Push start

[Leonardo Ojeda]

One thing i have realized in foot start courses its that your inital push has to be very strong, I.E. cyber slalom challenge, your 1st push its a strong point if u want to run it in less time.

what its the best foot placement to have a strong start?

your "ground" foot at the front of the deck, at the back or in the middle?

leo
team speedmasters & psycho slalom school.

[Brian Morris]

I guess that would depend on what style you skate. I skate "mongo" so my foot is in the back. I guess thats pretty unorthodox for slalom, but its the only way for me. I think I'm gonna have to teach myself to push with my right foot, because I did extensive damage to my knee, and might need a new one in 10 or 15. I don't want to speed that up.

Regards,
"Brain"

[Leonardo Ojeda]

one time i saw a drawing by CC showing this.
he drew mongo, regular and goofy starts. maybe he can post it in here and help a bit.

leo

[Chris Chaput]

I too push mongo. I think that the diagram that Leo is referring to attempts to show the "crow hop" for both styles. If the rules state that board must be stationary or have it's front wheels at or near the starting line, the crow hop is a moot point.
<img src="http://www.abec11.com/images/starts.jpg">
If I had to do it all over again, I'd push and brake the other way. It's best to be able to do both, but braking mongo at high speed can be hazrdous to your health.

When there is a limited push for slalom, I try to get in more quick pushes than a few power pushes. The problem with power pushes is that the first one may backfire if your foot placement isn't perfect. In downhill I take a few quick pushes and when I know that my foot is right, I stomp like a Clydesdale. In slalom, quickness and burst speed works better for me.

[Wesley Tucker]

The one thing Chaput's diagram illustrates well is something that always blows my mind about new school skaters. Have you ever watched these kids skate in the street? THEY DON'T BEND THEIR KNEES!

They skate standing straight up and down and they push like a little kid trying to get started on a bicycle: instead of PUSH, PUSH, PUSH, it's tip, tip tip. They stand straight up on their boards, barely bent at the knee and push with their toes just barely touching the ground! No wonder these kids have no real concept of SPEED.

It's funny but a new schooler will see me skating out in my street or at the Bus Depot and ask, "how do you go so fast?" My answer is always the same, "just bend your knee, put your foot WAY OUT in front of your board and push all the way through with your back leg like a track star in the starting block." Sure enough, they'll stand on the board, put their foot way out in front, bend the knee, push through and then WHAM! Suddenly they're getting more coast out of one push than they every got from 10 of their old tip-tap pushes.

Now, if they ever experience REAL WHEELS, life will be good!

[Andy Bittner]

Brain, Just so you know, if there ever was a skateboarding discipline where Mongo pushing could be considered othodox, it'd have to be slalom. In the 70's, most of the best slalomers pushed Mongo. The obvious disadvantage would be the added difficulty in braking Mongo, but it can be done and done well. If you ever get the chance to see the old Wide World of Sports coverage of the Catalina Classic in the 70s, watch Bobby Piercy finish his last run. He mongo brakes from high-speed to nothing in about 15-20 ft.

Throughout my years of slaloming alone, I only really ever practiced single push, lunge-type starts out of a box, and applied there I am convinced that mongo is the stronger starting method.

[Brian Morris]

When I practice, I draw out a start box, but i still lunge out mongo, and can still get at least one powerful push. Is skating mongo a left-handed person thing?

"Brain"

[Andy Bittner]

Brain, I am right-handed, so mongo pushing is clearly not a left-handed thing. I think that, back in the 70's, there were significantly more skaters (in all disciplines) who pushed with their leading foot. In fact, I never even heard a discussion about the relative advantages and disadvantages of pushing with one foot or the other, until the mid-80s, and never heard the word "mongo" until the 90s.

As for myself, I feel I have much better ability to control a board one-footed, as when pushing, when that foot is on the tail of the board. Not that today's skateboarding is not "tail-oriented", with all the ollies and everything, but I think that, back in the 70's, skateboarding was even more "tail-centric", with all of the wheelie tricks. Simply standing around at a park or session, with my board at my feet, I find it far easier to pivot, move or re-aim the board from the tail (for those quick snake-like moves). I've begun reviewing my Skateboarder collection, specifically looking at the people in the background waiting to take runs (particularly before the days of vert). I'm trying to get a feel for how many of them are standing around with their foot on the tail vs. how many are standing around with their front foot on the board. I'll let you know if I spot a trend.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Andy Bittner on 2002-12-18 13:16 ]</font>

[Henry Hester]

Learning to push Mongo when I was 9 years old was the worst sports mistake of my life. There is nothing good about it. Mongo Skaters suck. <i>Except Chaput and Mallard.</i>

[John Gilmour]

Mongo pushers may have choosen to focus more on slalom where being Mongo was not such a great detriment in your skating- Downhill...mongo is hairball...ask Chaput. flatland Freestyle it looks less graceful and in parkriding it means you need to take longer to set up.

Fixed box starts with Single push- just doesn't penalize them as much.

[Andy Bittner]

In the case of single push offs, I kind of disagree with the notion that mongo starters are just not as handicapped. I'm certainly no kinesiologist, or movement expert, but the scissoring action of a mongo start, which has the muscles of the thighs and groin area (generally) in a flexing or contracting mode, just feels more powerful to me than a "regular", front-foot-on start, where the muscles are more in a spreading, extension mode. I think in single-push, lunge-type starts mongo is THE way to go.

For all the other reasons noted by everyone, bad braking options, inconvenience, the inability to run up the vert wall of a halfpipe and "rebate" easily, and many other reasons, being limited to mongo ability really sucks. I know where Henry's coming from. I've worked on being able to push "regular", but the truth is, it'll never be my first, natural choice. I learned mongo first, at the age of seven, it's been a hard thing to even try to learn otherwise.