Dealing with fear in skateboarding

 

When it comes to fear in general, that’s a big question.  There are a few things to know before tackling it.

First, a third of all injuries happen in the first week.  After that, injury rates are half that of basketball.  

So it all seems super dangerous to outsiders because it really is for them.  But it isn’t for skaters.

 

Skateboarding is a relatively safe sport.
Source: 2002 Journal of Trauma, Injury, Infection and Critical Care
Sport Injuries per 1,000 partipants
Basketball 21.2

Football 20.7

Bicycling 11.5

Snowboarding 11.2 

Skateboarding 8.9 

In-line skating 0.9
 

“Injuries” defined as emergency room visits. 

 

 

33% of those injured on skateboards are injured within the first week of skateboarding.
Source: 1996 Skateboarding Injuries, Department of Health and Human Development, Montana State
University, Bozeman, USA. Jodi911@aol.com 

We need to repeat this point.

ONE THIRD of all injuries happen in the first week.  After that, injury rates drop to half that of 

basketball.  So it all seems super dangerous to outsiders because it really is for them.  But it isn’t for 

skaters.

You have to learn how to take a fall safely.  

This often means actually falling all the way down instead of trying to avoid falling. Trying to avoid falling

 is often the most dangerous thing to do. It's often better to fall all the way down.

This also means knowing you are about to fall before you actually do.  Know your level.  Know your level.

  Know your level.  If you go way beyond your level, then you are in strange territory.  That means you’ll 

be caught completely by surprise in a fall.

Every trick has a safe way to fall for that trick.  The most general method is called the tuck and roll. Look 

it up. Practice it!  There is also going to the butt.  But avoid landing on the lower back above the butt.  

You actually have to become so accustomed to falling down that you instinctively take the fall in a safe 

way.  It has to be a mental program that you activate without thinking.  Most people just never fall down, 

even when they do sports.  For skaters, falling is super ordinary.  For example, I’ll dive in some other 

sport, and people will ask me if I’m hurt or something.  It’s very confusing for skaters because we do it 

automatically sometimes.

Knowing your level is also key to overcoming fear as well as progressing in skateboarding. Know your 

level! Here are some super common techniques for getting better at skating.

1)Bail the trick a bunch of times.

Bailing is when you intentionally throw the board away mid trick. This can work, but it can also 

have a negative effect if you program yourself to bail.  You have to hold it longer and longer before

 you bail.  Eventually you’ll see that you’re basically landing the trick.

2)Know your level

We all have tricks that we can do but also take a lot of willpower because they are scary.  Still, 

they are tricks that we regularly do.  You just make sure to go to that point every day.  Eventually 

you’ll become accustomed to it and even bored with it.  At that point, a level beyond your old 

ability will actually start to feel right. It won't be so far away anymore.

3)Just send it

A lot of skaters like to just commit on a trick that is super scary.  For many tricks, there is no way 

to work up to it.  You just commit.  Sometimes it’s the only way.  This method has a downside 

because some tricks really do require skill too.  Some skaters just can’t accept this.  I’ve seen 

skaters actually quit because of this problem.  Mentally, lack of skill and fear of commitment are 

very difficult to distinguish.  And some guys don’t want to put in the time. Some skaters are more 

repulsed by putting in time than by getting hurt trying a trick.

4)Work your way up.

All tricks break down into a few movements that you do at the right time.  It’s possible to practice 

just these movements separately.  All skaters do this instinctively at the beginning.  You kickturn 

the ramp, then you slash, then you double truck slash, then you 50 50 on top, then you do a ½  

proper 50 50, then you do a real 50 50.  But often skaters will just try really a difficult trick over 

and over without learning the building blocks.  Here is a real life example with a real 15 year old 

boy. He learned to ollie. But he couldn’t roll.  He also couldn’t roll off things.  But he could do non 

rolling ollies. He landed crooked with heel drag because he was scared to roll too fast. As in, his 

foot was partly on the ground on purpose. And he would step off immediately.  But he could 

actually pop the board really high and land with his feet partly on it. He never learned to be 

moving and in the air on his board then land and roll away. It’s way too common for skaters to 

try and bypass fundamentals in similar ways.  It’s almost a form of attempting to cheat. Jeron 

Wilson says he's seen skaters trying to frontside flip a 5 stair without being able to roll up to the 

stairs. You should learn to push, carve, kickturn, roll off then ollie up and all in that order.

5)Flow

So flow is this weird mental state you enter into later in the game.  You just do tricks over and 

over.  You’re enjoying it.  You may be flowing with others and feeding off what they do.  You 

have to have a bunch of tricks down really well to even do this.  And it can be exhausting.  You 

also can’t be bored with what you’re doing.  But as you enter this state, you will actually 

suddenly just do something perfectly that might be way beyond what you dreamed.  The 

problems with this method are many.  First, you get tired.  Second, parks can be crowded.  

Third, most of us don’t have enough flatground skills to do this without a park.  Fourth, you can 

get bored with your flow tricks.  Fifth, it takes a bunch of time doing tricks over and over before 

you can get them flow. 

 

6)Skate with good skaters               There's nothing like being with someone who's a really good skateboarder. You'll pick up all sorts of

good things without realizing it. You won't be fully aware of it. But you'll have to get over fears

of people criticizing you. The thing is, this is probably the main way people get good at skating. 

 YOU WILL PROGRESS FASTER WHEN YOU SKATE WITH GOOD SKATERS