Does anybody else...

[DaveThe$lave]

not care about switch stance? When I'm watching a skate video I'm not really focused on the stance, but rather the flow of the skater. I'm sitting here watching Cairo Foster in "The Reason" and that shit is wicked! Built To Spill is pretty cool too.

[managuense]

never saw the point of skating switch to be honest. its like, lets take something thats already hard to do and make it harder. its cool thhat guys are able to do it and i can see that being good at switch would probably help out your regular skating but i never had the motivation to learn. i did ollie a board switch once

[mooraga]

every time I see sammy baptista I don't care about his stance, he's just fucking goofy

on any other dude, I care

[GarglesCmen]

I'll just go along with this. I found it to be a matter of one's perception of skating. Like, take for instance, I do a lot of switch and I thrive on my ability to skate switch, it is no big deal to me. I love watching people do switch tricks, because I relate to it and it gets me amped to go skate (Enrique Lorenzo switch game kills it). On the other end of the spectrum, My friend has less switch ability than anyone I have seen. He can barely push switch let alone do any tricks. Every time he sees switch skating, he figures it to be a gimmick or just tacky. I have always just seen these two sides. I mean, you can still get hyped either way but it varies on how you perceive trick selection, if that makes any sense.

[Strike A Pose]

Challenging yourself to learn new things is an essential aspect of human life.

+Experimenting with new techniques can create more possibilities for expression.

Switch can be perceived as a gimmick when presented in a "I'm doing this switch just because I'm doing it switch" kind of way, but I believe that a lot of people enjoy doing it for the sake of enjoyment and have no preconceived notions when switching up the stance.

[trannies and mannies]

Russ Milligan doesn't have a stance.

[pootysnacks]

for myself, the matter of switch stance depends on the situation. a person like p-rod who can do incredible things both switch and regular, consistently, doesnt get me too stoked. its fun to see sparingly, like to really up the ante (iguess?). like stefan janoski switch flipped that one double set in the city thats downhill i forget what street its on but you go there and youre just like "fuck skating this regular is tough as fuck, SWITCH FLIP?!?!" so i guess for me i appreciate when switch applies to gnar factor but if u are just doin it all the time down the same stair sets it loses its value... DERP

[Thrillho]

When I first learned to skate bowls, miniramps, and bombed hills I always rolled goofy, but I've always done all my flip tricks regs.  In the past year or so I've kind of flipped the script and been trying to pop goofy, and roll regs.  Not that I'm really tech or anything.  I just learned the basic tricks both ways because my stance was always kind of ambiguous.  It's more fun this way I think.  No needing to turn around or anything, and your shoes last a little longer not being so focused on the left or right one.

[ChronicBluntSlider]

Heath Kirchart once said that switch skating is boring.  Switch skating is cool kind of like jazz, where you can appreciate the difficulty if you understand music/skating a little bit like a sw backtail nollie flip on flat ledge or sumpin, but for me the eye popping shit is usually the real crazy regular shit.  If you're good at playing guitar right handed, I'd rather be great right handed instead of learning all over again left handed.

[fulfillthedream]

i can see your point...but i just feel its sick to take a simple 180, and it becomes much more challenging and fun doing one switch. it's also interesting when you can do certain tricks switch/nollie and find it much harder doing it regular. also there are some tricks (front/back side specifically) that when doing one switch can help you doing it regular. like in my case i SUCK at back 180s and can do switch 180s pretty consistent. so my friend once pointed out that your shoulders basically go in the same direction regular b/s and switch f/s while doing 180 tricks. so for me besides getting stocked off some one doing a trick switch at a spot where it's been done regular i appreciate skating switch because there are certain aspects of it i can incorporate into regular stance. i don't have too many tricks switch but it's fun to try different ones when i am just skating flat ground.

[ChronicBluntSlider]

as somebody who is pretty limited switch it would be cool to be better switch, especially for lines when you end up rolling fakie, but yeah even with tech I like guys like Pudwill who just go crazy regs more than P Rod/ Rogers whose just equally sick at both.  And heelflips have always tripped me out how people can do them better switch than regs. I'm better at them regs, but can sometimes do them switch and nollie but I look retarded when I try switch kickflip.

[Zurg]

i really like seeing switch tricks when they look switch like jake johnson's switch back 5050 in the transworld vid. seeing alvarez rip parks switch is awesome as well. i find skating switch really fun. doing switch grinds feels sketchy to me, so it still feels accomplishing to land, but i dont have to spend 2 hours trying some sort of flip in trick to get the feeling. i dont think im explaining this very well...

