League Transfer: Managing Expectations

It has been so long since I've written, and I sincerely apologize for that. As any of you who are my friends on Facebook know (I hope), I've recently uprooted my life and moved 500 miles away to Tallahassee, Florida. This has meant a number of stark changes for me, including a new roller derby league. I started with the Charlotte Roller Girls in 2010 and have only skated for them.

I intend to do a series of posts about transferring successfully, as I navigate my own way through the trials and tribulations. For most folks who transfer leagues, I imagine there is also a move involved. I will mostly discount that variable, though it's no small feat.

Today's presentation is on managing your expectations. I came from a league where I'd been for a very long time and had truly established my position in. I was Director of Training & Skills and had previously served as Director of Promotions and All-Star Captain. I was known for my aggressive jamming style and my crazy pants. My league had a certain way we did things, which I will not offer any opinion on here. My new league doesn't know me from Adam. I had the opportunity to skate against them, but it was 4 and a half years ago and both league have seen a lot of change. I think I only recognize 2 skaters in the league from that roster, not to mention I only skated 2 jams. I had the benefit of being a WFTDA transfer, which means they probably figure my old league had its shit together (which they did).

But here I am, adapting to new strategies and drills and practice structures (and floors). I'm in a new place, without many friends (I said I wouldn't mention the move factor, but it is important) and it's all very daunting. My new league has a very different strategy for blocking and I'm trying to pick it up as best I can. They've been wonderful with explaining it, and it includes some things I've tried before, but it is a different way to play roller derby.

Tonight, I had a particularly rough practice. My feet didn't do what I asked them to, my body was not as stable a blocking force as I know it can be, and I just felt out of sorts. I went ahead and gave myself a mental pass, because I knew I needed to. It's not that I'm not a good blocker, I just had an off night. It's not that I'm a penalty-heavy skater, I was trying to resist. But there is so much new to me and it can be overwhelming. At times, I feel like I'm re-learning how to play derby, except that I'm already a good skater and everyone expects me to be competent.

For any of you out there struggling with transferring, I'd like to encourage you to take a step back and not beat yourself up about a practice you had difficulty with. There are still loads of things you are good at with regards to derby. Think about those. I felt pretty good about my plow stops. A couple of practices ago, I pulled off both left and right plow stops before I could even remember which was my worse leg. I did some successful jamming tonight, including a pirouette where I stayed in bounds. I'm still pretty good at hopping. Hell, I came back to derby after a potentially career-ending injury.

This is not an easy undertaking, but I don't play roller derby because it's easy. I'm sticking with it and I hope you all are also.

Mustachioed Narwhals

So...it's been a while since I posted. Here's why. It was the final day of classes. Exams start tomorrow. It's bout week (it's always bout week). I haven't started registration for the fall. I've been busy to speak shortly.

Since my last post, I've bouted once more and am rostered for this Saturday (it just went out). After Saturday, I will have bouted 4 times, breaking me out of our definition of "New Granny." And on Sunday, after the bout, Race City is hosting an open scrimmage in which I'll be participating. After the AIDS Walk. After bouting. Oh yeah. It's happening.

My skating has come a long way lately. I'm a consistent jammer for my team, which is something both exciting and scary. I've also had a lot of triumphs with blocking lately. Last night on scrimmage, I was ALWAYS on the other jammer. We did A vs A and B vs B, so we skated against the same people over and over. I was frequently all over Sibel. I knocked her down time and time again. I was told by a coach that I'm reminiscent of one of our A-team players. A skater who is a personal idol of mine. He mentioned this because he feels I'm truly a double threat in that I can both jam and block effectively. I have been getting kind of sad when I don't jam, but maybe I should remember that blockers are just as important to the game.

I still need to work on not going to the outside as a jammer. As a blocker, I'm more comfortable there, so when I jam, it's where I go. Sometimes a jammer asks me to clear the inside and I look at them like, "What do you mean? I will give you the outside all day." But I do think that I do a good job staying on the track and upright. I usually do not get knocked out of bounds.

