Ok - a post on the weekly lesson thread made me wonder - what strange falls have you had lately? Not the kind that you expect, like on a jump landing, but the ones that blindside you.

For me, it was falling sideways off of a spiral. No reason..I wish I could say that there was a rut in the ice or something. But no, I just lost my balance and fell on my hip. Huge bruise, the size of a coconut.

Or the time that I was skating around at an open skate session - just skating forward minding my own business. The next thing I knew I was on my knees, and almost on my nose. Ouch. Again, no real reason. Embarassing, but no permanent damage .

So, any good stories out there?

I was doing a spiral and caught a rut in the ice and went flying chest first. That hurt badly.

The other day I was working on spins and my coach was right behind me and I fell out of it and almost toppled my poor coach over. That happens a lot with us, matter of fact..

I once fell doing a swizzle. Yes, a swizzle. I was on my Pre-Silver dances at the time. I have no idea how it happened. I was just trying to do a really big swizzle, and then I was sitting on the ice. Luckily, no one saw it happen. I claimed to have been doing footwork and everyone bought it. If anyone had seen that, I would still be hearing about it.

Wednesday, right before my lesson, I was doing power threes and went into the LFO three totally cockeyed and just kept going like a windmill. I actually touched down with both hands and managed to flip onto my right hip (which still hurts like h*ll). In my mind it was a cartwheel. I've never fallen on a three turn before.

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During an impromptu private lesson (also my first private lesson ever), I was standing next to my instructor as she was talking about 3 turns. The next thing you know, I topple over and she catches me on the way down before I hit the ice. I have NO CLUE what made me fall. I wasn't even moving!!!

I fell forward once doing a spiral and landed on my knee. Big bruise. Oh well, at least I didn't fall on my face.

I fell doing a spin - actually this happened twice, on 2 different spins. Each time, I think I may have gone up on my toe pick. One moment I was spinning, the next I found myself falling down sideways. Once it happened in the middle of group lessons, and I think I screamed out of fear as I realized I was going down almost head first. Everyone near me stopped what they were doing and looked.

I once fell heading into a camel spin while skating in a show. It was only a group number (not my solo), but I had to finish the rest of the number in agony.

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This space has been put on hiatus for retuning....

My last fall was during a camel spin. For whatever reason I've fallen out of these twice recently I remember thinking that I finally had gotten a nice position, back arched, looking up nicely...then wham I fell out and landed with all my body weight on my elbow. It was incredibly painful and I couldn't touch my elbow for 4 weeks in one spot. Doesn't hurt now, but there is still a weird lump there...

Hit my toepick during a dance recently too. My partner said, "where the heck did you go? One minute you were there, the next gone!" He's good though, he once jumped over my hand as I fell and sprawled on the ice. Quick reaction on his part!

Just the other day my coach was saying that she wished she had a video camera so she could make a bloopers tape. There are a lot of collisions on our ice...

My weirdest fall to date was when I was doing CCW forward crossovers and I had my arms stretched behind me and I got so deep on an LFO that I tripped forward and landed on my left, uh, chestal area. I skated over to my coach clutching my chest and said, "I fell on my boob!" to which she nearly died of laughter.

The most painful fall was one day when I competed in the morning, then went to a practice session later in the day. I had a run-in with a parent about ten minutes before the session, and I was so upset I went to find my friend and talk about it. I stood around in my skates for a good 25 min, so when I finally got on the ice my feet were kind of wobbly.

I was doing the spirals from the Novice moves test, going into the RFI one (my worst) and simply fell forward over my toepick and landed directly on the most bony part of both my kneecaps. That was very early May and I still have bumps, and kneeling can be difficult.

Jocelyn

Let's see.... today only:

-doing a forward progressive (I think, not entirely sure that it was actually a progressive, it may have been more of just skating forward), somehow hit my toepick, and did my impression of Superman (i.e. went face first and slid with my arms in front of me completely stretched out). I slid for a bit, got my hands under me, pushed myself up to my knees, gloves slipped on the ice, and I kind of flipped onto my side. My knees are killing me! Of course, the head skating coach and some of the other ladies saw it. My coach was on the other end of the ice putting her skates on, don't know if she saw it or not.
Edited to add: Found out tonight when I went to the doctor I actually cracked a rib. How pathetic!

