How to fall
Our daughter recently joined a skateboarding class.
It’s a fun game - one that requires balance and speed! We enjoy watching her every time she puts on her gear and carries the skateboard with a beaming smile.
The coach - a self-learned skateboarder, in his twenties - told us that the sport involved frequent injuries, especially in the beginning, because the kids kept on falling.
It made us a little scared. Our question to the coach was - what are you doing to prevent these injuries? How will you prevent them from falling?
His answer was - we will teach them how to fall?
It now made us curious. He continued - we can’t stop them from falling. But we will train them into how to fall so that their bodies can absorb the impact.
And we watched, in complete awe and silence, the session where the coach taught the kids how to fall!
Falling is inevitable. So, why don’t we learn how to fall?
It’s because we have always been instructed to avoid any fall as there is a stigma attached to it. But knowing that falling is the only way to learn, and hence to rise, would have changed these instructions.
Three steps that we learnt from the coaching session
Prepare for the fall - The kids were mentally prepared for the fall by uprooting their fear. How can you mentally prepare yourself?
Lower the impact of the fall - The kids were taught how to roll their bodies on the ground while shifting the weight to one of the shoulders, thus reducing the impact. What can you do to lower the impact of the fall?
Jump back into action - Using the rolling body to jump back into action was the last step. How can you use the fall itself to spring into action?
Signing Off,
Ashutosh & Aarti
Confidently Confused
Nice !👌