Roller Girl Gift Guide

Since we're still on break from practice, here is a break from my usual posting. It's a little after the holidays, but still works for birthdays, derbyversaries, Cinco de Mayo...

This is by no means a comprehensive guide, this is based on my own personal experience and what I've observed from the roller girls around me. Also, this is mostly for Significant Others of Roller Girls (SORGs), but it applies to other relations as well.

If you really love her, two words, Rollercon tickets. Has she got those? Plane tickets to Vegas would be a great companion gift. But, if your lady can't get the time off work or whatever, here are some other ideas.


Wheels make a great gift, but there are as many kinds of wheels as they are roller girls. So what do you get her? Do you know what she skates on? If not, I know this is counter-intuitive, but open the gear bag. Can you see the skates? Can you get them out or are they tetris'd in there so tight that only she can get them out? If you can get them out, look at the wheels. Can you read the manufacturer on the wheel? It could on the outside of the wheel, or the inside near the truck. Has it worn off? Well, at least remember what color they are.

Ask the derby wife. She's a valuable resource. Do you know who her derby wife is? If you can look in her phone contacts, it'll be someone with a name like, "boom," "slam," "block," "beat"... and maybe a heart next to it. If not, look on Facebook. On whose page does she post videos of derby and new gear and rules updates? Who is the girl in the league shirt hugging your woman in all her pictures?

Ask the derby wife what kind of wheels your girl has/wants. Chances are good she's said to this individual either:
-"I love my ______, but they're going bald."
OR -"Have you heard about the ________, I'd love to try them."

"But Rita, I just bought her new wheels for Flag Day, now she needs something for her birthday/I can't read these bald-ass things and her derby wife has no clue."
If you answered number one, congrats on being the best SORG ever. If you answered number two, that's ok. If you managed to look at the skate, does she need new toe guards/duct tape? Stocking stuffer! Team colors, please.

OR there's the world of bearings. They're tricky, but every girl could use an extra set. If you girl talks about how fast her bearings are, be prepared to shell out some bucks. She's probably got ceramic. If she talks about how cheap her bearings are, or how quickly she goes through them, get her a set of Mini Logos or Bones Reds for between $20-$30. (It is important to get her 16 bearings, because they are usually sold in sets of 8, for skateboards.)

Again, did you see the skates? How do the toe stops look? They wear quickly, especially if your girl jams or does a lot of turning toe stops. The occasional roller girl skates with just a set of jam plugs. These are fairly inexpensive and she'd probably love to have a spare. If you know what kind of toe stops she has or wants (here's where the derby wife comes in), you could get her a set. But if you don't know if she's got Powerdynes or Gumballs, you might have to do a little research.

Interlude: Be sure to check with the derby wife. It would really suck for you to both buy your skater the same gift.

And what about her safety equipment? If she's doing this any length of time, she probably needs new wrist guards. Next time she washes the pads, look at the brand. Pro-Tec and Triple 8 are common types. A regular set of skate wristguards run about $15. Now if she's got something fancy -- spoon-shaped brace, only one splint, gloved guards...lay off replacing it unless she's specifically asked for something. If she's still skating with her starter elbow pads, spend the $20 to get her a new set. If the derby wife tells you that your girl girl wants the new Atom elbow pads or some 187s, go for it!

Skate tools are important! If your girl has the little silver one that came with her skates, she'd probably like an upgrade. If she doesn't have one at all, she definitely needs one. Powerdyne sells a great combination axle, kingpin, and toestop wrench and it's kind of triangular. If your girl is a little handier, the Reflex Utilitool includes a bearing tool, axle rethreader, pop-out allen wrench...hell, she could take the plates off her boots with this thing. It's like a handheld fairy godmother. (I got one of these for Christmas, I love it!) If she already has the Powerdyne or is happy with her tool, Powerdyne also has a bearing tool that would make a great addition to her skate bag.

Now if you've gotten this far and are either a) so baffled it hurts or b) so awesome you've already bought all this stuff for her -- look at her derby wardrobe. A roller girl can never have enough tights. Double points if they're league colors. Buy her booty shorts, leggings, fishnets, practice tanks, tutus, sports bras... Hell maybe even get her name (in at least 2-inch characters) and number (in at least 4-inch characters) printed on a black and white shirt. Note, if you buy her lingerie, she'll wear it on the outside of her clothing and show all her teammates.

Just remember, the best gift you can give her is your support. Anything more is just bonus. So buy tickets (and sell them to everyone you know), make signs, and cheer your own personal superhero on at the next bout!