-standing PERFECTLY STILL, and somehow my weight flew backward and yes, I went down. But not only did I go down, I was close enough to the boards that I hit those with my elbow and it made a loud bang. Perfect, perfect.

Those are the only funny, major falls. Other minor falls today. My body hated me today! Ha Ha!

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"Without a struggle, there can be no progress" ~ Frederick Douglass

The fall that put the fear of falling into me:

First year of group lessons, just skating backwards on one foot (Basic 3 move?) and I hit a pile of snow the little kiddies had made while they waited for their turn to skate. I managed to give myself a concussion (sp?) from that one, as I fell over backwards and hit my head on the ice.

My most spectacular fall:

Doing a bunny hop during show practice. I don't know how I fell, don't remember falling, but I do remember the sound of my knees, left hip, and right elbow hitting the ice. Every adult on and off the ice stopped what they were doing, the rink got dead silent, and I had to be helped up by my skating idol, Gail, and my then 10 yr old daughter. All the coaches came over to make sure I was OK, and I managed to just skate through the practice to keep loose.

Next day, I couldn't even get out of bed, but I had to go to work in the Special Ed classroom I was assigned to. I ended up borrowing ice packs from the school nurse just to keep from stiffening up. It was fun to show off my huge purple kneecaps and broken blood vessel hip bruise, though...

Schmeck, still known at the local rink for the 'Killer Bunny Hop"

that exact thing happened to me!!!
and then there was the time i just finished an exercise (moves) and i'm skating back to my coach and i just trip and fall right on my stomach. i keep sliding and i try to get up again (while moving) and fall again! my coach couldn't stop laughing! lol

The ole guards on the ice trick.

Did that at the Lussi Rink in Lake Placid.

I am use to rinks that have a barrier around them. This rink is a patch rink with only a 6 inch board around the ice. I was getting ready for a adult group class and ended up providing a little floor show entertainment!!

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Keeping School Figures Alive!!

I don't fall too often, but I remember once I had just finished a figure 8 of back crossovers, and I was really excited by that and was pondering what to do next, and I just tripped over my toepicks and fell on my knees. I had to laugh because it wasn't like I was trying to do anything hard...

And I remember one time when I was just beginning and I didn't know how to stop if I was going backwards. So if I was skating backards, I'd skate near the boards and kind of curve around so I'd back into the boards and then I could stop. Not going fast, mind you. Well, one day I was in a public session in a different rink and tried to do the same thing... only there was an open door right there and I nearly fell through the doorway out of the rink! But I realized what was going on in mid-fall and sort of recovered but I ended up then falling forward in slow motion onto my knees. Then I sat on the ice and laughed hysterically; a 12 year old kid came over and asked if I was okay!

And for those of you who have bruised and swollen knees, I say, kneepads.

Pat

I was trying to do an inside ina bauer and letting the leg infront three turn so its like a two footed glide and vs. somehow after doing that a few times i just fell flat onto my side. luckily it wasn't a hard fall but it was funny. i was trying it out, asking my friend what does it look like and which way looks better and i fell right infront of her....

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Tidesong

I have two. With both I managed to escape serious injury. The first time I was doing a catch foot spiral and fell forward and smacked the whole left side of my face on the ice.
The second one I was practicing axels in the jumping harness, and the velcro loosened and I fell out of it and landed on the back of my head.
Oh, and a third one, I was skating at an outdoor rink and it was near the end of the season and the ice was really choppy. I hit a really rough spot and fell onto onto my knees, and when I got up there was a big piece of ice piercing my knee. I had to pull it out and probably should have had stitches, but it hurt too much I didn't even want to think about that. It eventually healed by using those supersized bandages, but I still have the scar.
Thank goodness, I have never been seriously injured though.
Oh, I thought of one more. I popped my knee out (and back in) falling on a........lunge. How embarassing.

