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> If someone had a youngster that they wanted to teach to fall correctly, why not take them to a martial arts studio, explain to the sensei what you need and have them teach the kid how to do a shoulder roll?
> and may really drill the concept into the head so that muscle memory takes over when you DO come off the horse
Nine years ago, my, then, 13 year old son, a third degree red belt in
Karate, was hit broadside by a car while riding his bike to school. The
force was enough to bend the frame on the other side of the knee that
was hit. Although he remembers none of the next few minutes, witness
say he was thrown about ten feet in the air, over the car. At at apex
of his flight he tucked into a ball, landing on the street, several feet
behind the car. He landed between his shoulders and rolled. This was
before the bike helmet law, and he was not wearing one. Although he had
little skin left on his back, his head and face were untouched. His
nearly new tee shirt had four holes just below the collar, exactly
fitting the four fingers of his right hand where he had grabbed his
shirt to tuck which such force that he had stuck his fingers completely
through the material. The injury to his knee prevented any further
participation in karate.
Two years ago, my, now 20 year old, son had a scaffolding on which he
was standing collapse, pitching him face first to the pavement twelve
feet below. Again, he tucked and rolled. His only injury was a bruise
on his shoulder and a broken finger, sustained when he tried to grab the
scaffold to keep from falling. According to him, he never thought about
the "tuck and roll". It JUST HAPPENED!
Although this has nothing to do with endurance, I think it does
support the "muscle memory" survival instincts that proper training can
instill.
Joyce Boeche
jboeche@usa.net
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