Christmas!

So this isn't really practice-related, but it does pertain to derby.

I had an exciting conversation with a friend of mine from church about derby. She's with SDDD, so they flip back and forth between flat and banked track. She shared some of the differences between. Banked track has 1-minute jams, penalties aren't served until the next jam, lead jammer transfers back and forth. I told her about the USARS ruleset. She wound up blocking her brother and getting apple cider all down her back. These things happen.

Also, I just utilized my new skate tool. My boyfriend got me the Reflex Utili-tool (in pink). I also just bought myself new bearings (extremely necessary). So I just spent a few minutes rethreading all my axles and replacing my bearings. If I clean and rotate my wheels, it would be almost like having new skates.

And lastly, I'm hoping to go skating with one Emily Greene, better known as Madcap. It's Christmas. I'm going to bed. Good night, blogosphere. I've got axle grime on my hands, yay!

One-on-One

As I said, we're on break, so there will certainly be fewer posts from me, but I did have my one-on-one this past Wednesday. I was a little nervous since Fister is a notorious hardass. But she counseled one of my teammates and she said it was really positive.

I am inspired after the meeting. She told me she's impressed with how quickly I came back from my hiatus. She also told me she's glad I still take it seriously after passing assessments. We set some goals for me for next year, both with regards to skating and fitness.

All I can say is can't wait for 2012!

Scrimmaaaaage

Ok, so I was all determined to finish yesterday's post. But then I got home and showered and lost all my adrenaline. So I'm hoping to get this post done before I crash.

Tonight's scrimmage was the last of 2011. And we had 4 brand new grannies. They were super nervous, but we tried to reassure them. The first couple of jams were kind of rough. I had to get my brain right, I kept accidentally letting the other jammer through. When I first jammed, it sucked. I got knocked all over the track by Rosie and Hope.

But I kept at it, and laid some good hits on the black team's jammers. My mentee Leah was scrimmaging for the first time, but she was on the other team. Each time I saw her in, I secretly cheered.

I kept on jamming against Cal Q H8r, or Caitlin #1. One of the jams I was super effective for. She got lead, but I stayed on her to the back of the pack. I got a point before she managed to call off the jam. Unfortunately, after that jam, I got sent to the box for a backblock major. I personally do not believe it was a major backblock. I think it was a minor, the individual just so happened to be unstable and went down. The zebras had a little conference and told my team after the jam. So alas, I served my minute in the box.

We had a good first half, but we were down a few points. We vowed to get better at multitasking and working together. So I go out to jam. I'm up against mostly new grannies, with one A-teamer. Their jammer goes to the box, and so does the A-teamer. So here I am, with an awesome pack and a powerjam! I scored like 15-20 points. It was great. I felt super worthwhile. I'm glad I was able to put some points up for us. I couldn't have done it without my pack though. Overwhelmingly, the white team had some fantastic blocking. Whenever I jammed, they were where I needed them to be!

So I finished the year off on a good note, and I'm looking forward to my one-on-one with Fister on Wednesday!

Sunday

Well I was gonna write a nice piece about derby and how it makes me feel, but I'm blogging in bed, so I'll save that for another day. Meanwhile, I did manage to attend Sunday practice.

Wow, I had a lot more motivation earlier. I promise to finish this post tonight, y'all. For now, I need a nap before work.

Holiday Posting

So in this hectic time, practice has fallen by the wayside a bit. I missed Sunday practice since I didn't get enough sleep (finishing up a final paper). I had to miss Tuesday because one of my coworkers quit and we had to cover her shifts. I did go Monday, and it was a pretty good practice.

In other news, several newbies have just passed assessments. Leah (my mentee), Sara F, Sibel, and Lorissa are all grannies now. Yay! B-Dazz practice is gonna be packed with even more awesome now! On that note, B-Dazz practice is cancelled for Tuesday.

I know I've kind of been on Cloud 9 since I passed assessments and my posts haven't been riddled with the same struggle that they were. I thank everyone for sticking with me through that. I have a one-on-one with Amy Fister coming up, so I'm sure I'll have more things to work on real soon.

Last night's practice was interesting. We did some awareness and endurance drills. I really need to work on my turning toe stops at a sprint. I can do them at pack speed fine, but up at a sprint, I fall. In fact, I tried one when I was going balls out Monday and I don't even know what happened. I don't know what parts of me hit the floor. For now, I've been trying to plow to slow myself down and then execute a tomahawk (aka turning toe stop).

