The Complete Guide to Skateboarding for Beginners

As tempting as it may be to want to emulate those who you look up to or to choose a board based on its graphic, getting the right size and shape for your body and the type of skating you want to do is important.

The most important measurement for beginners to pay attention to when picking out a skateboard is deck width. Most decks range from 7.5” to 10” in width.

If you’re older than 10, and I’m assuming you are, you are going to want a board at least 7.5” wide. Anything under that is probably meant for younger kids. 

The wider the deck, the heavier and harder it will be to maneuver, especially as a beginner.   

If you are unsure what kind of skating you are interested in, that’s okay! Go with a deck width between 7.75” and 8.38”. If you have smaller feet stay on the narrower side, if you have larger feet go the other way. 

The truth is that your first board will likely define what your preferences are later on, meaning that no matter what you ride, you’ll probably dig it.

If you’re intending to pursue street skating and take on the struggle of flip-tricks, grinds and slides, a popsicle shape is without a doubt the shape for you. 

It provides a nearly identical nose and tail so you can slide any part of the board your heart desires and it also will offer a slight amount of concavity to assist your feet in flipping the board whilst your mind is on other things, like defying the laws of gravity.

The simplest way to think of it is that your trucks should be the same measurement as your board. You want your wheels to be directly underneath and not have any part stick out or have your board overlap their reach like the awning of a window or something. 

Unfortunately, truck companies all use different measurements and hardly any of them use the standard deck measurement of inches (except Krux, thanx!) so get ready to do some conversion in your head. Oh, wait- we already did that right here. 

One great thing about trucks is, they last a while. You can ride the same set of trucks for a year or two, sometimes more. They offer the most longevity out of any part of your complete skateboard.

Not to toot our own horn but CCS decks and completes are a great choice for beginners. We offer quality components at a price that won’t scare off the skate curious.

Feel free to skip ahead if you went with a complete skateboard! 

We know you’re hyped. You’ve waited ages for this thing to arrive and now it’s here and you wanna throw everything together willy-nilly and start working on the 900. Unfortunately, you’ll need to slow down. As you’ve likely heard either of your parents say hundreds of times before, “take your time and do it right” is a motto you’ll benefit greatly from in all things skate-related. 

Being thorough is mostly just about giving yourself the confidence in your gear so you don’t have to worry about anything going wrong later. We’ll save the deets for our video tutorial but try to remember that your patience right now will save you much hassle in the future.

Suiting up in pads before a skate session might have gotten you labelled a kook only a decade ago but these days, any skater with real credibility is eager to don pads and a helmet if it means they’re less likely to get injured. And as a beginner, you’re going to fall down… a lot. 

In today’s skate scene, technological innovations in design and synthetic materials allow for a compromise where new skaters can protect their most vulnerable appendages with comfortable, low-profile safety gear that doesn’t impede on your freedom of movement or your street cred. 

We have everything you need to stay safe as you learn. Check out our full section of pads and helmets.