Five Ways Figure Skaters Can Overcome Their Fear of Falling

Isabelle, a figure skater, wrote me this e-mail a couple of weeks ago:

I have a fear of falling. Today I fell and two hours later I was coming out of the emergency ward with a broken arm. How can I help this fear?

I think the fear of falling is very real and holds a figure skater back. As you know, I’m not a coach, I’m a mom. But I’ve seen what the fear of falling can do to a figure skater’s development. As Xan of Xanboni! once commented on the old blog: I tell my students that if they aren’t falling, they’re not trying to learn an Axel, they’re trying not to fall!

Ice Girl has struggled with a fear of falling. She had a tough fall early on in her skating development and really, really doesn’t like to fall. Last month she was really going for those doubles, really working on her fear of falling when she fell – on her face. She had eight stitches, but went back on the ice the next day and three days later she was working on her doubles again.

She told me that she was determined to be the kind of skater she admires. She admires those who go for the jump, even if they’re going to fall. She admires those who work hard. That’s the kind of figure skater she wanted to be.

I really think she turned a corner that day. Other moms were telling her how tough she was and other skaters seemed very impressed. That all helped a lot.

Here are five things I’ve seen Ice Girl try when overcoming her fear of falling.

1. Learn to fall. This is something tots learn in group lessons, but I’m not sure that older skaters learn very well. It’s one thing to learn how to fall when your rear end is about a foot from the ice; it’s very different when you’re over five feet tall.

If you missed out on a good learn-to-fall lesson, pick out a patch of ice on an uncrowded freestyle session and have at it. Fall on jumps you’d normally land. Try falling on your rear end and not using your hand to break your fall – you don’t want wrist injuries. Do the falls in slow motion to see what works best. If it were me, I’d do this the last 15 minutes of the session. You don’t want to skate around for the entire session with a cold, wet rump.

2. Have good equipment. Ice Girl’s boots started to break down in May of this year. Those creases in the boot made it more difficult for her to feel confident on a landing than a proper boot would. Figure skate boots support a skater’s ankle and foot. The boot protects the ankle and foot and makes it possible to land powerful jumps. Broken down boots, boots that are too big, and blades that aren’t sharp make it hard for a figure skater to land jumps.

If a figure skater is unsure about his equipment, he’s more likely to fear that landing and worry about falling. The only worry the figure skater should have is about jumping and landing, not equipment. Having the right equipment in good condition will give a figure skater confidence.

3. Wear crash pads. For the longest time, Ice Girl wouldn’t wear crash pads (a.k.a. butt pads). She has two sets of them: one set that came with compression shorts and the other that skaters just place inside their skirts or pants. She wouldn’t wear the pads because they made her rear end look big. Please. Those pads make her rear end look normal.

I’m not sure what did it, but Ice Girl wears her crash pads faithfully to the rink. They give her the confidence to jump and take a hard fall. Some coaches don’t allow their skaters to use the crash pads because they say that the pads can become a crutch. They worry that the skater won’t take the risk and jump without them. For Ice Girl, I think that she wouldn’t have attempted her doubles without the pads. They help with her fear of falling and she’s more willing to take the chance.

4. Practice in a jump harness. Ice Girl has spent many fine hours dangling from the rink ceiling or from Ice Coach’s ProMotion jump harness (the fishing pole). National and World Team coach Nick Perna said in his Ask the Expert post about the pole harness that the tool assists the skater in jumping, but the coach is not hoisting the student into the air. He wrote:

The “ideal” time to start using the pole harness on a student is when the skater has learned the basic fundamentals of a jump and is having some difficulty in actually attempting it…i.e. they are scared, need a bit more height, are having trouble supporting themselves on the landing, or need some mental confidence.

The pole harness is more than a jump device; it’s a mental device. It gives the skater the feel of the jump without the fear of falling.

The ceiling-suspended harnesses help in that way, too; although, coaches assist the skaters more with the jump than with the pole harness. Both harnesses give skaters the feel of the jump and its rotation without the sting of a fall.

