I am usually not afraid of falling on the ice. I've had only two periods were I was afraid, both after a head-crashing fall on the ice. (Sounded to me like a bowling ball being dropped! ) I didn't want to make the existing injury worse.

Falling isn't a bad thing. Flo's right: it's just part of the sport. It means you're taking a risk and trying to master something. Skating rarely comes easy, but if you are constantly in fear of falling, you slow down your growth as a skater. Every fall does NOT have to mean an injury. And, trying something tough doesn't mean you have to fall. I've falled several times just tripping over my own feet!

First, know that you are not alone. Second, learn how to get from a standing position to your butt. Once you learn how to fall without hurting yourself, you'll feel much less afraid of it. Make sure you try to relax when you fall, it makes the fall much less jarring.

Use some pads and Advil, just for good measure. Good luck.

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Unless you're me. Almost every fall I've had has been traumatic. I don't fall a lot, b/c I am afraid of falling - maybe that exacerbates the problem. But when I have fallen - yikes! There was the fall on a waltz-loop combo 2 years ago (which I probably wasn't ready to try yet) and my face hit the ice - on the cheekbone. Then there was a fall on my left knee caused by either a click of death or a toe pick hitting the ice on back crossovers - not sure - where my knee swelled up to about 3 times its normal size and required draining, an MRI, and 3 weeks off the ice. And recently, a fall on my tailbone after wobbling on a spiral in poorly-fitting skates where my back hurt for over a week and I could barely move on some days.

Maybe the way I fall is wrong, I don't know, but at 33, I'm starting to worry about the long-term implications of so many bad injuries. And since I can't take ibuprofen (stomach) and the Cox-2 drugs are off the market (I actually was given Vioxx after the bad knee injury described above and another knee injury), there's not a whole lot left to help me.

I'm definately afraid of falling,

But now,even though i've never had any major injuries, (mainly knee bruises),
I actually look forward to falling. (sort of)

Once my coach told me that if you fall, it means that you are working harder.

So I try to "give myself a pat on the back" after I fall.

Also the shoot the duck "exercise" works too.

Happy Falling!!!

~kittie

I don't particularly enjoy falling, but I honestly think if I don't fall I didn't work hard enough.

I had one of those head hit the ice falls 1.5 weeks ago. I got right up and kept skating. Bruised elbow, bruised butt (which is amazing that a bruise can come thru the thick layer of cellulite!) and yes, those kind of falls are no fun.

Click of Death! Did that one this past Sunday!

My favorite way to fall is to try to do a sitspin. A low, slow sitspin.

An instructor I once had told a class of us adults learning to snow ski that if you didn't fall sometimes you weren't learning anything because you weren't out of your comfort zone.

With that in mind, I've had multiple bruises, two concussions, and one broken ankle.

And yes, I still love it and can't wait to get back to my pre-break levels.

When I was working on the Intermediate moves, I kind of considered the click of death to be a rite of passage -- I heard them, I fell, I slammed into the boards at a high rate of speed, I survived.

On the warm up of my test I heard the click of death, slammed into the boards, and cut my leg with my blade. The judges gasped, I said "I'm OK", I skated and passed. My forward power circles (the prime instigators of the click of death) earned my highest scores.

I fall on double sals. I fall on double toes. I fall on double loops. Occasionally, I still fall on an axel, but I'm usually able to save it. I've fallen on the IM and Adult Gold MIF brackets - ouch. I've fallen on a camel -- and a flying camel -- and a death drop. I've fallen on rockers, and counters, and one time I fell doing the Killian dance and barely missed hitting my head on the boards.

I've fallen and slammed the back of my head on the ice -- earned a trip to the urgent care for that one. I've fallen and wrenched my hip flexor, resulting in time off jumping and PT. I've fallen on a three turn and sprained my knee.

Oh, I am 40 years old, BTW (I took my "let's fall" intermediate moves two summers ago). I have had so many people gasp and ask if I am ok when I fall. I just laugh and tell them that if I don't get up, then is the time to call 911. If I get up, then I'm ok. Most of them get used to seeing me splat pretty quickly!

Some of my falls have been funny, some of them have been really scary, and some of them have really hurt. However, the more you get used to falling, the easier it gets. Sounds crazy, but it's true.

So, Melzorina, don't worry about falling. It will make you a better skater, as long as you are smart about it. If you are not sure how to fall, ask your coach. It may seem to her/him (and to you) like a funny question, but it is one of the most important learning tools you can have. That, and this advice ---- if your jump take off is correct, your fall won't hurt. So make sure your jump technique is correct!

