The Component Game

Some of this text is copied from the entry, “How I practice, what it all means.”

It is a game of isolating and learning the “chunks” or baby steps within a trick, and getting them down. This game is mostly meant to be played while learning a new trick, or tracking the make rate of tricks that are below a consistent 30% make rate. This game is simple, but more of an explanation is needed to understand where I’m coming from.

To be repetitive, I seek to learn the components, in sequence, and then put them together and land “makes” of the tricks. A tre flip, for example, involves the right stance, a proper combination ollie and scoop at the right angles, a proper sliding and flicking of the front foot, lifting of both legs with shoulders squared, jumping forwards toe-side about 10 inches and landing it.

When I play the Component Game, I break down the results of my attempts like this:
Tre Flip Practice:
2 – 16 – 7. (8% make rate/64% Flip or other fix/28% ollie or scoop fix)

These three numbers total the amount of attempts. Above, there were 25 tre flip attempts. The first number is the number of makes. So in this example, I made 2 out of 25, for an 8% make rate. The second number is usually the number of non-make attempts that had the initial ollie/scoop action performed correctly, but I didn’t land it due to a problem with a chunk further on in the trick (like the flick of the foot, or the lifting of the legs, turning of the shoulders, etc). Often, these second numbers are composed of “almosts.” A high second number here means that I’m progressing in my abilities to execute the first most important chunk. In almost all cases, getting the right ollie or scoop angle into to the trick is the first component. As I update this page, I’m still struggling with tre flips, but I’m actually stoked to see my middle number improving steadily with an occasional first number. Means I’m on the right path, and I take inspiration from competing against myself in a game of improvement based on this middle number. The third number pertains to non-makes that were more like out of control thuds due to me not getting a proper ollie or scoop motion. My immediate goal, even before getting 25 makes (25-0-0), would be to have anything with a zero at the end (0-25-0 would still be very satisfying).

Way more brief summary
In short then, The Component Game simply involves a split second analysis after each attempt, and placing the attempt into 1 of 3 categories. The numbers are listed like this: 20-4-1. The first number is the amount of makes, the second is the amount of almost makes, or attempts that at least had the proper ollie/scoop going into it, and the third number is attempts that needed crucial ollie/scoop adjustments.

The goal is to compete against my averages of the past, for high scores. Over time I seek to reduce the number of attempts slotted into the third category (in general for ollie problems), and increase the number of attempts into the second category (in general for flip problems). Eventually, I seek to reduce the numbers in both the second and third categories and stack all my attempts into the first category of actual makes.

Another example: In the above description for Tres, I wrote this:

Tre Flip Practice:
2 – 16 – 7. (8% make rate. 64% Flip or other fix. 28% ollie or scoop fix)

However, the day before my practice looked like this:

Tre Flip Practice:
0-16-9 (0% make rate. 64% flip or other fix. 36% ollie or scoop fix).

So you can see how on the first day (0-16-9), I had a slightly higher percentage of trick attempts during which I didn’t ollie or scoop properly. In one day I noted an improvement. (Not to say there aren’t vacillations in the numbers).