[Hannity]

fuck switch, 'sall about fakie

but seriously, i just never had the patience to learn the timing of the pop for the other foot. some ppl have told me it's easier to learn how to pop nollie, then try switch ollie

[Fenzadill]

I like this thread, genuine discussion about the minutiae of skateboarding.

Switch skating looks rad when it "looks switch", like mirrored regular.  If it's too perfect I spend the whole time trying to keep up with what stance the dude is skating in.

[HATE!]

I can appreciate it because of the difficulty, but I don't get hung up on how it looks or whether or not it's done.  It also seems like the really good younger dudes don't even have a stance.  I also love that some kids learn to push both ways- that's awesome.  Me personally though?  I am an old dude that skates like an old dude.  When I push switch it's mongo- I never learned the other way, or even thought about it until I saw Gino and Guy do it.  I have a couple tricks that are easier for me switch too (I am in the group where frontside shoves are easier switch for me, because of this I occasionally have a switch hardflip, but I could never switch kickflip) but as for breaking down a dude's part- nah, I just like watching good skating regardless of stance.

[finknoos]

I honestly dont care if someone doesnt skate switch, but i do kinda expect them to skate faster as a result. and if im watching it i like it to look switch or else i get confused.

As for switch myself, i didnt skate switch for the first 7 years except from landing tricks or in a mini. So when i finally tried it was like learning to skate all over again, still cant flick with that foot though so switch is only for shuvs and rotations.

Same as hate where sw front shoves are easier than regs ones, except from that, all switch tricks are harder, my switch ollie is prety retarded.

The best thing about switch is using it as an insult. like if your friend does a sloppy trick you say "dude was that switch?"

[commie]

Skating switch is pretty fun. My switch heels are better than my regular ones.

[ttching!]

When I'm skating switch, I feel like I'm tapping into some part of the 90% of our brain power that we don't really use regularly.

[Eschaton]

I skate switch for the simple fact that I like to wear down both my shoes, not just have one thrashed and one brand ass new.

[Stoop Kid]

I like this thread, genuine discussion about the minutiae of skateboarding.

Switch skating looks rad when it "looks switch", like mirrored regular.  If it's too perfect I spend the whole time trying to keep up with what stance the dude is skating in.

This.

[ivegotlevitation]

Sometimes I care about it, sometimes I don't. I can do all my basic switch/nollie tricks and a few weird ones, but usually I don't care to do them.

[svilleantigo]

switch skills come hand in hand with good lines. you don't do a 180 or bigspin and then just kickturn back to regular and do another regular-stance trick.. that's just shitty. it just seems like the next logical extension from the development of nollie tricks.. usually learning one will help with the other.

[Schismatic]

I like to skateboard.

[Patey]

switch is dope.

i love when you dont have to guess whether a skater is in switch or not. you just know cause its like a whole other style.

[dude]

For me, it comes down to the era that i grew up in, I guess. The first video I ever saw was Flip Sorry and, therefore, the first video part I ever saw was Mark Appleyard's opener in that video. And let me tell you, it absolutely blew my fucking socks off. It seemed like he didn't have a stance. All his tricks just looked natural. And from then on, amongst a grip of other video parts of that caliber coming out at that time (Koston, P. Rod etc.), it just became to my goal to skate like that. If I kickflipped a set of stairs, I'd be stoked, but me and all my friends would just say shit like: "Wow, imagine if we could do that switch!". It was just ingrained in us that switch was always more impressive and, therefore, worth learning.

Nowadays, it doesn't matter to me so much. But look at the kids now, they are twice as worse when it comes to caring about stance! They absolutely idolize guys like Torey and P Rod for their switch abilities. And there isn't anything wrong with that, those dudes deserve the respect they get. My point is, I think switch skating will always matter, it impresses the masses, and a whole generation is growing up thinking that in order to be a good skater, you have be ambidextrous with your feet, so to speak.

[cornholio]

Im not gonna lie when I first read your thread last night I was like what the fuck are you talking about. Now that I think about it I honestly like switch skating when you can really tell its switch. Like I respect people like P Rod and shane oneill who can skate both ways flawlessly, but I think i prefer switch to look a little off. Its hard to explain.

[ThirtyYearsYoung]

I skate switch for the simple fact that I like to wear down both my shoes, not just have one thrashed and one brand ass new.

I have a hard enough time regular and don't really bother with switch much, but lately I've been trying to learn nollie flips for exactly the reason you mentioned. It just kills me to keep wasting all those perfectly good right shoes.

[Zurg]

i think i heard it from someone on here, but it makes sense to try to skate around switch and regular equally for the sake of your spine

[frank gerwer's nose]

Switch backside 5-0s feel fucking good.

[planman]

It depends on the skater