I got to work with my now-granny-mentee, Leah. Leah is super cool. She found a bunch of helmets on sale and basically bought them all, so I just got me a brand new Pro Tec helmet for $14. I never knew what it felt like to have actual padding around my head.

So things are going well. I don't have work til 2 on Sunday, so I'm hoping to make it to practice. Then scrimmage Monday and no practice til the new year. Gasp!

Thursday Party-Time

So Day 2 Assessments were taking place during practice, so things were a little hectic last night. It was a pretty small practice, and it was Mary H's first Thursday night practice. She's had a class all semester, so she hasn't been able to come Thursdays.

Our Trainer was Rosie, but she was divided between time with us and time with the assessments. So we were kind of independent studying, as it were.

Last night was the first time I really felt like a granny. Sure, I've scrimmaged, been a rostered alternate, and even have a mentee. But helping newbies at practice last night really made me feel like I'd passed assessments.

I know I still have things to work on myself, but it felt nice to share my knowledge! Oh yeah, and I'll have my one-on-ones with a TC member sometime soon, so I'll really find out how I'm doing.

Monday/Tuesday

This week has been derby-filled and I only went to 2 practices. Monday's scrimmage sucked a helluva lot less than week's. Wait. But first, Open Skate. I worked with my mentee on johnny crashes. She's taking Day 2 Assessments this Thursday. (GO Leah!) She's gonna pass because she's awesome.

Back to scrimmage. We actually had 10 people on our team, so most we did not have to stay out every time (yay!). I effectively played back and outside. I did a pretty good job as the outside person of a wall. And when we transitioned, I did one of those assisted hits where you hold on to someone else. I also think I did a booty sweep. I stay out of the box, mostly. Until the last jam, when I was jamming. They told me to call it, and I just didn't. That was silly of me. Oh well.

Afterward we had a meeting to discuss training and our goals as a league for 2012. That was cool. It was nice to participate in the brainstorming and feel like a part of things.

Team practice last night rocked. We did some offskates endurance (a la suicides). We did around the world and other drills involving footwork. And then at the end, we played Red Light-Green Light. We did it in 2 packs, and my team won 2 out of 3.

Sore as heel, but can't wait for Thursday.

Name

It's still super sweet to see my name on the Master Roster, and I don't think that feeling will ever go away. Sorry to my comrades whose names got lost in the red tape.

Furthermore, sorry to my loyal readers for not going to practice this am, but I felt like Uncle Fester when I woke up. Yesterday was a rough day at work.

Open skate and scrimmage tomorrow night. Promise to post afterward!

Scrimmage

Scrimmage Monday was rough. There were 15 of us. 7 on black, 8 on white. But it was a real learning experience. I thank team (Team no Brakes) for helping me out, and hey, I felt effective. I jammed a couple of times.

Other than the last of my bearings breaking and my having to switch out, I did stuff. And we never had a time where we went out with too few players. 2 on the bench, the rest on the track. We made effective walls, we recycled so well, and we were up at the half.

The other team kept trying to goat me, so I decided to hit their jammer. She came up on me and I hit her out of bounds. I would've stayed on her, but my jammer called off the jam at that time.

Hiatus

So I've clearly been on a hiatus. This is due to a lack of computer. I'm solving that problem tonight, so I soon will be blogging again.

I have been working super hard at practice. Lots of people have commented on how much I've improved even just since passing assessments. I made alternate for the Nov. 19th bout, which kinda hurt. I set it as my goal to skate in that bout months ago, so to have made the roster as an alternate was upsetting. But I'm working even harder now to rock Q1 of 2012. I will make my debut.

In the meantime, I have scrimmage tonight. I need to sort out this computer situation, go home and change my bearings and head to the warehouse.

In the meanwhile...

Ok, so I've been meaning to post. I just never have time/computer access. I've scrimmaged a couple more times and started attending team practice. I enjoy team practice. I'm trying to wrap my head around all the strategy. That's why I'm hesitant to pivot. I'll jam without a thought to it, but telling other people what to do...that's rough.

I'm really enjoying granny-hood. I'm aiming for my bouting debut to be November 19th at our away game in Asheville.

I wish this update were more interesting. Saving up money to get a new computer (or get an old one fixed) so I can start posting the after-practice analyses I used to.

Sorry I failed you today, dear readers.

Since My Last Post...

...it happened! I passed assessments! And I scrimmaged that night!

