Taking Falls?
Just wanted to make a thread where people can offer tips about taking falls in different situations in skateboarding.
Just from time spent on the board I’m getting more confident and better at taking falls.
Unfortunately today my front foot slipped off the board after a rock to fakie on a big quarter (no idea how lol).
I’ve had my foot slip off the back plenty of times (and it sucks) but never had this before. I bent my knee WAY to far sideways and did some damage to me right knee and hip.
Gunna be off the board for a while which sucks cause I was really starting to get confident.
So does anyone have a good way to fall if your foot slips off the front or back? Or is there not much you can do?
Or any other tips about taking falls, throw them up here!
Not much you can do unless you can get both feet off the board. I would fall forward of backward on it chest or back, more meat there to take the impact.
If you can bail any way try and do a bit of a role and try your best to stay relaxed. I always try to commando roll out of every thing if I’m going to take a tumble and if you roll you can save your ankles and knees.
Tiger balm them wounds and get back out 
That sucks Andy. When I was young and first skating, I did the same thing. But I didnt really fall. My front foot slipped off and I stepped back, but because all my weight was on the tail, the board poped up into my face and cracked my cheek bone!
Its a hard thing to bail out of because its not like a ollie based trick where you leave the ground and generallly know if your gonna stick it or not and can bail. But this is kinda like getting a chalkie. best thing to do is try to fall back and roll out of it. Just go with the way your body is going and dont land flat or stick arms out. Even if you end up doing a backward tumble roll down the quater pipe, its better than slamming flat.
Just if you roll backwards try to tuck and cover your head (think airplane crash style) so you dont slam your head on the transition, or the board doesnt roll into your face while your going for olympic gold in gymnastics 
Tiger balm them wounds and get back out
Dude, right now I’m just trying to walk carefully without damaging it any more. I have to have my knees 100% before I start work down in Perisher (the bastards actually get doctors to check our knees lol).
But I will be rolling as soon as possible. The more I skate, the more I love it 
Yeah, what you are saying makes sense for sure. Except the board took one foot away from me and I had no control at all at that point. But I think falling towards my back or my front is the way to go when possible.
I guess the key would be to exaggerate all my falls and practice rolling out of them until it becomes my automatic bail instead of trying to run out all the time. Moving to bigger tranny means running out is gunna get ugly 
Cheers guys
Yeh, I was gonna say actually practice bailing out of rock fakies. Dont wait for the slip to happen. Jump off a few times mid rock with a foot and practice getting out of it
Tiger balm them wounds and get back out
Dude, right now I’m just trying to walk carefully without damaging it any more. I have to have my knees 100% before I start work down in Perisher (the bastards actually get doctors to check our knees lol).
But I will be rolling as soon as possible. The more I skate, the more I love it
They have doctors check? Never knew that. Maybe stop doing rock to fakie and hit up rock and rolls, you can run out forward then.
Save yourself for the season Come back in the summer to skateboard. I don’t like skating in the colder months so much, the time it takes to warm up is horrible and the old joints aren’t very good.
Yeh, but rock to fakies are a nice set up trick if you wanna come into the next one with fakie and maintain speed
Yeh, but rock to fakies are a nice set up trick if you wanna come into the next one with fakie and maintain speed
Yep they are the essential stall but they hurt so much if you hook up and fall back. I fell back three times in a row once and my wrist felt broken, so sore.
Yeh, rock to fakies are still one of those tricks that im not that comfy with anymore because of hang ups.
If your reasonably comfy with r-fakie stalls, and want to still do a trick that is a connector, try rock to fakies with a slide.
you approach the ramp at a different angle so your body will be in a different position. Because you are moving across the ramp as well it may help with not feeling like you are stalling then having to come back down and pickin up speed from a stand still. It you will also not feel as much like you are coming backwards down because you will tend to face more into the ramp when exiting the slide
Yeh, rock to fakies are still one of those tricks that im not that comfy with anymore because of hang ups.
If your reasonably comfy with r-fakie stalls, and want to still do a trick that is a connector, try rock to fakies with a slide.
you approach the ramp at a different angle so your body will be in a different position. Because you are moving across the ramp as well it may help with not feeling like you are stalling then having to come back down and pickin up speed from a stand still. It you will also not feel as much like you are coming backwards down because you will tend to face more into the ramp when exiting the slide
Sweet ill give that a try tomorrow at the park. Trying to get back some of the stalls I used to be able to do years ago. Out of practice.
@K2 -The funny thing is rock to fakies are my “go to” trick. They are the easiest thing I can do other than axle stales and 50-50s. But it’s interesting what you said about boardsliding a rock to fakie. I always assumed it would be pretty hard but maybe it does help you feel like you are still in the pipe rather than up on the deck.
That’s what freaks me about doing them on bigger quarters, you get too upright when you rock and then it feels like death will happen trying to get back to vertical again.
I was slowly getting to bigger and bigger pipes though. Shit happens in skating I guess.
@bkr - It’s interesting what you said about preferring the summer. It makes sense to want your joints etc warmed up as fast as possible. But I love skating in the cold.
It stops me from getting to hot and sweating like crazy. I run out of water so fast on hot days. I’m more likely to skate much longer on cold days.
But I guess that’s just my Scottish blood line, I probably don’t belong in this country, could be why I run away in the summer 
@bkr - It’s interesting what you said about preferring the summer. It makes sense to want your joints etc warmed up as fast as possible. But I love skating in the cold.
It stops me from getting to hot and sweating like crazy. I run out of water so fast on hot days. I’m more likely to skate much longer on cold days.
But I guess that’s just my Scottish blood line, I probably don’t belong in this country, could be why I run away in the summer
I can understand that I live in Victoria and have English blood lines. I don’t like skating in hoodies for jumpers on, like the arms flapping around like wings.
With transition, if 1 foot has come off. Generally put your head between your legs and kiss you butt good bye.
Other than that rag dolling helps, because you go limb and less likely to stretch or tear anything. If you can try and tuck in and roll out of it so your not impacting as much but allowing the force of the impact to lessen.
With transition, if 1 foot has come off. Generally put your head between your legs and kiss you butt good bye.
I wish I did this.
Then I wouldn’t have had to watch my knee bend disgustingly sideways. Still recovering from it, but I should be okay to ride carefully when the snow season opens. It will be on the mend the whole season though, which effects the way u ride.
It’s funny, I’m not as stoked as I usually am to get snowboarding again. I’m more bummed that I had to stop skating lol. I was loving it!
With transition, if 1 foot has come off. Generally put your head between your legs and kiss you butt good bye.
Then I wouldn’t have had to watch my knee bend disgustingly sideways. Still recovering from it, but I should be okay to ride carefully when the snow season opens. It will be on the mend the whole season though, which effects the way u ride.It’s funny, I’m not as stoked as I usually am to get snowboarding again. I’m more bummed that I had to stop skating lol. I was loving it!
Yeah nothing worst then twisting your knee. Did it one day skating bowl with some basic protec knee pads. Completely twisted it and it put my back out. That sucked, even drinking that night didn’t numb the pain.
I am the opposite at the moment, I am itching to get on the snow. It has been about 2 years and probably be about another 2 years before I will get the chance. Lap it up Andy while you can.