Landing: Learning the Right Way to Fall

Skateboarding is no easy. In the learning process, you are likely to come across things that will sooner or later result in falling. The causes for falling could be a wrong technique of performing a trick or maneuver, some person or a vehicle being an obstacle, or even a tiny pebble rolling under your wheels. So, you want to skate — you get ready to fall. Falling is an unpleasant but inherent part of skateboarding.

In this post, we’ll tell you what can be done to avoid falling and teach you the correct falling technique.

Falling Safely

To avoid serious consequences of falling, here’s what you need to learn:

Escape from the board before you begin falling. If you feel things are going the wrong way, you can jump from the board ahead of the game and remain standing on your feet. Learning this trick won’t take much time. This technique will help you avoid falling a lot.

No stretching your hands ahead! In an attempt to alleviate the dropdown, people tend to stretch their hands ahead as they fall. But you must never do this while skateboarding because this may result in breaking your wrist. You certainly may — and should — buy special protective gloves. They might secure you from serious injuries to a certain extent, but at the same time, you do need to learn to fall correctly.

As you fall, try to roll over your shoulder and your back. The moment you fall on the ground, roll over your shoulder. This way, the energy, which would otherwise bend you to the ground, will be spent to roll over. Such falling techniques are best to practice on the grass or sand. It will still hurt, but much less than if you just dropped yourself on the ground. By the way, do not strain your body: the more relaxed you are, the fewer chances there are to break some of your body parts.

Wear knee pads while skating in a skate ramp radius. Being protected is a powerful source of fearlessness. If you learn to land on your knees every time you fall in a skate ramp radius, you can turn the falls into knees sliding. 

Here is how to get the hang of it: stand at the top of a small — to begin with — ramp wearing your knee pads. Then bend one leg and fall on your knees. As a result, you’ll be sliding down on your knee pads. 

Another sliding approach begins at the bottom of the ramp. Go ahead and run up the top of the ramp, turn around and fall down your knees again (by bending one of your legs first) to slide down. Practice this skill till you are confident enough, and then you can try doing the same on the skateboard. 

How to Overcome the Fear of Falling

Falling Repeatedly

Falling is something to be afraid of. It is especially scary to fall for the first several times. But the more often you fall, the more accustomed to it you’ll become. Every new fall improves your understanding of how you should act. Practice falling onto different parts of the body to get used to this feeling and figure out the less painful ways in each case. 

No Hurry

Do not hurry to perform all the tricks at once. Learning skateboarding is a process in the first place. Fear won’t disappear if you keep hurting yourself terribly because of making haste. 

Be Persistent

The only way to overcome fear is to face it. But you shouldn’t aim at performing a three-meter gap leap from start. Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak? — Then why don’t you start with small steps and increase the difficulty level gradually? 

Learn the Falling Technique

After you get used to falling correctly, confidence will follow. Cause if you know that you can fall safely, you will be more willing to try something new. That’s why practicing the correct falling technique on the grass is highly recommended to start with. 

Wear Protective Equipment

A full set of protective devices, including a helmet, elbow pads, knee pads, and a buttocks pad, may let you feel like a superman — or a superwoman. This won’t turn you into a real superhero, of course, but it will certainly add 100 points to confidence. Just make sure you use this protection to learn how to fall. 

Trust Your Skateboard

The likelihood of falling increases if you do not maintain your skateboard properly. So you need to make regular checkups to inspect the condition of the wheels and bearing and make sure the bolts are tightened well. You should always be certain that your equipment will not be the cause of your falling. 

How to Prevent Falling

The best way to fall is not to fall! Below you’ll find the recommendations on how to avoid falling.

Check the Grip

Make sure you’ve got a good grip. There are two constituents to this: the skateboard grip-tail and your footwear. The shoes must be fit for the skateboard, meaning they should be equipped with a non-slipping protector. And the top of the board should have a decent grip-tail. The latter, however, will wear out over time and become less abrasive. So, if you feel your feet slipping, it may be time to replace the grip-tail, which you can buy in any skate shop.

Try to Stop

If you feel you are beginning to lose control, try to stop. Stopping or reducing speed may prevent you from falling. Certainly, not all situations give you sufficient time and possibility to stop, but you want to try to do this. 

Heads Up!

While skating, be conscious and attentive to what’s going on. Always watch out for the road because even a tiny fracture or a small pebble might make you fly away with ugly consequences. And if your skating route lies along with bicycles and cars, you need to be twice as attentive.

Choose Safer Places for Skating

The skating location must be spacious enough, away from traffic, preferably when it’s least crowded. 

If you happen to decide to skate in a very confined space (like in an entrance hall or a room), please be extremely careful. There are lots of obstacles there, hitting which may cause terrible outcomes. Anyway, skating at home is not a good idea after all. 

Master Your Agility, Strength, and Balance

Our muscles are responsible for balance. In skateboarding, these are core and legs muscles. If your balance is not good, the way to improve is to keep skating endlessly or train your muscles during special workouts. Combining the two methods would be the best. 

Get Real About Your Skills and Abilities

Confidence is important for skateboarding, but overconfidence may hurt. If you are not skilled enough for performing some trick, it’s better to start from a small piece to get prepared. For instance, you shouldn’t drop down right from a three-meter ramp if you’ve never tried dropping before. There’s plenty of videos online showing the outcomes. So, if you want to learn to drop, begin with mini ramps — first from a bank ramp and only then from a skate ramp radius.

Apply this approach to any trick you’d like to master.

Summary

Falling is a part of the game. You can expect no progress without falling. But it’s up to you to reduce the severity of the outcomes if you critically evaluate your ability, master your falling technique and improve your confidence. 

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