My child falls on every landing — what should we work on?

Falls on landings are frustrating, but they're actually telling you something important about what to focus on. The most common culprit isn't the jump itself—it's the setup and approach.

Before your child even leaves the ice, their body needs to be in the right position. If they're rushing into jumps or not fully controlling their speed, they won't have the stability to stick the landing. It's like trying to land from a jump when you're already off-balance.

The other piece is what happens in the air. A lot of young skaters rotate their upper body too early or don't complete their rotation, which means they land on the wrong edge or with their weight in the wrong spot. Even a slight misalignment makes the difference between a solid landing and a fall.

At Pre-Preliminary and Preliminary levels, we focus heavily on approach control first—teaching skaters to genuinely own their speed and positioning before takeoff. Once that's solid, the landings become much cleaner.

Here's your next step: Have your child film a few practice sessions from the side angle, then watch together and count how many jumps they actually slow down before attempting. Most young skaters skip this crucial step without realizing it.

Want to see this in your child's skating? [SkateMarks analyzes every jump with per-second AI coaching notes.]