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"Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway." -- Unknown

You've certainly been through the mill. I'm lucky that I tolerate ibuprofen very well, because I have to take 1200 to 1800mg a day just to control chronic pain in my hips. I'm 58, and my knees are likely just one good whack away from surgery. I have two words for that problem: knee pads. I never skate without them. I use the $5 (thinner) volleyball pads from a sporting goods store, but if you are sensitive about it, you could splurge for the $35 each skatingsafe gel pads that hardly show. My knee pads have saved me many times.

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I, too, am a little nervous about falling, but I agree with everything that people have said: the faster you are going, the less it hurts. I had a straight down fall once that didn't do permanent injury but I was sore for awhile. The times I've fallen doing crossovers (which far outnumber any other falls) I haven't been hurt at all. In fact, the last time I fell was doing CCW forward crossovers and I slid about a dozen feet on my hip and stomach and just laughed.

Actually even funnier was once recently when I was working with my secondary coach and we were doing the bronze move where you do alternating crossovers to a back outside edge, and we'd come around the end of the rink doing crossovers and chatting. He was holding my hand very lightly. And I clicked my blades and did a little hop and landed on my feet, and a beat later he went, "OHMYGODI'VEGOTYOU!!!" and flung his arms around my waist and hung on, to keep my from falling. So I'm now gliding backwards, my coach forward, clinging to me, and I just looked down at the top of his head and went, "I'm okay, you can let go now!" And we both started laughing hysterically and continued for several minutes. He was bound and determined that I was not going to get hurt on his watch! But even if I had fallen, I'm sure I would have been fine.

Anyway, all my coaches get very excited when I fall, unless I guess one of them feels responsible in any way!

Pat

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August 22, back on the ice!

Since everyone has fallen on the ice, who has fallen on the floor mats outside of the ice?

Did that yesterday. I thought I had my blade guards on and that I was wearing my patch skates. Nope, no blade guards and I was wearing the freestyle skates with the blades with large toepicks. Heading towards the ice I caught the toepick on the mat and tripped and fell.

One of the other adults came over and asked me if I was OK and what was I doing? I told her I didn't get enough rotation in my mat axel.

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Keeping School Figures Alive!!

One of our coaches fell over in the pros' room the other day, just slipped (where were his guards???).

As a dancer, I don't fall often (dancers tend to fall less than free skaters), but when I do, it is often painful. Especially when Husband catches my blade in his and lifts my foot gently off the ice, resulting in me sitting down hard from a great height - fine if I don't hit my coccyx, but you know how sore it is for so long when you do!

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

That just reminds me of a funny moment, a friend of mine walked into class one day and he exclaimed very loudly "I've just fallen and hurt my cervix", when he meant Coccyx. Ahh that was funny.

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I fell down yesterday on the sidewalk--stepped off the edge of it, my ankle turned a bit, and I found myself heading slo-mo to my hands and knees. The weird thing is, not only did the ankle not hurt, but there wasn't even any 'tissue memory' of it being turned/twisted in the first place--as far as my ankle was concerned, nothing had happened! And I had enough time to 'catch' myself...landed more on my hands than my knees, thank goodness. I just felt really stupid and hoped no one saw me!

Honestly though--I'd rather fall on the ice any day. And just remember--most skating falls don't (or shouldn't) hurt, and if you're worried at all about looking stupid, get over it--because real skaters do it all the time and don't care a bit.

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"The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket, nor breaks my leg."
--Thomas Jefferson

www.signingtime.com ~sign language fun for all!

I'm not worried about looking stupid, I just don't want it to hurt me! I reckon I'd fall on my wrists, and I see the way the other skaters fall, kinda on their sides a bit...

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That reminds me of a time when my ballet teacher's daughter (then age 16) was substitute teaching a ballet class. She was trying to tell us to lead with our chest as we moved, so she told us to lead with our our pubic bone out. She meant to say sternum and turned bright red when she realized the mistake.

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That is SO SO TRUE!! You fall when you don't commit to a jump. You fal when you pull back or hesitate or slow down just before a jump.