5. Make the decision. For Ice Girl, I think that this was the biggest part of her overcoming her fear of falling. She just became tired of not landing a jump. She made the decision to become the kind of skater she admired and just went for the jump, despite her fear. This isn’t anything anyone could have told her how to do. Maybe it’s a maturity thing. Maybe it’s a mental toughness thing. Whatever it was, she is determined to fall, if that’s what it takes to learn those jumps.

Related posts: Check out Xanboni’s Stuck post, my That Stupid Axel post and the How Do You Get Your Figure Skater to Wear Butt Pads? on the old blog.

Does your figure skater have a fear of falling? How is your figure skater working on that fear? What have you tried that works or that didn’t work at all? Does your figure skater’s coach allow crash pads and jump harnesses or does your figure skater’s coach think they’re crutches? Please share your falling experiences in the comments!

Do you have a question for Ice Mom or the Advisory Board? I’m looking for a question for October 29. If you have an idea for a blog post, I’d love to hear from you, too. You can e-mail me at IceMom.Diane@gmail.com

Photo credits:
Falling down: The 5th Ape / Jamie Campbell on Flickr.com Creative Commons
1st Skating Lesson (Falling Down): j.bach / James Bachleda on Flickr.com Creative Commons
all fall down: dsb nola / Derek Bridges on Flickr.com Creative Commons
I fell: .A.A. / Andrea Allen on Flickr.com Creative Commons
Falling Over: MN AFL-CIO on Flickr.com Creative Commons
man falling: Daveybot / Dave Morris on Flickr.com Creative Commons

Equus-stella

I agree with the practise falling thing. Also, for beginning skaters like me, when you start going backward, practise falling from a backward glide too (it feels a bit different to a fall from forward).
Isabellem1998

I think I emailed Ice Mom that. 3 more weeks to go in a splint and I’m getting back on that ice. And practising falling.
Anonymous

Even the non-skaters need to learn the art of falling!

One rink where my daughter skates at the Learn to skate program actually begins off-ice with the children learning to fall and get up. This process is also revisited each new session for all basic skills levels. I can actually see which skaters completed the program at this rink and which did not when they start falling on their full jumps.
Anonymous

My dd has a friend who is a beautiful and talented skater- she is 11 years old, and for a long time was light years ahead of dd, but that fear of falling is killing her. Her jump development seems almost halted for a year as she will do anything NOT to fall. She is graceful and skilled and had even passed junior moves, but my dd, at 10 (today!) is catching up really quick as she is not intimidated by falling.
Jozet

I can tell when my daughter is having fear of falling issues because she’s trying to land the jumps before fully rotating them. I’ve heard coaches say that there are three parts to every jump – take-off, rotation, landing – and that you can’t learn the next part until you’ve mastered the first. That’s tricky when learning the rotation part!

What my daughter does is wear crash pads until she has good consistent rotations. It seems way she can concentrate on rotating well, but then takes the “crutch” away when after she’s landed one or two.

As a mom, I’d cover her in bubble wrap.
Jozet

I will say that “stupid” falls are much harder on her…falls where she’s doing a simply footwork move or just stroking and she hits a rut or a blade just goes out from under her. I think there is an element of lack of control that’s harder to get over. A jump or even a fall on a spin has a fix. Ruts in the ice, a dropped bobby pin…those are scarier because they can happen any time without much warning.
Ann

I think I remembered Scott Hamilton saying the hardest jump to do is one after a fall. I’m an Adult skater and hate to fall. I use to have a great loop jump and now I’m so scared to do it. I take Adult Classes and see many new skaters come and quit because they think ice skating looks ‘easy’. We have a great teacher that does teach the proper way to fall!!
Anonymous

Right, they are unexpected and your body doesn ‘t always know how to react so the unexpected falls can be much different then falling on a jump. If you fall out of a jump most times you will fall on a hip, and its kind of calculated, your body knows what to do.
http://icemom.net Ice Mom

I really like that quote, Ann:

The hardest jump to do is one after a fall.
http://icemom.net Ice Mom

I agree. If Ice Girl is going to have a hard fall, it’s going to be on something like cross overs. I tell you:she had the funniest fall about a year ago when she was practicing this spriral crossover move for her Intermediate moves. She came flying out of that sprial, landed on her butt, slid from the end of the rink to the center circle, and nearly took out a coach, a twin, and an Intermediate skater.

