Looking for some suggestions (kids related)

[SkiDork]

Cross posted on KZone as well...

Iceman/Agent double coat is up at ramp camp in Lake Placid. He's having a lot of trouble with his fear of landing in water. It's crippling him from making any progress on the ramps. He says he doesn't want to possibly land in the water in anything less than veritcal/feet down orientation. (he doesn't want to get his head in the water).

He's wearing: Skis, ski boots, short wetsuit, life jacket (only one) and a helmet.

If they land veritcally they pretty much don't go under (the head) but there's a chance that if they screw up the landing they'll land with their head going under (for a few secs at most) then they pop right out.

But for some reason this scares the crap out of him. He's been crying on the phone to me at night. He can swim under water find (for short periods) and he can jump fee first off a diving board (his head goes under water for a few secs) so he's not totally afraid of getting under. I think having all the gear on adds to his fear level

All's I've been telling him is he doesn't have to do anything he doesn't want to do, and just to try to go out there and have some fun (which I guess is tough if the fear is there).

I actually said I would get him some diving lessons when he got back to see if that would help out but he didn't think it would.

Wondering if anyone has any magic words I can impart to him to help him out while he's still up there. I'm reminded of the scene from "What About Bob" where ziggy is afraid of diving and Bob finally helps him over it by turning the tables and asking Ziggy to help him...

 

[deadheadskier]

Maybe suggest jumping in with just shorts and the helmet on from the side of the pool to get acclimated to the sensation of going under water in a less constrictive way.

What do the coaches have to say? I'd imagine this isn't the first future olympian who's had some water ramp fears they need to overcome.

Oh yeah....and I'm still waiting for my adoption papers to come in the mail?

 

[SkiDork]

Maybe suggest jumping in with just shorts and the helmet on from the side of the pool to get acclimated to the sensation of going under water in a less constrictive way.

What do the coaches have to say? I'd imagine this isn't the first future olympian who's had some water ramp fears they need to overcome.

Oh yeah....and I'm still waiting for my adoption papers to come in the mail?

Yeah - the papers are hung up at the ministry of silly walks...

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll run that by him tonight and see what he thinks. I'll also see if I can get a hold of one of the coaches tonight.

 

[krisskis]

Hey Dork...is IceMan going to be playing with the Broncos this year? I was just wondering seeing as hes up in Lake Placid and all. WFC started last week and the princess starts cheerleading tonight. My son gets to play this yaer as well...we raised enough money to get Fall JV sports going..so football is a go.
Two-a-days to commence shortly...wooohooo...LOL.

 

[SkiDork]

Hey Dork...is IceMan going to be playing with the Broncos this year? I was just wondering seeing as hes up in Lake Placid and all. WFC started last week and the princess starts cheerleading tonight. My son gets to play this yaer as well...we raised enough money to get Fall JV sports going..so football is a go.
Two-a-days to commence shortly...wooohooo...LOL.

Yup - he's on one of the 2 11/12 teams this year. The coach knows he'll be missing the 1st few practices.

There was a letter to the editor in yesterdays Newsday about the gift from the State Senator to Wantagh sports, you should check it out. Interesting stuff...

BTW the snowprincess is not into cheerleading this year at all. She's still having trouble with her cartwheels and thinks she's gonna get teased etc. She's gonna go to the 1st practice tonight begrudgingly. She'll warm up to it in a few weeks like she always does. But next year maybe we'll bag it and she can do swimming racing which she really wants to try.

 

[Hawkshot99]

See if they will let him jump off the end of the ramp with gear on and no skis. Dont know if they can stand at the end of it or not.

 

[billski]

Cross posted on KZone as well...

Iceman/Agent double coat is up at ramp camp in Lake Placid. He's having a lot of trouble with his fear of landing in water. It's crippling him from making any progress on the ramps. He says he doesn't want to possibly land in the water in anything less than veritcal/feet down orientation. (he doesn't want to get his head in the water).

He's wearing: Skis, ski boots, short wetsuit, life jacket (only one) and a helmet.

If they land veritcally they pretty much don't go under (the head) but there's a chance that if they screw up the landing they'll land with their head going under (for a few secs at most) then they pop right out.

But for some reason this scares the crap out of him. He's been crying on the phone to me at night. He can swim under water find (for short periods) and he can jump fee first off a diving board (his head goes under water for a few secs) so he's not totally afraid of getting under. I think having all the gear on adds to his fear level

All's I've been telling him is he doesn't have to do anything he doesn't want to do, and just to try to go out there and have some fun (which I guess is tough if the fear is there).

I actually said I would get him some diving lessons when he got back to see if that would help out but he didn't think it would.

Wondering if anyone has any magic words I can impart to him to help him out while he's still up there. I'm reminded of the scene from "What About Bob" where ziggy is afraid of diving and Bob finally helps him over it by turning the tables and asking Ziggy to help him...

How old is he?
My wife taught me a trick a long time ago with my 3 kids. You gotta find out what's bugging him. He obviously hasn't told you, nor has he figured it out himself. No stock answers, every kid is different. You need to maybe make him think about it for a day, then get back to you or the coach. There is probably something very specific about it. For teens especially, often they don't spend enough time thinking things through. You need to force him to think about it and then talk again. Sometimes coaches are good with the head-games part, some are not.

 

[SkiDork]

How old is he?
My wife taught me a trick a long time ago with my 3 kids. You gotta find out what's bugging him. He obviously hasn't told you, nor has he figured it out himself. No stock answers, every kid is different. You need to maybe make him think about it for a day, then get back to you or the coach. There is probably something very specific about it. For teens especially, often they don't spend enough time thinking things through. You need to force him to think about it and then talk again. Sometimes coaches are good with the head-games part, some are not.

This is excellent. I'll try to formulate that out to him tonight. Thanks.

he's 11

 

[BeanoNYC]

Hmmm. Too bad you didn't know about this sooner. You could have gotten him off the three meter board at Newbridge prior to his departure.

Unfortunately there is no panacea or mantra that will help this fear. It's a crawl before you can walk type of thing. When I taught swimming lessons I would start young divers on the side of the pool. I would have them put their hands over their heads, I would hold their hips and have them rotate over with my hands as the pivot point. When they got used to it we'd move to the one meter board, then finally the three. We would incorporate the approach and spring throughout the process.