If you want to be good at skateboarding, you have to put in lots of practice. To survive lots of practice, you need to become good at falling. That involves tucking your head so that any body part besides the skull hits first. Also, curling your body into a ball will make you more likely to roll instead of splat. Na-Kel Smith has perfected the art of falling, no doubt with lots of practice. He is an ace skater, so he also harnesses his sense of momentum, gravity, and direction to not only minimize the pain of falling, but to recover on his feet. You can see more of Smith's skateboarding skills at Digg.
How are all these skaters still alive? Actually, scratch that - I've never seen an old skater so there's obviously natural attrition at work here.
Abusive comment hidden.
(Show it anyway.)