Help the old man out.
 

Been getting a little more adventurous and decided its time to start trying some new tricks for me.. (180,tantrum and a 360-may not try that one again it hurt bad.... can you say concussion. Any way everytime I try one of these tricks i close my eyes as soon as I leave the wake.. I started landing the 180s 50% of the time. But I cant not stop closing my eyes. Anybody ever have to deal with this. I am not affraid (ok maybe of the 360..it REALLY freaking hurt). any thoughts? Thanx.

I had the same problem when I started out years ago, the fear of going upside down. You just have to suck it up and look for your landing. No other way about. You're going to fall, sometimes it may hurt, but you are going to be worse off if you go into it scared and unsure. Keep working at it, build your confidence, it will get easier with time on the water. K

Charge it, SPOT YOUR LANDING, ride away. it's that easy! =)

Kevin SHOW ME THE VIDEO.I can help you if i can see what's scaring you.Then we can do some drills to cure that.REMEMBER one step at a time.

What drills are you using to help spot the landing?

I want to see a video so i can access where his lack of confidence occurs.Then i can help him with drills to sharpen those aspects of his trick.I'm not aware of a drill for closing your eyes.You usually close your eyes because of a fear of the unknown.If you break a trick down into parts then you have confidence on each part.Then you just put the pieces together with confidence in each part of the trick.:D

I got injured on my 3rd attempt doing an invert and have had a huge mental issue with going upside down ever since. I recently bought a trampoline and after 3 good work sessions I'm able to do some of the basic flips that translate to wakeboarding. I have some air awareness, learned to spot my landings, and stay on axis when spinning. It is a HUGE confidence builder! I'm lucky enough to have a friend with 8-10 different inverts and comes from a gymnastics background so he was able to show me the ropes. Anyway, the repettition you get from the trampoline helps a ton and definitely translates. I knew it would help but I didn't realize how much!