My derby wife was there, fulfilling my typical NSO job of hotboard and also screaming in excitement for me. We were playing where we had partners and worked with them to cover an area. I won't delve too much into strategy, because that's secret. But I was told it did not look like my first scrimmage, which made me happy. I jammed three times also. I got lead jammer two of those times.

I wish I had more time/memory. Oh wait.

I went to practice yesterday. I got to practice with Miss Devlin Syder (aforementioned derby wife) for the first time! We disrupted practice as much as possible.

For once, there were more grannies than newbies at a Sunday morning practice. (I know...wtf?) So we all did endurance. There was some Satan's Mattress. There were some plow pull-carts. There were some locomotives or whatever you call them.

Regardless, it was a good practice, but boy am I sore today.

Day 2 Again

Ok, my faithful followers, I know you've been awaiting this. The results of my Day 2 assessments. If you're friends with me on Facebook, you may know already. Let's just say, I did much better this time than last time.

It was weird. Everyone else was nervous. I had no butterflies. I wasn't nervous, I was ready. I was ready to kick some ass and pass Day 2.

I had some problems, like my skate lace getting knotted. Thanks to Carrie for undoing it!

I had a lot of fun. Day 2 was great. There were 9 of us. We were all really supportive. The grannies were supportive. Foxy came over and gave us tips. She said it must be the drugs encouraging her to be nice.

I thought I'd failed shoulder checks and I thought I'd failed booty blocking, but I did not.

And the results are: I have 2 redos. 2! And they are leaning and taking inside hits in a pack. Both are things I know I can do. It's funny, because I don't even remember getting inside hits in the pack, only outside. So I'll just get low and absorb. Also I did leaning just fine with Rye a couple weeks ago.

So, folks, I plan to redo these skills Monday. And Monday night, there will hopefully be another granny!

Day 1...again

I know what you're thinking..."Didn't she like just take Day 1?" In fact, I did, just 3 short months ago. Several of us did. And we have been awaiting the TC verdict on whether we'd have to retake since we ran out the 60 days. The TC finally told us that since we're now WFTDA (yay!) and we'll have to re-assess yearly, they'd like everyone to assess around the same time, August/September. Having taken Day 1 in June, we would have gone too long without assessing.

They told us this toward the end of August. If we'd known before then, most of us would've re-done Day 1 when they offered it August 7th.

Alas.

So now I'm an expert at assessing.

I passed once more. This time without any redos. Not quite sure how I managed that. My t-stops are still shaky, but passable. Damn those t-stops. I hate them so. Rye said, "You've been here a year. We need to get a better t-stop." I had a bit of a problem with pacing. One of my slows sort of veered off course and I fell once.

My 25 in 5 is not where I'd like it to be. I got down to 4:18 once. Today it was 4:39. But I haven't skated in a week, so I'm not too hard on myself. All in all, I'm pleased.

Ready to take on Day 2 Thursday.

News!

News in the realm is that I have the interwebs again. This will be good for me and for you, my 4 followers.

Derby news has been good. We "Mid-Lifers" have been with the grannies most Sundays, gettin our endurance on. On Thursday, I got the chance to work on things like leaning and arm whips, which I've been begging the TC to include in practice for what seems like months now.

Also, I was partnered with Rye, so I got some good quality feedback. My outside arm whips need work. Like in a big way. My arm's all floppy. Inside is good though. Sometimes I wing out slightly, but usually they're good. When taking arm whips, I need to hang on like a fraction of a second longer.

Also, I'm way better at leaning and locking wheels than I used to be. We did leaning in partners and I actively used my opposite foot to push against Rye. Also, she told me to put my shoulder in front of hers. All this time I've been trying to have even shoulders. This makes it way easier.

We did wheel-locking and taking hits in a pack. Somehow I wound up with both Rye and Sporman locking my wheels, but I stayed upright. And I took hits well. I didn't fall, and if I fell behind, I caught up quickly.

I have to redo Day 1 coming up, and I'm not thrilled, but I'm gonna kick Day 2's ass!

Lately...

It's been a while, I know. A lot has happened. Including the death of my dear laptop, Gregorio. Overwhelmingly, that's why I have not been posting. Also, I started my Fall classes last week. Which has actually brought me in front of a computer rather frequently, so there's really no excuse in the last week or so.

As far as derby goes, like 6000 have happened. I passed Day 1, back in June. I'm now a Mid-Lifer. That's our term, recently coined. We get to practice with the grannies and I have been doing so.

