Grabs (skateboarding)
Encyclopedia
Grabs in skateboarding
Skateboarding
Skateboarding is an action sport which involves riding and performing tricks using a skateboard.Skateboarding can be a recreational activity, an art form, a job, or a method of transportation. Skateboarding has been shaped and influenced by many skateboarders throughout the years. A 2002 report...

 are different ways to hold the skateboard
Skateboard
A skateboard is typically a specially designed plywood board combined with a polyurethane coating used for making smoother slides and stronger durability, used primarily for the activity of skateboarding. The first skateboards to reach public notice came out of the surfing craze of the early 1960s,...

 during an aerial
Aerials (skateboarding)
Aerials are a type of skateboarding trick usually performed on half-pipes, pools or quarter pipes where there is a vertical wall with a transition available. Aerials usually combine rotation with different grabs...

 usually combine aerials with rotation as the skateboarder grabs and holds the board.

Grab tricks

| Cannonball grab > | Stalefish grab >
Airwalk grab The skateboarder grabs the nose of the skateboard when in the air and kicks the front foot off the board to one side, slides the back foot to the back of the board and then off to the opposite side of the board as the front foot resulting in a split kick while holding the nose. While this is the basic concept of a standard Airwalk, more advanced skateboarders can kick their legs back and forth across the front of the board while in the same aerial and make a walking motion. This trick was invented and named in 1983 by Tony Hawk
Tony Hawk
Anthony Frank "Tony" Hawk , nicknamed "The Birdman" is an American retired professional skateboarder and actor. Hawk gained significant fame for completing the first 900 as well as his licensed video game titles distributed by Activision...

, who performed it on ramps and half-pipe
Half-pipe
A half-pipe is a structure used in gravity extreme sports such as snowboarding, skateboarding, skiing, freestyle BMX, and inline skating. The structure is wood, concrete, metal, earth, or snow. It resembles a cross section of a swimming pool, essentially two concave ramps , topped by copings and...

s. In 1986, Rodney Mullen
Rodney Mullen
John Rodney Mullen is a professional freestyle and street skateboarder. He is widely acknowledged as one of the most innovative and influential street skaters in the history of skateboarding...

 invented the Ollie Airwalk, a flatground version of the Airwalk. The name Ollie Airwalk is often mistaken by the Ollie Airwalk trick in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater
-Reception:The game was very well-received by most critics, scoring an outstanding 92 on Metacritic based on 18 reviews for the PS1 version. IGN gave the N64 version of the game a 9.1 out of 10 praising the gameplay for "genius control, combo system and design" despite little criticism with sound...

 games series. In the version in the game, the skateboarder only kicks his/her legs off the board and doesn't grab the nose. This is not considered a "real" airwalk.
Backside grab A grab where the leading hand grabs the heelside rail. can be done going straight or with a backside rotation. Variations include: Melon, Method, Crossbone, Mosquito.
Bacon grab backside air with leading hand reaches between the legs and grabs middle of board
Benihana grab A grab where the rear foot is taken off the board. the rear leg is then straightened while the rear hand grabs the tail of the skateboard.
The skateboarder ollies
Ollie (skateboarding trick)
The ollie is a skateboarding trick where the rider and board leap into the air without the use of the rider's hands. Particularly on flat ground, it is not intuitively obvious how the liftoff is achieved, making the trick visually striking....

, then grabs both ends of the board (nose and tail) and holds them. This makes the skater crouch and appear small and round in shape, like a cannonball, hence the name. This trick can also be done as an early grab, in which case it is commonly called a smallie, a smurf, or a bunnyhop.
Christ Air An air trick made popular by Christian Hosoi where the skater grabs the board out from under their feet and forms a "T" shape with their body as if on a cross with the board outstretched in either hand.
Crail Grab For a Crail Grab, the skater grabs the nose with the back hand brought in front of the body.
DelMar Indy Created in the city of Del-Mar, CA, it's essentially an indy but you tweak your body to the side (either) and you end up with your legs behind you most of the time.
Similar to a Benihana, but the nose is grabbed while the back foot is off of the board. It basically is a grab where your legs are split with one leg stretched out across the board while the hand opposite the leg holds the nose of the board. Double Grab The board is grabbed with one hand on the frontside of the board and the other hand on the backside of the board.
Early grab Any trick where the rider grabs before the coping or lip. Tricks such as indies and bonelesses, etc... are common early grabs. Early grabs waste a lot of speed and inertia because of compression and squatting down prematurely, as opposed to "spracking" an ollie or "Bonking" off the coping. A later grab generally has more height and is more extended, therefore early grabs are considered to be obsolete, with a few notable exceptions.Darell Stanton is known for doing these down stairs.
Frigid Air Similar to a Judo, though the front foot is kicked out on the heel side, rather than the toe side, rail. Though the trick has been done on vert, it was most common during the mid '80s jump ramp craze.
Frontside grab Any air where the board is grabbed with the rear hand on the toeside rail of the board while rotating in a frontside direction- hence "front". Style dictates that the inside of the elbow of the back arm must be wrapped around the knee of the back leg for a "tuck-knee" frontside. The other variation being where the arm is not around the back knee, but rather straight between the legs. This is known as a Stinkbug air or Bob air (supposedly named after Bob Schmeltzer of Back to the Future
Back to the Future
Back to the Future is a 1985 American science-fiction adventure film. It was directed by Robert Zemeckis, written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale, produced by Steven Spielberg, and starred Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover and Thomas F. Wilson. The film tells the story of...

 fame). The frontside air was the first air performed on vert. Although contested as to who did the first frontside air, credit is generally given to Tony Alva
Tony Alva
Tony Alva , is one of the original Z-Boys and is considered to be one of the most influential skateboarders of all time. He was professional skateboarding's first world champion in history, a title he won in 1977.-Career:...