One time at my old rink, I was just standing perfectly still watching someone spinning. It was time for my dance lesson (though I hadn't realised), and my coach skated over to me 100mph, and turned on the brakes in a sudden hockey stop right next to me, but it was such a surprise and shock that I started to just topple over! He caught me before I fell, but neither of us could stop laughing for a while...

I've also fallen before on a mohawk and when just skating backwards...

Oh yeah, and ages ago I was doing the prelim waltz (the easiest dance there is) on the dance interval, and I think I was skating too fast because I had to take a sharp corner, and I caught my toe pick and went flying! I landed on my backside but managed to bang my knee somehow. It was a bit at the time, lol. A few little girls stopped and asked me if I was ok. I would have been, had I not been skating in front of lots of people... lol

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"It’s never too late to skate at any age." - Alexei Mishin.

LOL was that the first year we were there that someone did that every single day? I take my guards off before I even get off the benches in that rink. I know if I walked toward the ice with them on, I'd forget to take them off.

Now that I think of it, I'm way overdue for a guards-on-the-ice fall. I haven't done that in like two years.

Me too. I've never done it and I'm scared to death since I'm convinced it must happen someday!!!

I've yet to do the blade guard fall. I've seen one of my friends do it so many times that my coach now always asks for my blade guards before I go on the ice at a competition, and at practice if she's around. If she's not, then the friend that's done it is always muttering "blade guards off, blade guards off" before we get on, so I'm reminded!

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"Without a struggle, there can be no progress" ~ Frederick Douglass

It's so ironic -- I was just thinking of starting a thread on this because, Schmeck, what you describe above happened to me this week, almost exactly! I'm a total beginner, just coming to end of the pre-Alpha class, and I hadn't fallen at all to date, and then, during practice after the lesson, a few of us were practicing something at the end of rink where it was chewed up a bit and a little wet, and I must have just caught an edge in a rut or something, and BANG! over I went, down on the tailbone and then the back of my head. It happened so fast, I couldn't even get my hands up behind my head. Had to go the ER for stitches and everything.

Now I wonder how I'll feel going back. I am most certainly going to my lesson next week, headache and all, and I guess that's all you can do, like getting back on the horse that just threw you. I know falls are inevitable, and I actually expected to fall a lot, so when I didn't, I suppose maybe I got a little careless . . . I won't be now! Trust me, though, to have the very first fall be all pouring blood and drama, not just a bang on the knee!

Yes it was, it was last summer. I carried that bruise on my elbow and hip for at least two months. My coach marvelled at the weekly color changes to the beginning of October.

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Keeping School Figures Alive!!

I must be a better skater than I used to be...was at a rink today I rarely go to, so trying to be careful stepping on the ice and there I was...slip sliding away with my guards on! But, I didn't fall They say you will only do this once and learn your lesson, but I'm a slow learner

I wiped out on a flying camel and that HHUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRTTTTTTT!

Let's see...

• Fall on spiral to boobs (and knees in my case)... check...
• Fall on camel to side... check... (but not on elbow, thankfully! And it didn't hurt!)
• Evil toepick on back crossovers... check... (This one was on the bony part of knee! Was out skating for a couple of weeks and couldn't bend knees for at least a month!!! My one consolation from this injury is now I have a fear of going on my toepicks when I do back crossovers now and will ANYTHING not to go on them!!!)
• Fall on knees on bunny hops... CHECK!!! (Note: I had to do them on both sides at FAST speeds during power class. Don't try this on the first shot! GRADUALLY build your speed up on this!!!)
• The old blade guards on ice... CHECK TWICE!!!

Only two to add:

• Fall on BO3's on my weaker side. That one definitely hurt my knees AND my elbows!!! YOWZA!!!
• Fall on right hip (spin CW) on spin entry!!! OOOWWWW!!!! THAT HURTS!!! (That'll teach me to go on the ice 2 weeks after recovering from sciatica! Definitely a lesson in *NOT* going back on ice before you're recovered from your injury!!!)

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Cheers,
jazzpants

11-04-2006: Shredded "Pre-Bronze FS for Life" Club Membership card!!!
Silver Moves is the next "Mission Impossible"
(Dare I try for Championship Adult Gold someday???)

Thank you for the support, you guys!!!