

Weerdesteyn said, and it can be quite effective.

The tuck and roll often is the first skill novice martial artists learn, Dr. Maartens Clinic in the Netherlands and, at one time, a judo athlete with the Dutch junior national team. “A rolling movement helps to redistribute the energy that must be absorbed by the body over a larger contact area,” said Vivian Weerdesteyn, a professor of motor control and rehabilitation at Radboud University Medical Center and St. In practice, this means you tuck and roll. You need to disperse the impacts when you strike the ground.”
M. didal olympic games tokyo 2020 how to#
What follows are their suggestions for where to look, how to crumple, when to flex and why to congratulate yourself when you realize you are about to take the plunge. Science and experience suggest that we can learn to fall more safely.įor suggestions about the right ways to tumble, I talked with scientists, coaches and competitors in sports that grapple with gravity, including skateboarding. You have to hit the ground to progress.”īut falling during skateboarding or other sports and activities does not have to end in serious injuries and painful tears. If you aren’t falling, you aren’t learning. Or, as Ryan Sheckler, a 31-year-old world-champion skateboarder and eight-time X Games medalist, told me, “Skateboarding is all about falling. “In fact, if you exercise much at all, I would say falls are almost inevitable at some point.” “Falling is commonplace if you are an athlete or physically active, even if you are young and fit,” said Jacob Sosnoff, a professor and associate dean of research at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, who studies human movement and falls. They gave a master class in how to wipe out well. But after lying for a moment, most popped up, grabbed their boards and moved on to the next trick. They tumbled off steps and rails, hit the concrete, somersaulted, slid and loofahed any exposed skin. During the inaugural men’s and women’s street skateboarding finals at the Tokyo Olympics this week, the best riders in the world fell.
