Tips by David Ngiam
Video : Frenddey Mikon
Photo : Anan Anwar
The Scarecrow is a Toeside Frontroll to Revert. Although, you are landing in a fakie position, it might be an easier trick to land than a regular frontroll because your body position is lined up squared to the line and handle. That being said, you should practice your toeside 180s off the kickers first and get that pretty dialed in.
To execute the scarecrow, you need to approach the kicker more progressively than you would a jump or grab. What helps you with the rotation is the line tension and if you come in too easy, you’re going to get a slack line off the pop which makes it hard for you to come around. Even if you do manage to land, you’re going to sink into the water which makes it harder to ride away. So come in on a little more aggresive approach but make sure you ride it up tall when you hit the kicker.
As you ride up the kicker, keep your handle close to your front hip and hold that posture until you are right at the top. Most people tend to rush this trick and throw it super early, which may cause you to slam into the top of the kicker and thats not a good thing. Ride it up tall and make sure you are off your toeside edge when you hit the kicker, otherwise you might slip out.
Once you are at the top, there are several ways to initiate the scarecrow. Some people throw their front shoulders down and try to look under the handle as they swing open their front shoulder. Others will just simply look over their front shoulder. Either way, the key to this trick is not letting your handle get too far away from you. Keeping your handle in helps you rotate quicker and you should be rotating around the handle. You should be able to spot the water and land this trick.
Common problems are people are getting around, but they are falling back or butt checking. If you are getting alot of slack in the line during the rotation, try approaching the kicker a little later (which makes the approach more aggressive). It may also be that you’re throwing the trick early, so make sure you are at the top of the kicker before throwing the trick.