I also recently acquired new skates. They're not new-new. They're a pair of used Wickeds. They were used for a year by one of our skaters, but she was moving and wanted to see if she could pass them along. I'm still getting used to them, only had them for a month, but I have bypassed the leather break-in that some of our skaters are experiencing. It seems like several of our skaters have just bought Wickeds and many more have switched to Atom Poisons for our warehouse.

We also may be painting the warehouse floor soon, to hopefully have a cleaner track. We're testing the paint now.

Since becoming WFTDA, all of our bouting skaters have to retake assessments and that's coming up real soon. Right after out bout this weekend, in fact.

I have to redo Day 1 and take Day 2. I will hopefully be passing both very soon. I intend to be rostered for the last bout of the season. That's my goal!

I will be holding down the fort at Pride Charlotte this weekend, so if you're coming out, stop by the CLTRG table and see my new purple scooter.

Been Meaning To Blog

So let's see. I did not talk about last Sunday, or open skate/scrimmage on Monday. Ugh. Sunday morning's practice was back at usual time, which is fortunate in that it's early because it's less hot in our warehouse BUT also it sucks because I have to wake up at 7 am.

Anyway, Rye led practice. There weren't very many people present, but that's ok.

I don't really remember the drills we did. Mostly we had the track. I'm sure we did falls and stuff. I know, at some point, we worked on double knee falls, but if we were having knee trouble, we could go back to single knee, so I did. And leaning! I do remember leaning. I leaned with Carrie. I was overwhelmingly unsuccessful. One time I knocked her down, but I promptly tripped over her and fell. On my face. Rye came over and asked if we were ok. She said, "That wasn't pretty."

We also worked on lateral movement, which is something I've improved considerably on. Maybe it's the loosened trucks. I dunno. But I'm much better. Then we did booty blocking. I did alright. I managed to get around a couple girls blocking me, but I tend to speed up when blocking. I stick my butt in her way, but I don't slow her down. I need to work on that.

Oh! 25 in 5! Sunday. My time was an unbelievable 4:31. I'm still not sure that happened. It was a fluke or something.

That's really all I got for Sunday.

Monday's open skate, I helped fellow newbies with 6-point falls. I think a few girls still have a mental block about everything landing at the same time. I tried to help, to the best of my ability. My tip is to aim for your elbows touching down first, instead of treating it like a double-knee fall, then elbow/wrists.

I also got used to the loosened trucks (which I did Sunday) and my new knee pads. Next up on the agenda, new wheels! I'm lookin to get some Poisons. Thinkin about the slim ones.

Scrimmage was hot. A few ladies got injured a bit. They returned to skating, but still kind of scary. I was doing my hotboard duties, which I've decided is easier with knee pads. If that's what I'm doing at the bout, I will be bringing my knee pads.

That's really all I got to say. Tonight's practice again. Oh yeah, Fister talked to me and said I could redo my t-stops. She said Monday, but that got all muffed up because of ECE. So I'm redoing next Thursday. I've got tonight, Sunday, and Monday to practice.

Practice/Rules Clinic

I intend (fully) to blog about tonight's practice, but not now. I need sleep now.

Ok, now let's see if I can remember everything.

Assessments Day 2 were last night. I was asked countless times why I was not assessing. The answer is that I haven't done hitting in 6 months. And I've only ever done Johnny Crashes once. I mean I could do pack stuff fairly well, and definitely the whips/pushes (maybe not inside arm whips), but hitting I have little experience with.

Anyway, the TC worked hard to ensure that those of us not-assessing got track time also. K-Rye, recovered enough from her knee bruise, was on skates and our trainer.

We worked on pacing. I was paired with .357 Maggie who took every time I passed her as a personal victory. But it was all in good fun.

I can't really think of anything else we did on the track.

So then K-Rye split us up into Grannies and those who'd passed Day 1 (curse you t-stops!) and newbies. We newbies worked on stops and drops and stuff. We did plow stops, t-stops, 6-point falls...in the area near the benches. Afterwards Mr. and Mrs. Litvak, better known as L8r Sk8r and Psy*Ren, led a rules clinic.

They went over one of the rules tests. Apparently newbies have been failing the rules test. I mostly knew the answers, when I was paying attention. Sometimes I'd stop listening and not hear answer choices or something. It was simple stuff like which kind of cutting the track penalty is a major, and which is a minor. Also the definition of in-play and the engagement zone and all that.