Funniest fall I’d ever seen. Unfortunately, she had a bad arm sprain from it. That took some of the humor out of it.
Anonymous

I agree, I think they are unexpected and the skater doesn’t quite brace for them like one in a jump.
Jozet

I think my daughter also feels a greater “loss of dignity” on a stupid fall. Falling doing something “cool” is different than something that looks more like a Three Stooges move.
http://icemom.net Ice Mom

I totally get the loss of dignity thing. But, really. When Ice Girl nearly took down three people, it was crazy funny.

I also enjoy a good sit spin fall. No one gets hurt and the skater spins around on her rump a bit.
Erica

I’ve seen kids who fall out of doubles all the time and not care. But the same kid falling on field moves is in tears from the shock of it.
Erica

I need to fall more on my jumps. I’m learning loop but haven’t fallen out of it yet. Which i KNOW means I need to put more into the rotation, and even though i know and accept that this means falling on my ass, my body won’t let me do it.
http://icepact.blogspot.com MER

Great post! I’m an adult skater with a pretty strong fear of falling. Only because I’m afraid of hitting my head on the ice. I’m not worried about hurting anything else, just my head. I’ve found that falling has helped ease my fears of falling. I’ve now fallen quite a bit, I’ve never hit my head and the worst “injury” I’ve had from falling is a bruised and scraped up knee. Maybe it’s weird, but the more I fall, the more brave I become on skates. Hmmmm…
Isabellem1998

I’m the one who broke her arm – and I was standing STILL. Good thing that the ice was numbing.
Jozet

Field moves are deceptive. I mean, it’s “just” skating, right?

Let me tell you about the time I hooked my blades doing a mohawk and did an entire arms-waving-like-windmills and making-whooping-crane-noises routine before I hit the ice funny bone first, hip bone second. Yeah. I have nothing but respect now for the non-jumping, non-spinning things.
Jozet

Okay…I’ll admit to laughing just thinking about it. Bowling for Skaters.

And yeah, I like the sit spin break dancing, lol.
Jozet

Ack! That stinks!

I hope you at least told some good stories…you know, with a bit of swagger. “Yeah, I was on my third triple in a combination, when….”
http://icemom.net Ice Mom

MER, you are so wise. I love this:

Maybe it’s weird, but the more I fall, the more brave I become on skates.
Anonymous

Last night, on her birthday of all days, my dd stepped onto the ice with one guard still on— and down she went, very undignified
Jill

I always told my students that they needed to fall a certain number of times before they would land their axel, so they better start falling.
Anonymous Skater

There is a lot of truth to that. A friend is a former pairs skater. She has been dropped on the ice from lifts before, and still says the worst falls are the ones that happen during footwork.
The Same Anonymous

I’m exactly the same MER, in both the head-worry respect and the getting more brave the more I fall!
Isabellem1998

Ouch ….
Guest

i used to be afraid of falling, i still am but not as much, i have bad knee problems because i fall really hard on the same knee, its the knee i always fall on even if im not skating & i think i tore my meniscus or what ever its called, so i wear a knee pad & it took me about a year to convince my self that if i fall with the knee pad on, my knee wont hurt, becuase if i hurt my knee bad anymore i might have to stop skating :’( & also my coach would get mad that i would never fall, now i fall all the time! lol he still gets kinda mad cuz i cant land my jumps good
Darklady350z

I’m super nervous now. It’s sunday and on friday I ended up in the ER with a busted chin and 8 stitches after a fall that I have no idea what went wrong which scares me to death. I meet with my coach tomorrow and I’m super scared now. I could have lost all my teeth!!!!! What do I do?
icegirlholly

ive been figure skating for 18 months now, i got my blade caught in a small chip in the ice yesterday and went ‘crash bang wallop’ into the barrier and bruised all down my side from my shoulder down to my knee. i cant sit down right now so i am seriouly conidering butt pads! also i wear a knee compression support when i skate because my knees twist they also help with my comfidence after falling (:
icegirlholly

How do you practice to fall (im 15 and 5’3″)