A bertslide, Bertlemann slide, or bert, is a

skateboarding trick A skateboarding trick, or simply a trick, is a maneuver performed by manipulating a skateboard, usually with one's feet, in a specific way to achieve the desired outcome – the trick. History Though skateboards emerged in the 1900s, skateboard ...

where the skateboarder puts one hand on the ground and rotates the board while it is still on the ground, effectively sliding on the wheels of the

skateboard A skateboard is a type of sports equipment used for skateboarding. They are usually made of a specially designed 7-8 ply maple plywood deck and polyurethane wheels attached to the underside by a pair of skateboarding trucks. The skateboarde ...

. The trick was named after the surfer Larry Bertlemann, who first performed the trick on a surfboard, then later incorporated it into his skateboarding. The original version of the trick was a 180-degree turn. The

Z-Boys The Zephyr Competition Team (or Z-Boys) were a group of American skateboarders in the mid-1970s from Santa Monica and Venice, California. Originally consisting of 12 members, the Z-boys were originally sponsored by the Jeff Ho Surfboards and Zeph ...

, an influential group of mid-1970s skateboarders, adapted the move by extending the slide to 360 or even 540 degrees. A bertslide can be performed on both flat ground or banks, and is considered fundamental for learning board control. When performing a bert the skateboarder crouches down while doing a

frontside In surfing, skateboarding, snowboarding and aggressive inline skating, frontside and backside are terms that are used to describe how a person approaches an obstacle or performs a certain trick. In aggressive inline skating, frontside and bac ...

carve, plants their front hand on the ground and extends their back foot and torso making the back wheels slide out. After the slide, the skateboard has made a 180-degree sweeping turn and the skateboarder pushes back up and continues in the starting direction. When performed in a transition, it is possible to convert a bertlemann slide into a grind by timing the slide so that during the apex of the sweep the back truck hits the coping.

References

Skateboarding tricks {{Skateboarding-stub