A Skateboard Fall is not Fun...
Skateboard Fall, The Right Way - Fall without injury. Learning how to do a skateboard fall without hurting yourself is important. It will keep you safer and avoid pain and injury. It will also build your confidence because you will know you can keep from getting hurt when trying new tricks. Allowing you to push to get better without killing yourself.
Every skateboarder knows the pain of hitting the hard ground, the sting of getting smacked in the shin by your skateboard and sore of masonite burn.
Scrapes and bruises happen so often I used to think that a good skate session included at least one bone shaking skateboard fall. I don't anymore. The discomfort of being hurt lasts longer the older you get. The lessons I learned on getting out of hurting yourself is what I will discuss here.
Slam Section!
The slam section of any skateboard video is a highlight for the non-skaters. Set to either heavy metal or funny music it is a set of clips showing all the falls that happened while filming the tricks in the video. The falls are often hilarious and terrible. Easily making the highlight reel on Americas Funniest Videos or YouTube.
For the audience will cringe in pain or laugh at the calamity. This is a part of skateboarding so we might as well get used to it.
Things to know
You will fall when skateboarding. It is unavoidable. Getting hurt bad is something you can avoid. There are few different types of skateboard falls you need to know:
Falling off
When you fall off you just lose your board and stumble away without hitting the ground.
Bailing
If you know you are going to fall hard you can bail out before it gets too bad.
Slamming
When you slam you hit the ground. The trick got out of hand, you lose all control and bang, you are on the ground.
Avoiding injury when bailing and slamming is good to learn early. I learned this stuff the hard way by slamming hard over and over again. I have a few injuries that have lasted for a long to due to hitting the ground hard.
If you can learn how to avoid injury you will be better off than me.
Skate within your Ability
Don’t try to ollie a 10 set when you can barely ollie a 5. Don't try to drop in on vert when you can barely do it on a 4'. You will certainly slam if you try something way too big for you.
Use some sense and stay within what you are capable of doing. You need to push your limits to get better but think about it first.
Will you land that trick? or will you fall 50 times before you get one sketchy roll away? Rather then taking so much abuse. Get confident on something smaller or more simple. When you get that then you can take your skill to the bigger thing and make it with way less attempts.
Learn When to Bail Out.
You need to learn when to get out of a trick before you lose all control. If you can bail out before you are turned backwards, stuck on the rail or upside down, then you can save yourself a lot of pain.
Sometimes you can just tell you are getting into trouble. Check your ego and jump out before you pay for it with a broken board or a smash into mother earth. Getting in a fight with the ground - the ground always wins.
How to Fall Better
When you lose it and are going down for sure do these things and you may avoid a hard slam.
Get loose.
Put your arms and legs out to cushion the impact. Keep them loose not rigid to absorb the fall. Don't resist it, that will cause injury. They will slow you down softening any blow.
Going stiff is the worst thing you can do. It will run you the risk of breaking your bones.
Roll out of the fall
Once you absorb some of the shock with loose arms and legs then roll out of the fall. This will take away more of the energy that is sending you to your doom. Bailing before it gets bad, staying loose and rolling will help you avoid injury. It will boost your confidence on tough tricks and keep you skating longer.
Practice
Try falling into the grass or sand a few times. Just fall while standing there and roll out of it. When you first start skating a lot you will get plenty of practice hitting the ground. Be ready for it and you will be fine. You will develop balance and instincts while avoiding getting hurt. Your body will thank you for it!
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