Then we ate at Solstice. And gossiped. And then I got a ride home and now I'm full circle/

Assessments, or How I Sucked Well

My second time assessing. I was not near as well prepared this time. It has been a good 7 months since I last assessed. There weren't as many practices prepping for assessments. I just got back on skates, like 2 weeks ago. There was a minor hiccup involving the rules test. Fister asked if I'd taken it. I said I took it in November. She said she's changed it since November. I said they did not tell me that. She said, "That's because I changed it." But she said she'd look at my score and determine from that.

But I was encouraged by something I didn't mention in my last post and should have. It was my 25 in 5 time. I hadn't done it in 6 months or so. I've only been back on wheels for about a week and a half. So I was super blessed/elated/in awe of/confused by/psyched for 4:45. 4:45! A fellow newbie, who'd never come in under 5 minutes and was just returning from injury got 4:42, so we had a happy joy moment...whilst drinking a lot of water.

Of course, they give you no feedback, so you sit and wait for them to tell you that you failed too many items and to go home. Or at least I do.

That was my goal. Not to fail so badly I was sent home.

We did one-footed glides and one other skill before 25 in 5. It was the TC (Training Committee) making sure we were warmed up. So then we did the aforementioned endurance torture. No one called out time marks, so we had no idea where we were. K-Rye was my trainer, and she called out every lap. When I got done, she gave me a thumbs-up. I didn't know if it was because I had finished or I'd come in under 5. I later learned I got 4:46, so clearly I'm on a good track.

So we moved on to strides and other fun stuff.

I knew I passed crossovers. I knew I failed t-stops. However I did get plows. During the assessing, I figured I failed a bunch of stuff. I was certain I failed lateral movement/quick cuts and baseball slides. I thought I'd failed 6-points. I performed a 6-point (4-point) and my right knee refused to go down. It was a 5-point fall, haha. I thought I failed the squatting and stickyskating.

Knee falls hurt a ton thanks to my decorative knee bruise.

But I kept going.

I thought I did hopping pretty well, both one-footed and two. My stepping was decent. I actually did well at pacing, for the first time.

However I was crapping at weaving through cones. Of course. I always have been.

I got the focus drill down. As long as I can see the granny's hand. Rosie did mess around and do weird things with her fingers, but I still passed.

Eventually, I find out I only failed t-stops. Wow. What a relief. I redid them right there, but still failed. I was told I would receive an email concerning my fate. Whooo...so now I'm awaiting this email.

If I am able to retake t-stops, I can go to Monday night granny practice. Which will help me prepare for Day 2.

What I love about derby is that when I fail, I'm encouraged. I'm more inspired to work hard next practice. Yaaay!

Some Updates

Now that's it been forever, I will attempt to recount Saturday's bout and Sunday's practice. And open skate last night, I guess.

We were playing Greenville. It was a doubleheader. I got to Grady Cole at 10 am. Well...not quite, I was late. Which was sucky. I woke up at 9:43.

I was doing sign-in. So after the late 10 am stragglers trickled in, there was nothing for me to do. I heckled with the "All Bitch, No Stitch" sewing circle (aka the skaters sewing WFTDA patches on jerseys). I hung with McBossy. I did nothing involving sport court or rubber and I was thankful. Greenville arrived and we had no sign-in sheet for them. So we wound up having them check in on a recycled sheet of paper and had them fill out their waivers.

I was doing the hot board duty, which is important because it lets the skaters know how many penalties they have. That was all well and fine until McB told me I had to switch to penalty tracking for the All Star bout. I've never penalty tracked. She said, "But you're doing it now basically." She also said, "We just love to throw you into jobs in high pressure situations." (Hearkening back to my being jam timer a couple of scrimmages ago.)

Both the B Dazzlers and the All-Stars won their bouts, many congrats to those ladies. Also, thanks to Greenville for making both bouts interesting and hard-fought.

Especially congrats to Hellin Felon (my mentor) on her MVP Blocker award.

Practice on Sunday was led by a hurtin Rosie. She went out after the afterparty. We worked on some basic stuff, but it was really good. Like we worked on our form for plow and t-stops. And we had partners give us feedback. I thought this was a fantastic way of doing it, because we aren't always able to get feedback on how we're doing.

We also worked on transitioning from skating front to backwards and vice versa. And I fell. A lot. And I bruised my knee. Apparently I've depressed the padding on my knee pads so much so that they move around on my knee. It's not that they've stretched out, it's the padding thing. So I'm buying new ones. I'm getting 187s. I'm purchasing them from a friend who quit derby so she's gonna sell them to me cheap. Yay Shelley!

