Falling in Sport: Friend or Foe?

REGULI, Zdenko. Falling in Sport: Friend or Foe? In 12th International Scientific Conference on Transformation Processes in Sport. 2015. ISBN 978-9940-569-12-9.

Basic information

• Original name: Falling in Sport: Friend or Foe?
• Authors: REGULI, Zdenko.
• Edition: 12th International Scientific Conference on Transformation Processes in Sport, 2015.

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Conference abstract
• Field of Study: Sport and leisure time activities
• Country of publisher: Montenegro
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• Organization unit: Faculty of Sports Studies
• ISBN: 978-9940-569-12-9
• Keywords in English: falling injuries; biomechanics; martial arts
• Tags: International impact, Reviewed

Abstract

Introduction We can encounter falls in many areas of life. Not only in sport and physical education, but also in everyday situations. Despite the fact that the concept of fall is intuitively clear for every human being, its definition is not clear. It is necessary to distinguish between the concepts of the fall in its various semantic meanings in the area of physics, philosophy, medicine, politology, and of course, in sport. Multiple meanings of the concept of fall assures us that it is necessary to distinguish the concepts of the fall and the falling technique. Methods The purpose of this study is to analyse potential danger of unwilling falls in sports as well as to highlight falling techniques as necessary skill in other sports. Results In different sports, falls are not only an important physical skill affecting the sports performance, but also a means to make the sports discipline more attractive. For example, in volleyball considers Roque, et al. (2001) falls as part of the game and the most exciting part of the game. We can see the same also in other games. Combat sports athletes are considered the most skilful in falling techniques. But also other sports can be useful. Vives (1999) describes a methodology of correct falls and standing up when downhill skiing. In both falls and falling techniques is the biomechanical structure based on the work of Carter, et al. (2001), who examined falls from the biomedical point of view. In our point of view, the phases landing and landing position are the most emphasized ones at falling technique. Discussion Complete season for ten volleyball teams was examined. Average frequency of fall was one per 81 seconds. It means, that there were 63.4 falls performed in one match in average. Similar results were find in football, where falling techniques are in close connection with other combative activities. Falling techniques seems be very important in various sports. In many combat sports, the decisions of the referees on the evaluation of the throwing ones is indirect by nature of the fall of the opponent naturally developed in the effort to learn how not to fall according to the rules, so that the rivals aren’t given positive assessment. Some coaches even went so far as not to teach correct falling techniques at all. They use only so-called unorthodox falls, turnouts (Lafon, 2005). However, each fall means an increase of the risk of injury (Gerrard, 1998).It is necessary to teach a correct falling technique, include strength training to create a protective layer of muscles, and include a training programme for the prevention of accidents.