The frontside 360 is the act of doing an ollie and rotating a full 360 degrees. You know what a frontside 180 is, right? Well, the rotation involved in that trick is only half of the rotation in this one. This trick can be a real tough one to get down, but believe me when I say it's completely worth it. This really is a trick that can impress people, no doubt.
Needless to say, you're going to need to know frontside 180s before trying this one. You REALLY need a solid understanding on how to rotate yourself and your board, and a solid frontside 180 will help you with that. But note that this trick is significantly more difficult.
Other Skills:
I personally believe that you might want to mess with some 360 variations in fakie before trying it from the regular stance. Fakie backside and frontside 360s are significantly easier, in my opinion, and can really help you out in learning it in regular stance.
Doing The Trick
Positioning:
The back foot
In all honesty, I've seen so many people use so many different set ups with their back foot on this one. It really is something you might want to experiment in moving around a bit to best fit your preference. I personally suggest setting it like you would for a frontside 180, and slightly scooting it back (about half an inch, maybe) to help you get a little more pop.
The front foot
Your front foot should be similar in placement as if you were going to do a frontside 180. Again, it's okay to slightly move it around in order to get a higher pop if you feel you need to. I'd personally suggest trying to keep it above the center of the deck, though.
Motion:
Give yourself a few pushes and set your feet up. Now, let's actually do this trick!
Just like the frontside 180, this trick actually begins BEFORE you pop. You remember how you have to sort of wind up your upper body to give yourself the rotation? Well, this is no different story. However, you're going to need to wind up a little bit more than you would normally if you were going to do a 180. Try to get as much "wind" as possible while still maintaining proper balance on your board.
Once you've got yourself winded up, begin to unwind your upper body with a little more force than usual, snapping your ollie just as your shoulders lined up with the deck. Doing this is going to get you into the air and begin your rotation.
You should rotate 180 degrees fairly quickly, and this is when it gets somewhat tricky. When you reach that point, make sure you keep your feet up and focus on keeping yourself over the board. It might feel weird at first because you'll be used to ending your motion here, but in this trick, you've still got a ways to go.
Chances are you're going to find your motion starting to come to an end at about 180-270 degrees into the rotation. In order to complete the rotation, you're going to want to guide the board around the rest of the rotation. This will be primarily done with your front foot, while your back foot stays steady on the tail not letting the deck get away from you. Again, you have to focus on staying over the board with your body here, or it'll get away from you.
As you guide yourself through the end of the rotation, spot your landing and anticipate for under rotation of needed. Don't worry, it can take a while to get a full clean 360 motion. Just try to land it as straight as possible if you can.
Land on the ground, making sure you maintain control of your upper body and keep it over the board. Absorb impact properly, and ride away.
Now, some people find this trick pretty difficult on flat ground, and find that they prefer to try this one off of a small ledge. Don't be scared to try this one off a curb if you feel like you might need to.
Also, especially on flat ground, you've probably seen somebody do this trick and rather than fully rotating in air, they'll land and do a slide/pivot to finish out the 360. If you find yourself doing this, don't worry about it too much. But keep messing with it and see if you can get all the spin done in the air, it'll look so much cleaner.
Video Trick Tips:
Troubleshooting
This is a pretty weird trick. It requires you to use your upper body a lot more than you usually find yourself needing to. If you have some issues learning this one, keep a cool head and don't stress it. I'll try to help you correct some problems.
I don't finish the rotation
More likely than not you're going to find yourself having this problem. Consider trying to get a little more "wind up" pre-ollie. And also make sure you're guiding the trick around the final bit of the rotation with your foot, as it is pretty hard to pull the full rotation off from the ollie itself.
If you're finding yourself really close, but just keep coming up a little short, you can go ahead and throw a slide/pivot in to finish if up if you'd like.
My board comes out from under me during rotation
Like I said, this trick requires a lot of effort from both your lower and upper body. If this trick is coming out from under your feet, you might want to focus on making sure you keep your upper body over the board. Also, make sure you're getting a clean ollie and your body is lined up with the board upon popping the tail. And finally, if you encounter this problem as you try to guide the board around the final bit of it's spin, make sure you're not kicking/pushing it away. Focus on keeping your back foot on the tail to help you keep it under you.
I land but then I fall of my board
Pretty easy mistake to make, if I do say so myself. This might be because you're not landing straight enough to be able to ride away, and you should consider trying to get a little more spin or adding a slide/pivot. If you're landing fairly straight and still find you fall off, you're losing your balance. In order to correct that, you need to make sure you are keeping your upper body over the board. When your board lands on the ground, make sure you're not still rotating your upper body, as it's gonna throw you off pretty easily. Maybe you would want to consider lowering your body a little bit more upon landing, to help you maintain balance.
My board turns over while I'm spinning
This a real awkward problem, and might have you scratching your head at first. But, if this trick is happening to you, you should make sure that you're getting a clean pop of the tail, and that your back foot is fairly centered on the tail. Also, make sure you keep control of the board with your feet while you spin, and you don't accidentally let yourself kick it away.
Yeah... This trick is a hard one, for sure. And really, it's something you just need to practice, practice, practice. Sometimes you really can't just correct something and just make the trick happen.. You really have to be willing to put in a good deal of time and effort to get this trick down.
Where Do I Go From Here?
You go and use it in a game of SKATE to piss your friends off.. Or you can polish it up. Hell, maybe even take it to a gap in time? Throw a flip of some sort in there? It's up to you, good luck!
You think so? What part should I go back and reconsider?
I admit, it's been a little while since I've really done these myself.. I used to have them fairly clean, but it's possible I was doing something wrong somewhere.
Woah, I dunno.. I personally learned these much later than I did 180s..
And eh.. With the tricks and shit to know, it's all in the air... I know people that do varials without knowing kickflips and inwards without knowing heelflips.
I just figured put in the tricks that the trick on hand spawns from and such, I suppose.
Haha, thanks. Best of luck in trying to get these down. If you by chance come across any significant problems that aren't referenced to in the trick tip, post them if cool. I'll try to answer them any way I can and will edit them into the trick tip
I admit, it's been a little while since I've really done these myself.. I used to have them fairly clean, but it's possible I was doing something wrong somewhere.
And eh.. With the tricks and shit to know, it's all in the air... I know people that do varials without knowing kickflips and inwards without knowing heelflips.
I just figured put in the tricks that the trick on hand spawns from and such, I suppose.