So then I went to Open Skate last night. And I practice pacing with Hellin and stops and other fun stuff. I also helped Sandra because she was unsure of some stuff. And then I just kind of skated with Nita, which was cool too.

Anyway, I felt ready for assessments.


Up Next: Assessments.

A Brief Update

So we had a bout Saturday (our first bout as a WFTDA league). It was long, but fantastic. I was there for about 10 hours. I am happy to tell you that CLTRG won both bouts, but not without a hard fight from Greenville. Congrats to all 4 teams. And everybody won the afterparty.

Also, I had practice today. It was a hoot. I got my 25 in 4:45 and was ecstatic.

Anyway, I'm assessing Tuesday and I'm busy prepping for that, so I'll flesh out both events later.

Last Night

Last night I went to practice. Duhr-hur. One of the newbies who started the same time as me, who has ALSO been out for a number of months came back last night. It was really good to see her.

Fister was training. I don't even remember all the torture she put us through. There were pacelines and leaning and weaving and racing...

One drill in particular, Fister paired those of us assessing up with the grannies in attendance. It was a weaving drill. The grannies were on the inside, newbies on the outside. We had to skate next to each other, almost touching thighs. When we got to the back of line, the granny was to start weaving through to "prom dates." The newbie was to race around the outside of the prom dates. We were ideally supposed to meet up at the front. The first time we weaved, Les (my partner, Les Whip-It) beat me to the front. The second time, we got there at about the same time. I thought I was gonna beat her, but I didn't...

We did the pacing drill. Where a granny skates and then slows down or stops randomly. We have to be close enough behind her to touch, and then she starts skating. I only overtook her maybe 4 times, but I can attribute several of those to me being distracted. I get distracted by like squirrels. I was getting distracted by other groups and by Rosie almost running into me... But still, Les said I did well. And that for assessments, it would be better to do what I did, which was skate to the side of her, rather than run into her back.

At some point, we did a drill where we held the inside line and looked over our right shoulder. I guess we overall were abysmal at this, because Fister sent the grannies to herd us. Literally, herd us. They skated beside us to "encourage" us back onto the green line.

We also did butt-pushes. I like pushes. I am good at pushes. My partner was a newbie named Sandra (Sandra T, as there are 2 newbie Sandras). I don't know if she'd done pushes before, she was a little hesitant. But we rocked them together. However we both were having skate difficulties, anticipating blisters. After we did partner-pushes, we did free-for-all pushes. We just skated and pushed people and simultaneously got pushed. I accomplished my goal of pushing Da Bomb-Chell, who is very fast. Pushing her involved catching up to her and THEN pushing her. However I kind of felt dizzy and thusly stopped skating for a few, only to notice my blood sugar was low. I was shaking a little. Fister asked me what was up and I told her. So she told me that she had candy in her purse and to get a piece so I wouldn't die.

So I did. But then it was stretching time. Practice ran a little long, so understandably, I am sore today. Not too bad, but I can deffs feel it.

Sometimes, it feels like it's never all going to come together.

You know, doing everything while rolling. Like sure, I can do hitting while standing still. I can hip check the shit outta my friends. But I wonder if I can put it all together while on 8 wheels.

I stay upright (or rather, in derby stance) pretty well during practice. But when I go to scrimmage, and I look at what the grannies, I just wonder if I can do all that. It seems so far from what I'm doing. I've heard plenty of times, even from our All-Stars, that some of them couldn't skate when they started.

I'm sure I'll get there, but sometimes I just get down on myself.

Meanwhile, practice tonight! Lookin forward to it. And practice on Sunday has been pushed to 11 am, instead of 9 am, since Saturday's bout day, so it'll be easier to for my bus-ridin self to get to.

Derby Fans...

...are hardcore.

There aren't local bouts every weekend. So for diehard fans, there's a lot of traveling! A LOT! For instance, I live in North Carolina, and there are like 15 leagues here. But they're at least an hour away each. So, if I needed to catch me some derby on a week when CLTRG isn't bouting, it's over an hour.

Option 2: The folks at Derby News Network (DNN) do their damnedest to make sure those of us who can't make it to tourneys are kept in the loop through streaming "boutcasts." These are video/audio feeds that are sometimes done professionally, but usually just someone's handicam or something. One I watched was even from a cellphone. I tried to watch an even more recent one that was solely audio feed. Sometimes video is lost, sometimes audio, sometimes both.

