weeks 5 & 6!

so, here's the big news....we've started HITTING!! after our monday newB practice romo cleared us to do contact drills, and it was so exciting! i am one step closer to getting out of my yellow shirt and being cleared to scrimmage with the big girls :)

eli wallop

week 5 was really, really intense for me. truth be told, i think i overdid it. i went to the practice on sunday, newb practice on monday, then practice tuesday AND thursday. i wanted to get in as many practices as possible since my mother would be in town the next week and i wanted to be able to take the week off and enjoy my time with her, but still get my minimum number of practices in. as a result, i was a total WRECK by thursday. i wasnt able to take the hits that the vets were giving us very well at all, and i was falling a lot. eli wallop and bevo kill explained to me that i was getting low, but giving myself a false sense of stability by putting my knees together, which in reality made me LESS stable. it was nice to get some useful, constructive criticism! however, being able to do contact has really taken things up a notch, and i totally overestimated by ability to fully participate at that many practices, especially when my body isnt used to this yet. it IS nice to not have to practice on my own off to the side so much though!

week 6 is really just monday, since i didnt want to miss a newb practice, and i wanted my mom to come watch and see what a practice is like for me. we worked on some more hitting drills as well as some situational stuff, such as when you THINK there is an opening in between two players on the opposite team, and they close up against you at the same time. working on some "dirtier" hits and situations is great practice for the real scrimmaging/bouting i will eventually be doing. we also worked on rotating blockers as you move around the track to protect the inside line. again, very useful! im really starting to get the hang of tactics and employing them as well.

i'll post again soon! theres a mens derby bout this weekend...very exciting :) the first local season of the st. louis gatekeepers!!

week 4

i know i'm super late with this post, since its already the beginning of week 5, but there's been a lot going on, although its been kinda low key all at the same time. hmmm... in short:

- monday night's newbie practice didn't happen due to a league meeting :( i was bummed since we were scheduled to start practicing hitting this night
- tuesday was a scrimmage in preparation for the upcoming bouts this past weekend, so i didn't attend because i'm not cleared for contact yet
- thursday wasn't very well attended due to the fact that everyone was resting up in preparation for saturday

chewblocka!!

sherry and i were two of the yellows that did attend thursday, however, and one of the highlights was that chewblocka gave us permission to start hitting each other a little bit! there wasn't too much we could do and we were both very careful so as not to improperly block and learn bad habits, or risk getting injured. but it was nice getting that little taste of hitting. we also did whips which i hadn't done before; previously i had only done hip whips. this is the "famous" one where you stick out your arm and the other person grabs onto it and you throw them forward like a discus, giving them a huge burst of speed. and, of course, where the movie "whip it" gets its name. that was fun too :)

then saturday came and it was time for the bouts!! i was working will call. i was a little stressed out about it beforehand but i just kept a smile on my face and before i knew it everyone was all checked in and watching the first bout and my job was pretty much over. i wish i could've had the chance to see a bit more of the bouts, but i'll just watch the online footage which bob so wonderfully records for us. every time i watch derby i learn something new, so the more i watch, the more beneficial it will ultimately be for me!

sunday was the first time i attended a travel team practice. probably wasn't the best timing on my part since they are preparing for a bout this upcoming weekend in colorado (and therefore wasn't able to participate in their multitude of contact and strategy drills), but i got a chance to warm up with them and get some good practice in on my turnaround toe stops, jumps, and weaving.

wait until you guys read about what i did THIS week...coming soon! ;)

week 3: and so it begins...

this week was....weird. a lot of highs and lows for me personally. i went to monday practice with lower back pain that had gradually gotten worse throughout the day, which i was blaming on PMS even though back pain is never a symptom of mine. so i just popped some ibuprofen and headed to practice even though i felt like ass.

we did a quick off skates warmup that included skipping and jogging and some stretching, and then we put our skates on. i knew right away that something just wasnt right. my feet felt like they weighed about a hundred pounds each and the knee falls we did which are normally easy for me (although quite tiring, dont get me wrong), were suddenly REALLY difficult. we did some running on our toe stops which is very useful for a quick start. i need a lot of work on that because i am a super slow starter. i was a slow starter when i ran the sprint in high school too, so i was excited that we had that opportunity. but i could barely even stay balanced on my skates!!...and that's when i realized i couldnt feel my leg.

i sat down and squeezed my left buttcheek and upper thigh and couldnt feel it, and although i may have looked chill about it on the outside, on the inside i was FREAKING OUT. numbness is a very scary feeling! then i wanted to cry, not because of the pain, but because i was worried i would have to miss practice! then i felt outright angry. i took my skates off and watched the rest of practice. at least i had managed to get an hour of skating in, and even just watching can still be helpful.

i was feeling very upset about my injured back on tuesday, but then when i got home from work i had some very exciting news waiting for me on our league's forum: romo said that all of the girls who skated in practice on monday were cleared to skate in the st. patrick's day parade! OMG! i had already volunteered and had figured i'd be walking, since the general rule is that you must be scrimmage eligible to appear on skates at any ARRG event (we are still quite a ways away from scrimmage eligibility). but i guess romo was so pleased with our overall progress that she gave us the go-ahead! so next weekend i will be making my big "rollergirl" debut ON SKATES for the very first time. i couldn't even tell you how excited i am for all of st. louis to see me skating around :)

the girl in the front is doing great derby stance!

i went to a chiropractor for the very first time the next day, and went again today. i went to practice straight after my chiro session! the doctor said it was okay though, so i went ahead and did it. i could feel the back pain starting to flare up but i know its because im not skating in the proper stance. derby girls have to "skate low" so they have a lower center of gravity and are harder to knock over. what i have been doing is bending at the waist, which was putting a lot of stress on my lower back. what i need to be doing instead is bend at the knees. its REALLY hard, especially since i am so tall, and it makes my quads burn like hell, but they are a lot more capable of handling stress than my poor back, so i guess i am now forced to use proper derby stance! i took a little break, stretched it out, and re-entered the track with improved posture and i could notice the difference almost immediately.

the rest of practice was good. there was a crazy endurance drill where you skate two laps fast, and then one lap squatting, and then one lap doing alternating knee falls. we did that whole sequence ten times....woooo, did my legs hurt after that one! we also did some light beginner blocking exercises by skating along the wall and purposely bumping ourselves into it...i was glad i had my butt pads on because otherwise i would have some mighty fine bruises tomorrow! we also worked on our turnaround toe stops and 180 degree falls. now i am ready to take my weekend to rest and enjoy mardi gras with my friends!

coming up next week: our first REAL blocking exercises. i get to HIT PEOPLE!!