If you’ve got chickenfoot and you’re ready to break the curse, here’s some tips on how to overcome this bad habit so you can start landing your skateboard tricks with confidence.
But first… what is “chickenfoot”?
Chickenfoot is a common problem with many beginner skateboarders who attempt a trick and then not commit to it fully. This seems to happen a lot with kickflips and Olling down stairs and over gaps.
When I first started skating stairsets this was a huge problem for me to overcome. Almost every time I went for a trick down the stairs I would kick my skateboard out and away before I ever had the chance to land my trick. Doing this caused me to have some nasty heel bruises that hurt, probably way worse than if I had just committed to the trick.
One of the biggest reasons I didn’t commit to landing my trick was because I didn’t believe I could. This leads me to my first tip on breaking the chickenfoot curse while skateboarding…
#1 – Believe in yourself and your ability to land your trick.
Chances are if you don’t believe you can land a certain trick, you’re right. That’s why you shouldn’t ever say you cant do something. Believe that you can. If you’ve already done this trick once before then you know you can do it again.
If this is your first time trying the trick then you have to get a little more creative. You have pretend that you’ve already landed this trick before, and you have to believe that you can do it again.
Act as if you can and you’ll become much more confident in your ability to land your trick.
#2 – Visualize yourself succeeding.
A great way of believing that you have the ability to land a trick that you’ve never done before is visualizing yourself doing it. Picture yourself doing this trick as if it were actually happening. See what you would see and feel how you would feel.
This might sound like hocus-pocus to some, but trust me, I’m not the only one who uses this technique for landing tricks. Paul Rodriguez does too. And probably many other professionals skateboarders as well.
When you do this over and over again in your mind you start believing that actually can land this trick, and it doesn’t seem so scary to commit to your trick.
# 3 – Feel the fear and do it anyway.
The reason why skaters have chickenfoot is simply because they are afraid of committing and landing their trick. They think about all the bad things that could happen and that freaks them out.
To get rid of chickenfoot you have to face your fears. You have to accept that fact that skateboarding is going to hurt sometimes, but not let that stop you from trying.
The way to relieve some of this fear is by getting rid of negative thoughts and self-talk. Instead, fill your head with positive thoughts and images. Visualize yourself succeeding, believe in yourself, and commit fully.
Hesitation is what gets your hurt, so when you decide that you’re going to try the trick, don’t think, just go for it with everything you got.
Hope you’ve enjoyed this post. Please feel free to leave a comment and share with your friends!
April 11, 2012 at 2:59 am
After I read this it has inspired me to face my fears to go skate and don’t resist doing the trick. Thanks for posting this up and I really hope this will help me. -Jack