I think I am done with this post for now. Too tired.

Some Thoughts

A highlight of the was after a particularly exhausting jam, I collapsed on the floor in front of our bench and one of my teammates gave me the advice to dig in when I take big hits. She said I keep moving my feet sometimes. BUT this is huge progress because I've been working on moving my feet and not stopping skating when I hit the pack. So yay, I've managed to make my feet move, now I need to reign it in.

So I played some derby last Saturday. I was slightly more jittery for this bout but maybe that's due to my involvement. It was phenomenal to go to Charleston and not have to worry about whether or not there are tickets at willcall and whether people are trained in their various tasks. Not only did we have a bout, we skated in the St. Patty's Day Parade. It was a day full of derby.

The B*Dazzlers were playing the Triad's Camel City Thrashers. I enjoy the Thrashers. I recently skated in that co-ed Invitational with most of them. It was a lot of fun. They're a great bunch of ladies. And they skated their hearts out and were great sports about the score.

As a jammer, I was pretty useless. I was all over the floor. Seriously, in all the pictures, I am on the floor when I'm wearing the star. I took some good hits, but I was probably the least effective jammer. I'm much prouder of my blocking skills. I was often sitting on the jammer and holding her back. That's a good feeling. I worked with many of my teammates, and seldom was it the same ones. Alley Capone has a great sense of what speed to maintain when you're holding the jammer at the back of the pack to stay in play.

I had a really great time and I wore shiny pants. I apologize for being so late on this post. I started it Sunday, but it has been an open tab on my browser since then. So I also apologize for not having much to this post. Happy Friday!

Firstly

Congrats to Bets On Bruises for passing assessments earlier this eve!

Secondly, I made roster and am out of my mind with excitement. But also one of my teammates will be moving soon. She will have the chance to skate with the Carolina Rollergirls, so that's excellent for her.

Practice was interesting. It always is when CalQ leads. The first thing she had us do was skate an enormous figure 8 on the track. That was awesome, because it forced us to transition from derby direction to non-derby direction in quick succession.

Also, let me mention that I was skating on different wheels. I finally decided to try out some harder wheels. I am comfortable with my Poisons, but apparently I started out on roughly a 95a durometer. So tonight, I skated on Rollerbones Snake wheels. They are a 96a. It was really interesting. They are the same width as Poisons, so it was less of a harrowing transition than the Speed Rays AND they are also plastic hubs. It was a bit like driving without shocks. I definitely felt more of the floor beneath my feet.

Back to the drills. I thought CalQ gave us a varied and interesting practice. There was skating in packs, which was unfamiliar to some of the newer skaters. They rose to the challenge well. There was a bit of endurance for the grannies. There were some skills and plenty of opportunity to work on awareness.

On a slightly less related note, I will have Antiks before the year is up. I found a customizer thing where you can see all the different colors. I desire them much!

And good luck to Tasty Murder on her redos!

A Compendium

So...I failed to post about scrimmage last night. It was largely underwhelming. I jammed a bit, and then we played against the A-team. I received a backblock penalty when I was hit into another skater. But alas. I stayed for endurance. Also, there were ref assessments. They all passed. Yay Zeebs!

Tonight was better. Our captains incorporated some of Bonnie's teachings. It was good to try to employ it again. We also split up into jammers and blockers and blockers worked on v-walls while jammers worked on shielding.

We did a lot of scrills tonight. We did some during the new granny clinic. We did some 4 corners. We did some five-on-five, it was all valuable. I had a really good moment where I juked someone. I noticed she was all over me, and I figured, "Ok, I been working on this, time to try it out." I don't remember if I faked in and went out or vice versa, but it worked. I got around one of our strong blockers who was giving me trouble.

I enjoyed practice and can't wait for Thursday. Also the roster comes out tonight, whoo!