.
Indy grab
Indy grab
An indy grab is an aerial skateboarding, snowboarding and kitesurfing trick during which the rider grabs the middle of his board, between his feet, on the side of the board where his toes are pointing....

An Indy grab is a the same as a frontside grab except that the rotation is backside it is often used when there is no rotation as well.
Japan grab A mute air where the legs are then bent and folded to the back of the board. Named after the Tony Hawk
Tony Hawk
Anthony Frank "Tony" Hawk , nicknamed "The Birdman" is an American retired professional skateboarder and actor. Hawk gained significant fame for completing the first 900 as well as his licensed video game titles distributed by Activision...

 penned Transworld Skateboarding Magazine article in which it first appeared.
Jitsu grab A Jitsu grab is a variation of a Judo grab where the back foot is on the board and the front foot kicked directly out in front of the board while the back hand holds the toeside of the board.
Lien Air Lien air is the same as a backside grab except the rotation is frontside. It was named after the inventor Neil Blender (Lien is Neil spelled backwards). Variations: Lien-to-tail, Finger Flip Lien-to-tail, Crossbone (Chris Miller), Method Lien.
Madonna grab Originally known as the Madonna Lien to Tail, it originated as a Lien to Tail where the front foot is kicked out behind the skater. Invented by Jesse "the Mess" Martinez" at Hosoi's ramp, It may have been simultaneously invented by Tony Hawk
Tony Hawk
Anthony Frank "Tony" Hawk , nicknamed "The Birdman" is an American retired professional skateboarder and actor. Hawk gained significant fame for completing the first 900 as well as his licensed video game titles distributed by Activision...

 who got the credit for it because he was more famous at the time.
Melon Grab A backside or lien grab with the front leg straightened (boned)
Method-air Contrary to popular belief, this grab did not originate from snowboarding
Snowboarding
Snowboarding is a sport that involves descending a slope that is covered with snow on a snowboard attached to a rider's feet using a special boot set onto mounted binding. The development of snowboarding was inspired by skateboarding, sledding, surfing and skiing. It was developed in the U.S.A...

, but was invented by Neil Blender as a "method" to get higher on a backside air. When the board is grabbed the knees are bent so the board is raised backwards and the skater appears to be kneeling in mid-air.
Mute Air A grab where the lead hand grabs the toeside rail, while rotating backside or going straight.
No foot-air Grab your board and virtually do a one-handed Superman pose, similar to a trailing haded Christ air, without the rigid body positioning.
Nosebone normally performed with an indy and frontside grabs where the front leg is straightened but can be applied to tail grabs as well. Any grab where a leg is straightened can be said to be "boned".
Nose grab For a nose grab one grabs hold of the board with the front hand. This is one of the easiest grabs to perform.
Nuclear Similar to a Crail grab, where you grab the heelside of the nose with the trailing hand.
Roast Beef A frontside air where the trailing hand reaches between the legs to grab the heel edge of the board. Invented by Jeff Grosso.
Rocket Air Similar to a nose grab, except both hands grab the nose, and both feet move to the tail.
Sean Penn A backside Madonna, or a frigid air to tail. Possibly invented by Mark "Gator" Rogowski.
Seatbelt grab In this grab the front hand is brought across the front of the body to grab the toeside tail of the board. Invented by Remy Stratton.
Slob Air The same as a mute grab except rotation is frontside.
Named by Tony Hawk
Tony Hawk
Anthony Frank "Tony" Hawk , nicknamed "The Birdman" is an American retired professional skateboarder and actor. Hawk gained significant fame for completing the first 900 as well as his licensed video game titles distributed by Activision...

, in honour of the quality of food at the Swedish Skate Camp where it was invented (although this is disputed, as many credit Mark Gonzales
Mark Gonzales
Mark Gonzales , also known as "Gonz" and "The Gonz," is an American professional skateboarder and artist. He is known in the skateboarding world as a pioneer of modern street skateboarding, currently skateboarding's most popular form....

 with inventing the grab). The back hand grabs the heel side of the board.
Stiffy A stiffy is a variation of an indy, frontside, mute and slob grab where both legs are straightened. This trick has been said to have been invented by Jordan Mole but its origins are questionable.
Superman grab The board is grabbed on both sides (one hand each) and is brought in front or above the skater's body. Named after the pose that Superman
Superman
Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...

does when flying.
Tai-pan grab A tai-pan grab is where the skateboarder takes his/her front hand and wraps it around their leg from behind so they grab the toe side of the board.
Tailbone A tailbone is performed by executing a nose grab and directing the tail of the board downwards at an approximate angle of 45 degrees.
Tail grab A tail grab is where the back hand grabs the tail of the board. This is a deceptively difficult grab to learn.
Tuck Knee A tuck knee is performed with frontside, indy, mute and slob grabs, where the grabbing arm wraps around the leg grabbing the board between the toes.
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