically ready to tackle them. Attempts were exhaustingly well into triple figures before it was finally landed.
And what is adult Michael’s current freestyle trick battle a) on flatground and b) on the bank?
Ollie finger lazer flip is currently proving to be my most challenging flatground aspiration. And on the bank; it’s truck stand treflip out.
Both of these very different tricks have one thing in common: ‘in practice’ they don’t function exactly as you would expect them to ‘in theory’. Both have subtle aspects to their mechanics [that] I haven’t quite figured out yet, which is half the battle.
You also have a hybrid setup and possibly the widest deck we’ve seen someone freestyle. Can you tell us what you’re riding?
My setup is a little on the chunky side by freestyle standards. I skate an 8.5″ run-of-the-mill popsicle deck. I should mention [that] I have no particular preference for the generic shape, just that they’re readily available in wider sizes. Why 8.5″ wide? Simply because I’m tall—6’4″ with size-12 feet. Decks smaller than 8.5″ just don’t feel right. Unfortunately this rules out pretty much all traditional freestyle-shaped decks in existence as they’re just too small for me.
I’m a recent convert to offset freestyle wheels. Currently running the 55mm Sk8kings Crown Jewel wheels. The benefits of the offset shape were immediately apparent:
- Not mangling the ends of your trucks while doing rail tricks
- Added stability while in rail (the wheel provides a wider surface area [that is] in contact with the ground and the bottom of your shoe, rather than just the pointy end of the truck axle)
How do the Sk8kings offset wheels feel in the park compared to ‘regular’ wheels?
I honestly haven’t noticed much difference at all, probably because my previous wheels were a similar size (55mm Spitfire Tablets).
However, if you were changing from smaller (around 52mm), more classic (‘m&m’ shape) street wheels to the larger offsets, they would take some getting used to. Firstly, that little bit of added weight in the larger wheels may throw your flip tricks off a bit. Secondly, because of the larger diameter of the wheels, you may need to install riser pads for more clearance to prevent wheel bite. This also raises the height of the deck from the ground, which slightly changes the timing and angle of your pop during ollie tricks. This can really mess up your tricks at first and may take a few days of skating to fully adjust to.
You once mentioned that non-freestyle skaters are blown away when you throw in a freestyle line at the park. The tricks must look/feel so alien to those who focus on ollie-based tricks.
Do you have any advice for non-freestylers wanting to get into the game?
The great thing about anyone wanting to learn freestyle is that there really is no barrier to entry. Yes there are certainly some advantages to having a dedicated freestyle setup, but it’s not an absolute necessity to have one right away (or if you simply can’t afford it). Most freestyle tricks can be practised and performed on a street skateboard.
Like any other hobby or sport, it’s just a matter of careful observation (freestyle skate videos) and a ton of practice, practice and more practice.
The only real advice I have for someone new to freestyle is: shinguards will save you a lot of pain and injury early on, particularly when working on tricks like caspers, truck stands and the various pogos. With time and practice, your board will be less likely to whack you in the shins, and the shinguards can eventually be done away with. Although, some freestyle skaters choose to wear shinguards their entire skate life, that just comes down to personal preference.
Is this advice coming from someone who regrets not wearing shinguards back in the day? 😂
Haha! Nah, I was equipped with shinguards pretty early on. Wore them consistently from about 2003 to 2007. After that, I’d only occasionally dust them off when practicing super risky tricks.
Last question: in your opinion, what is the most catfish-sounding freestyle trick name out there?
Sidewinder!! Raddest name! But a pretty underwhelming and relatively easy trick…It shares its namesake with two of the gnarliest things: heat-seeking missiles and rattlesnakes! Yet the trick itself isn’t very gnarly.
Now don’t get me wrong, I like the sidewinder as a trick. I just think the name ‘sidewinder’ should’ve gone to a more difficult hard-hitting trick.
Connect: Michael Malyszko (IG: @skitznoodle) is a skater who enjoys a bit of bank and flatground freestyle. He mostly skates at his local in Melbourne’s West, but you’ll also find him skating with the Melbourne Freestyle Skaters crew (IG: @melbournefreestyleskaters) on Monday nights at Marvel Stadium, Docklands.