Snapu
Snapu
The Snapu is a Sideswipe with an additional twist before landing. There are at least three ways to look at this trick and thus three different learning techniques.
Sideswipe Twist / Gyro
Horizontal 540 Gyro
Raiz Twist / Cheat 720 Twist with a Roundkick right after the takeoff.
I will go over these three learning techniques. Choose the one that you feel more comfortable with depending on which prerequisite you already have. There are pros and cons to each learning path but everything is fixable with practice.
Note: Snapu is actually short for Snapuswipe, but it’s rarely called that way nowadays.
Sideswipe Twist / Gyro
This method works very well if you have a very good and controlled sideswipe. That means you should be able to land this trick safely without much impact.
+ You will most likely end up with a good level of inversion on the kick and it will differ more from just a laid back 540 Gyro.
+ The Kick is usually very defined and visible.
- It’s a lot harder to get the full amount of rotation, because the Sideswipe feels ‘longer’. You will need to learn to kick into the twist and not to twist after the kick.
- It can be hard to turn the gyro into an actual twist (more on that down below)
01 Sideswipe
To learn it this way just drill a lot of Sideswipes. Try to maximize height and to minimize travel. You should land your sideswipe in an upright manner with your kicking foot right underneath (no underrotation).
02 Sideswipe + 90° + 90°
Then try to overrotate just a bit a after. Add about 90 degrees in the air and 90 degrees on the ground so you’ll face the direction of travel after the landing.
03 Sideswipe + 180°
Then finish the full 180 in the air before you land. This requires a bit more height and a tighter twist. Just think about the landing before you even takeoff. You want to face forward after this sideswipe!
04 Snapu
Keep drilling this until you can always easily overotate your Sideswipe about 180 degrees. Then try to add another 90 and it moves into an area where most will accept it as a Snapu because tricks like Snapu Round will usually land this way.
Gyro vs. Twist
So the way this method works is to drill sideswipes a lot until you gain more and more height to add more and more rotation into the trick before the landing. The problem with this learning method is that you basically learn Sideswipe Gyro first (Sideswipe on horizontal axis and twist looks more vertical), because you add small degrees of overrotation after the kick. You can gradually fix this problem by inverting your Sideswipe more and to kick into the twist more and more as you progress. This will start your Twist earlier and thus it will be more horizontal.
Horizontal 540 Gyro
If you can already land 540 Gyros you can turn that trick into a Snapu by changing the takeoff technique. Both tricks feel very similar and you will have the advantage of already knowing how it feels like to Roundkick into a twist.
+ Quite easy to progress into a Snapu if your 540 Gyro is solid enough, but...
- ...it can be hard to get a clear distinction from just a laid back 540 Gyro to a Snapu.
Do horizontal 540 Kicks count as Sideswipes? Or does it need to have that Raiz aesthetic with the arched back? This can be debatable but in my opinion horizontal 540 Kicks are more Sideswipe then they are 540. So a horizontal 540 Gyro is more Snapu then it is 540 Gyro.
01 Laid back 540
Start of with a laid back 540 Kick. This one is quite easy. Just look for the ground instead of your target and lean away from your roundkick a bit more.
02 Horizontal 540
Now lift your hip up a bit more so you’ll do an horizontal 540 Kick. Basically a Sideswipe without the arched back.
03 Laid back 540 Gyro
Now apply those same two steps to your 540 Gyro. First laid back (look for the ground)...
04 Snapu
...and then horizontal. Quite a simple progression path. I use a touchdown hook kick to get a bit more momentum.
Raiz Twist / Cheat 720 Twist with Roundkick
This learning path is for those that have solid Cheat 720 Twists or Raiz Twists. My Sideswipes are way more comfortable then my Raiz Twists, so I struggle a bit more with this learning path. But my attempt should give you an idea on how it works :) Just see if it works for you better then the other methods.
+ Usually very easy to hit the full rotation, as you will already be familiar with the amount needed
+ It’s also a bit easier to hit the horizontal plane, than with learning it with the 540 Gyro version but harder to hit more than that without a proper Sideswipe.
- Harder to get a defined kick.
01 Cheat 720 Twist
Aim for high and floaty Cheat 720 Twists. You want to Raiz upwards and then twist on the way down. That way you’ll have enough time to fit a kick in between. I recommend taking a few steps into the trick. Of course you can also do it standing if you feel more controlled that way.
02 Snapu
Setup for a high 540 Kick that you roll over into a Cheat 720 Twist. I’d recommend to practice this on a softer surface first. At first don’t put too much emphasis on the kick and let it feel more like a Cheat 720 Twist. Just make sure that it’s ‘there’. As you get better and more consistent, clean up that kick and make it more defined as you progress.
Tips
The Snapu can be a very difficult trick to learn but you can shorten the amount of time needed if you pick the right learning technique. I learned it first with the first one, by trying to overrotate Sideswipes over and over. But it didn’t have that ‘snap’-aesthetic that I wanted. As soon as my 540 Gyros improved my Snapu also looked way better.
So if you are stuck with one way, try the other. See what works for you.