Intro
Having already mastered forward, side, and back rolls, you’re now ready to explore the art of rolling out of falls in any direction. This 360-degree falling capability equips you with a high-quality response for feet-first falls, enhancing your control and safety in challenging situations.
Why?
- Comprehensive falling solution: falling in 360 degrees provides you with a versatile and effective means to handle various feet-first falls.
- Enhanced safety: mastering this skill helps reduce the risk of injury by allowing you to distribute the impact of a fall evenly.
- Sports and real-world application: these skills are valuable in sports involving dynamic landings, falls, and scrambles, as well as real-world scenarios like navigating slippery surfaces or stumbling over obstacles.
How?
- Master the “big 6” rolls: ensure you have a strong foundation in the “big 6” rolls, including forward right, forward left, side right, side left, back right, and back left rolls.
- Understand the concept: familiarize yourself with the concept of falling in 360 degrees, recognizing that it involves rolling in any direction to dissipate impact.
- Use reactive rolling drills: utilize reactive rolling drills to refine your ability to execute 360-degree rolls without conscious thought.
- Identify skill gaps: during drills, pay attention to any weaknesses or gaps in your “big 6” rolling skills that may become apparent.
- Isolate and improve: isolate any identified weaknesses, practice them thoroughly, and then reintegrate them into reactive rolling drills to assess your progress.
Common problems & solutions
✗ problem: attempting 360-degree falling without mastering the “big 6” rolls.
✓ solution: ensure you are proficient in the foundational rolls to build a solid base for 360-degree falling.
✗ problem: struggling to execute 360-degree falls smoothly and automatically.
✓ solution: use reactive rolling drills to sharpen your ability to execute these falls thoughtlessly and with precision.
✗ problem: identifying gaps in your “big 6” rolling skills during reactive rolling drills.
✓ solution: isolate and work on these gaps, dedicating time to improve your weaker areas.
✗ problem: failing to reintegrate improved skills into reactive rolling.
✓ solution: continuously assess your progress by incorporating improved skills back into reactive rolling drills to ensure retention.
Examples & variations
Reactive rolling
Additional resources
Falling in 360 degrees (interactive tutorial)
Credits
- Director / head coach: Ryan Ford
- Writers: Ryan Ford, Taylor Carpenter
- Producers: Ryan Ford, Taylor Carpenter
- Athletes/talent: Taylor Carpenter, Ryan Ford, Olof Wood, James MacDonald, Matt Jang, Bear Schneider, Max Boice, Michael Sliger, Seth Wang
- Camera/visuals: Ryan Ford, Taylor Carpenter
- Special thanks to the communities of Apex Denver, Apex Boulder, Apex San Diego, & Apex Remote