Thursday Funday

Tonight's practice was fun. I always love Cal Q's practices because she likes to make up drills or alter existing drills. There's always interesting things. Like tonight she had the newbies hold onto yarn that she'd tied knots in to show them how far apart they should be in pacelines.

She also pulled a few of us to work on hitting with the newbies who are preparing for Day 2. I hadn't done any measured hitting in a while and it was good. I realized I'm a lot better at Johnny Crashes (Can-openers) than I thought I was, and should maybe employ them more often in scrimmages and whatnot. We also were doing this hitting on the track with newbies weaving nearby, so I'm impressed with our awareness of the paceline and our not crashing into them.

We did a lot of the Day 1 skills as well, since Day 1 is Sunday. I really like this approach. I felt like I didn't have much prep for Day 1 the first time I did it. In the practices leading up to, we did the usual sorts of drills rather than more of the assessment skills.

It's also good to get to know the newest newbies.

This was rather a shorter post than I anticipated, so here's out bout poster:

Please come see us kick ass on St. Patty's Day, both in the parade, and in our doubleheader season opener.

Recap

I know I've neglected to post this week. I talked about the bout, but I've had scrimmage, team practice, and skills practice since then. Scrimmage hurt. Tuesday hurt. In fact, I felt way worse after each than I did after the bout. I've adjusted my skates, so I've been all over the place. I collided with Rosie during scrimmage. Also there seems have to been a lot of high blocks lately. I've been hit in the face a few times. And once in the ear. Not only are these hits illegal, but they suck. After getting hit in the ear, I had to sit out a few jams.

After my little PSA, I have a actual message for my readers. When I first started derby, I thought I wanted to be a jammer. You know, get the glory. But I'm neither a tall and skinny girl nor a small and sneaky one. And after the first time 25 in 5 kicked my ass, I thought, "Maybe I'm more suited for being a blocker." But I worked hard and continually improved. I got new skates and shaved more time off my 25 in 5. And now I'm one of the jammers for my team. One of my coaches told me I've gotten really fast. I managed to get lead jammer over and score on one of the A-team's strongest jammers. I was floored.

So I just want you to understand that whatever it is that gives you trouble, don't give up. Keep working and one day, you'll pass that 25 in 5, or execute a 180 knee-fall, or complete a turning toe stop. Derby is the greatest sport in the world because no matter what your background, you belong with us. If you played sports all your life, that's cool. But if you never played sports at all, that's cool too. From those who hold onto the walls to those who can crossover their first practice, derby accepts all. It's a wholly empowering sport. And I'm so happy to be a part of it.

Charleston

So I bet you've been looking forward to my debut, right? I certainly have. I skated with grace and poise in neon this past Saturday.

This multi-colored beast is Jammer-Rita!

We had a doubleheader down in Charleston. It was filled with all kinds of excitement (Bill Murray asked my boyfriend for directions). While, both Charlotte teams lost in points, the B-Dazzlers won the second half (scoring 80 points) and the All-Stars won the dancing portion of the evening.

I wasn't nervous. Oddly. I got nervous for like a second during some jam where I was blocking, but it passed. It was like skating at a scrimmage. It was like there was no crowd and no scoreboard. I skated hard. I jammed a few times, but mostly I hit people. Charleston people. I hit their jammers a lot.

Most of the bout is kind of a blur, but I remember bits of it. Mostly I remember encountering walls of pink. I tried to blend in with my pink tights, but they were not fooled.

It was not only my first bout, but it was my derby wife's (Devlin Syder) first bout back after her injury. We got to skate together occasionally.

Here we are on the pivot line!

I did get lead jammer at least once. Although when I tried to call it off, I received a penalty. I'm not so sure about that call. I think I was actually tripped, but que se ra se ra.

I can't think of any other highlights (sorry guys), and I've got to get ready for scrimmage. Thank you for reading!