#derby basics

I am so relieved.

Back to the box at the end of the month! (But hopefully sooner bc practice kicked my ass tonight. So tiring.)

Did some hitting today! And I got hit a bit too. I did pretty well I think. Was able to stay grounded and on balance about 90% of the time. Granted it wasn't like HARD hitting or anything but still - I'm happy with it especially when I remind myself of the fact that I was very concerned about hurting my knee tonight. So I can imagine how good it will be once I'm no longer worried about it.

it was a very small group of people at practice today so the rookies got to do the same non-contact drills as the other players it was really great!!

my favorite drill was this one where we moved in a pack and on the whistle we did a group double knee slide then two people who were pacing the pack as “jammers” had to cut through the pack sans rolling. It was fun and challenging both mentally and physically!

The very last drill we did was a juking drill - half the team spaced out on the track the other half rolls from person to person juking around them. it was non contact.

WELL

i ended up essentially having a private session with a league celebrity today

it was so awesome! and the way she teaches is exactly my style - in minutiae with reasoning

we mostly worked on basics. we covered:

knee taps

falls

glides

balancing on one leg

transitions

crossovers

backwards skating (eggshells)

walking on toe stops & duck walks

im getting the hang of things a little now i think picking up my skates tomorrow so now ill be able to work on something each day even if there’s no practice 🤞🏾

I’ve been falling on my right wrist ever since i started and it hurts kinda constantly these days, but it’s not even close to debilitating. it feels like my wrist just wants me to know that i keep doing things to it that it doesn’t like. i took some ibuprofen and iced it tonight, so hopefully that helps. i should have done it sooner.

I fell on my hip pretty badly while trying a 180 transition while skating backwards. i got back up and all though…It kinda twinges a little now. we’ll see how i skate on it tomorrow

one of the team members asked me how it was going and i told her that im usually someone who likes to see quick results so this learning process is new to me. she seemed to get it.

i was having one of those days where i was tempted to say i had a bug of some sort so i could miss practice…honestly i was just so damn tired from the insomnia attack two nights ago - I just haven’t fully recovered yet

i pushed and went anyway.

id say i trained at 65-70% energy.

a few players went out of their way after practice to tell me that i look good out there. that was nice to hear. today’s one of those days where i just SUPER needed the encouragement so im greatful

Things we worked on

Plow stops

180 turns

360 turns

Backwards skating (eggshells and sitting back)

For the turns I fell a lot…My body was just too afraid to fully lift my foot off the ground for most of them. Leading me to basically drag the foot around instead of picking it up.

I’ll get it eventually. I know it.

I really hope the skate shop has skates this weekend bc I need to start skating outside of practice. I wanna be more comfortable on skates. I need to be.

like i just fell on my tailbone repeatedly tonight. this was due to the fact that i mostly worked on crossovers - i’d skate to one side of the track and crossover at the turns. back and forth for what felt like forever. it was…cumbersome to say the least

also worked on shuffling and plow stops but most of the drills i did focused on getting crossovers down. no success tonight, but im optimistic

i felt a bit less confident with this coach today. not a bad thing…it’s the coaching style im used to - serious but caring. whenever id stop moving shed ask if i was ok then shed be like “ok then get back to it” once i said yes

she didn’t really tell me i was great “for 3 days of skating” or anything but she also didn’t correct me much

hmm…It’s fine. i definitely felt more comfy in skates tonight than last night.

im also officially on probation - yay! idk why i was so stressed about the whole "skate a lap without touching a wall" thing. they didn't even make me do the lap...like it was obvious im fine.

ok so! i had my first practice today and it was incredible…i mean yeah today was the third time in my life that i was ever on skates and it was obvious once they stated warming up (with a 20 min conditioning drill that looked so fun omg) only to have me fumbling around at the center of the track till my first coach came in lmfao

1. There aren’t that many rookies right now (4 counting me) so i got quite a bit of attention which i so so much appreciate.

2. a nice boost of confidence was when each coach would ask how long I’d been on skates and being like wow ok well that’s better than you’d expect for 3 days after i did something. not that i did much

3. things we covered

eggshells

normal derby glides and stride (is that even what they’re called…?)

t stops

plow stops

standing still (which was the hardest thing that i don’t think i successfully fully did even once)

transitioning to and from my toe stops (which was super hard to do bc im borrowing skates rn and they’re def too small for me. my toes weren’t and still aren’t happy)

4. by the end of practice i wasn’t really falling and if I was falling it was no longer on my ass but on all fours or just my knees. but usually i was able to recover balance before falling. i just kept telling myself low & tight never upright and high. i think it helped. my butt still hurts though lol

5. i forgot some things about derby & sports in gen

lol the smell. as an ex derbae it kinda boggles my mind that i could forget such a…disctinct scent. it never bothered me and still doesn’t. honestly i quite liked how she smelled after playing. it was hot. and especially hotter when i saw her play to get that sweaty and smelly. BUT i digress! i put on the pads and was immediately hit upside the head with the familiar yet forgotten waft of skating pads

the vibe ive never heard of a derby pratice open to spectators so idk if this is just this team (my team! omg) or all derby teams but it’s just so nice to see a group of people work and move so fluidly and smoothly. it’s so obvious that they trust each other and that they love the game (can’t tell if they love each other yet). they’re just a well oiled machine and it’s so nice to see - the focus, the chill at water breaks and the intensity on the track. i loved it. it’s the one thing i miss when training for crossfit - that distinct feeling of working together with your teammates. i mean maybe it’s just a matter of me joining a crossfit team instead of competing in lifting solo…? idk. it just reminds me of the many ultimate and basketball practices i attended in my life. it’s great!

6. got the practice schedule and im a little nervous about it - 4 times a week. i was hoping to get to the box 4 times a week and have at least one rest day a week. im sure it’s nothing a little restrategizing can’t help but i get the feeling that somethings gonna have to give ya know…? bc i just don’t see myself waking up at 5:30am for a workout after getting home at 11:30pm from a practice the night before first ill just have a very honest look at my work schedule, training schedules, and friend needs/commitments to see what’s possible. might need to start meal prepping again (which isn’t the worst thing in the world)

7. im sooooooo fucking excited to learn and grow and hopefully eventually kick some ass!