If a casual civilian, someone not from the derby-verse, asked me about derby, I wouldn't send them to one of these streams to learn. It's nothing like the excitement of being there at a bout. It doesn't convey the excitement that the crowd shows. And it's a commitment to be rooted in front of your computer for a couple hours, watching the tiny video.

I do this frequently. Sometimes, I spend whole weekends watching tournaments at some exotic location like Fort Wayne, IN. One thing that makes it worth it is the textcast. Alongside the video window is a little chatroom. There are people all over the world, sitting in front of their computers, just like me, who come together to discuss this great game. They're quick to respond to score requests. They love to compliment skaters' maneuvers. They really represent the derby family we all know and love. I was honored to have a chat with the one and only Val Capone, announcer/skater extraordinare. During another bout, I was typing to some Australian ladies who were watching at 4 am local time!

So here's to all the folks who work to put these feeds together! Thanks to DNN for their tireless work! And a special thanks to everyone I've ever chatted with and those I will chat with soon just for being there and being committed to this sport!

Derby Goals

The B-Dazzlers have an away bout on October 22nd. My aim is to be bout-eligible by that point. I would like to make the roster also, but...baby steps.

In order to accomplish this, I will,
-get my gear to a point where it works for me
-attend every practice I am able to
-attend as many Open Skates as I can
-go skating on my own, either outdoors or in local rinks
-assess every time I feel competent enough to

Now I've only been back at practice for a few days, but it's tough after 6 months away. So my hope is that this goal will remind me to push through and keep going when I am tired and whiny.

I'm also happy to report that I am once more consumed with all things derby. I've begun voraciously reading derby blogs again and scouring the internet looking at new gear and reviews of said gear.

Anyway, things are well in the derby-verse and I can't wait to strap on my quads again in a few days!

Bah!

This is going to be the loooooooongest post ever. I have posted since April. There's been another home bout AND I've returned to practicing since then. Geez.

For the month of May, I asked if I could be allowed to attend Open Skates to ease back into skating. But Open Skates happened before scrimmage (when I had work) and occasionally on Saturday mornings (when I had work). But then I lost my job, so I have a lot more free time.

I returned to practice last Thursday. It's all kind of a haze. I was unsteady on my skates, I had trouble with derby position...but I made it through all of practice. I felt like I was gonna be sick, but I kept pushing, and I did not vomit. Yay! I did notice that I still have some trouble with being too fast in pacelines, so not everything was forgotten. Haha.

Also, I was the sorest mofo for the following 2 days. Or maybe more. But it was a good sore, an I-worked-out-and-used-muscles-that-have-been-dormant-for-months sore. I don't remember anything in particular. We did the usual drills, push-carts/chariots, pacelines...We also did this cool drill, as packs. One pack started at the pivot line, the other at turn 3. The goal was to pass the other pack, as a pack. So we had to keep our pack together, but our speed up. My pack was the bomb diggidy. We passed the other pack several times. We repeated the drill and passed them some more.

And then I attended Open Skate on Monday before scrimmage. It  was really helpful actually. Jack was helping her mentee with some of the skills, so then everybody else joined in too. I realized I can still do a 6-point fall and a baseball slide. Also a single-knee 180 degree fall. I also did a little bit of sprinting, on my own terms. I fought through the slipping and crossed over. I even did a few laps in the optimum path, crossing over the whole way.

My job for scrimmage was supposed to be error tracking, but I've been moved to hotboard. Which means I'm super important and in the middle. But not jam-timing, which I did last scrimmage. Anyway, it'll be great fun

So please everyone, come out this Saturday evening to Grady Cole Center. You can buy your tickets from Common Market (either location), The Sleepy Poet, The Last Word, Tutti, or your favorite roller girl! Tickets are $10 adult/$5 children in advance or $14 adult/$7 children day of. However there might not be any tickets at the door, so get your tickets now! Doors at 5:30 pm, bout at 6 pm.

Whoooo!

I totally forgot to post about scrimmage the other night. I went for the first time in forever. (I also forgot to post about the March 6th bout, but this is my blog, so nobody's going to punish me.)

It was awesome. I've missed roller derby and plan to have my skates back on ASAP.

Scrimmage was cool. Hellin didn't go to the box at all, I was proud of her. It was a very clean game. I did action tracking again. Seems to be my default. I've now taught several others to do it.

Afterward we went to Growler's Pourhouse and hung out, which was super awesome.

Again, I'm distracted by the internet, and hungry, so I close here, but at least I posted.

OH YEAH! Also, I submitted my derby name. I hope to soon be Rita Maneata #106.