Today I tried the double toeloop for the first time in 7 months, and 7 months ago was the first time I'd ever landed them (I landed 5 of them over a 2-day period). The mental block has been staggering since I'd back-burnered them to work on my program for Nationals. But today I landed 5 of them and here's how I managed to get over the fear:

I came up with cue words that walked me through each part of the jump:
- "Do-wn" (once the pick goes into the ice)
-Up!
- Backward! (turn the hip & get backward in the air ASAP)
- Out! (check out and land)
When you give yourself cue words to say in your head as you execute an element, you have something to focus on and it also reminds you that if you have enough time in the air to say these things in your head, you have enough time to complete the revolution and get into landing position. If I hadn't figured out this trick, I have no idea if I could have ever landed this jump! But you know what? Before I actually landed one today, I didn't quite make it on a few of them. But no bad falls! It was no big deal! I felt kind of stupid. :p Oh, by the way, I'm 40, so I'm not made of rubber anymore.

Falling on your side is actually good. You just roll and get right back up and you don't get any bruises. Falling straight backward is the bad one.

Well I'm still skating with a Cast on my wrist after a fall :-) that aint stopping me btw i'm 28, But yeh, try to become one with the ice :-)

I try to think "BEND YOUR KNEES AND ANKLES", whenever things feel a bit shakey. Usually, I'll just go ahead and sit down instead of stiffening up and fighting it, which can make it worse. I must fall at LEAST 20 times a day. Last year I got the Zamboni Award at our club banquet. What an honor!!
Becca

A British woman once told me of getting very confused when training in America - I think it must have been in gymnastics - and told to land on her fanny. For us, this is difficult unless you can do the splits - and if on something like a beam, most painful!

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

It doesn't take long to learn not to land on your wrists, but to keep the hands out of the way and land on something bigger. Hands do little to brace you on ice as they slip anyways, and it's not good to have your weight come down on your hands and hurt your wrist. Keep the head and hands up, and legs both extended to the same point (as the gash on my shin has taught me). Falling generally doesn't hurt much, nor for long.

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Casey Allen Shobe | http://casey.shobe.info
"What matters is not experience per se but 'effortful study'."
"At first, dreams seem impossible, then improbable, and eventually inevitable" ~ Christopher Reeve

When I came back to skating after severe concussion I was most afraid of the simplest mohawks, because that's what I fell on *in a dance* (a 911 fall, straight backwards) I still have to think about each mohawk when I do it and do not take them for granted.

When I started out skating a few years ago, I was afraid of chopped up rutted ice, I was so sure I would catch a blade and fall over. I spent about the first three months skating with my head down watching every centimetre of ice and it took about another three months to become more confident that - not that I wouldn't fall - but when I would fall on the crappy ice that it wouldn't be the end of the world. It's all about confidence. You will fall, it's being able to adapt and handle the fall itself that builds confidence.

Like I said above, my worst fall was straight backwards. There is no way to mitigate those, you're down before you know it, so yes, I myself, who falls a lot, (A LOT !) am quite scared of the straight back on my head fall. I have no confidence whatsoever that I could stop it if it happened. It has changed my skating and there are some moves that I haven't tried since because of that fear. Outside mohawks for example.

I agree with the above. The "thing" that you got hurt on, even a three turn maybe, is the "thing" your afraid of. I got hurt when I first attempted backspins and I'm still afraid of them. My fear makes me do all sorts of weird things. Now I love trying 2 loops. Not logical huh? However, in my head it is. If I could get over my head issues things would be much easier. Whenever I work on backspins I feel like I'm throwing myself over a cliff. While on 2 loops I can't wait and save them towards the end of the session as my treat. Not normal I know....

Chico

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"I truly believe, when God created skating, he patted himself on the back."

I think that all figure skater have had a fear at one time or another, but the number one thing to always remember is...do you really think that all those parents would put their kids on the ice if it was dangerous?...I've had my fair share of scrapes and bruises including 35 stitches on my head(after which i didn't want to ever touch the ice again), my head glued back together and lots of other little injuries and yet I'm still going back everyday skating my butt off hoping to have a good season this year...

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My boyfriend told me to choose between him and skating......................well i guess i'm gonna miss him...

Well...yes actually, but if it's what they really want, then the best you can do is to get them the best possible coaching you can afford, or better still get the kids to pay for it themselves if they are old enough to earn, it's usually the self-sufficient ones that dont need kicking back on the ice every 5 minutes, wonder why???

Falling straight backwards terrifies me...the whole wrist thing...How do you not land on your wrist if you fall backwards, when it's instinct to cushion your fall. You do it automatically!

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