Get Yer Head Out

Posted by Kurt Maurer on Aug 21, 2006

Last, that is... yup, yup, yup. Exactly right, Mister Eager! Coming up head first is the number one killer of rolls for beginners. Failing to hip flick with conviction is the second... or maybe a diving paddle on the sweep...

And it isn't because of weight distribution or anything like that, either; it's because when you lift your head first it makes you lift the wrong knee in the hip flick. The knee that makes you go down engages, and not the one that makes you go up when you try to come up for air ahead of schedule.

Once the roll becomes intuitive, and you can actually begin to parse it, coming up head first is not only possible, but easy. As long as you can keep the right knee doing the right job, that is. Until then, yessir, your head ought to be the last thing out of the water (or at least, that's the way to think).

In Response to: Re: Figured Out Eskimo Ro by James Eager on Aug 21, 2006

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