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Pop an ollie and innovate! | Rodney Mullen | TED

TED10 skaters recommend it · 10 mentions, 2015 to 2025
YouTube
3.1M views · 11 years ago · Interview

Rodney Mullen's 2015 TEDxUSC talk on open skateboarding communities and how they drive new tricks. He covers darkslides and casper slides, and why he values passion over competitive wins.

Why skaters like it

Recommended to skaters who dislike TED talks and to beginners as an inspiring look at skate creativity, failure and longevity. One commenter points to the darkslide and casper section.

“His TED Talk is really great, and I fucking hate TED Talks.”

u/WhoTookPlasticJesus

What skaters said on Reddit

u/WhoTookPlasticJesus2022 · 36 points

His TED Talk [VIDEO] is really great, and I fucking hate TED Talks.

u/philsubby2019 · 15 points

[VIDEO] This is Rodney Mullens Ted Talk where he explains casper and darkslides. This video is clearly a darkslide. Edit: at 5 minutes he explains darkslides and casper slides. He says darkslides are fun and not that hard, but casper slides are fucking hard.

u/jaymaslar2022 · 11 points

If you've not seen Rodney's TED Talk, I highly recommend it! [VIDEO]

u/bkchosun2025 · 6 points

Did he explain why he didn't want you to skateboard? There are actually a lot of really great benefits for kids, including learning how to deal with repeated (and often-times painful) failure. It makes you more resilient, and teaches you how to overcome adversity to eventually achieve success. Perhaps he's concerned you're going to hurt yourself seriously? Wearing pads and a helmet may help alleviate that fear. Perha

u/ixAp0c2024 · 5 points

Pop an Ollie and Innovate [VIDEO] is the name.

u/I_am_Fump2025 · 2 points

I agree with you from the start that he will have to be able to Ollie while moving But since you brought up my favorite skater, there is a clip of Rodney Mullen standing still while someone pushed a cart with wheels at him. He Ollie and did a nose manual to nollie flip on the cart as it passed under him. By the look on his face he thought doing a trick standing still was really cool. Literally the first trick he show

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