Puppy Satisfied

So I've been struggling with a lot of things in regards to my derby career recently. I am played equally as a jammer and blocker. I don't have a wall I go in with regularly or anything. It's caused me a lot of strife.

But today I went up and participated in the Scrimmage-A-Fun hosted by the Carolina Roller Girls. It was a morning of fun scrimmages for NC skaters (I think a few SC ladies snuck in too) including a couple of bouts where CRG skaters took on teams of NC skaters.

I was in the Coast v. Mountains, Bruce Lee v. Chuck Norris, and the Rookies scrimmages initially. The way CRG handled people dropping out was that if you wanted to play in a scrimmage, you sat all geared up, with both shirts, near the jammer line. I felt like 3 scrimmages (out of 6) was enough for me. I've had some problems with my feet lately (um, my metatarsals shifted?).

My teams lost the first two bouts, but I felt good about it. I skated with some of North Carolina's best skaters. And I made a bunch of friends.

So the Rookies bout rolls around. From the Charlotte Roller Girls, we had Hitsteria, Nita Beer, Devlin Syder, Unleasha Monster, MzBehavin Mama, and myself. It was nice to work with my teammates. I was hearing foreign terms all day, so when I said something like "Thirty-one," it was nice to know someone knew what I meant. I heard the CRG Rookies. They had a coach they knew and a cheer. I was intimidated. But we NC Rookies worked well together. We got an early lead, I think it was 53-28. We did wind up winning, but the CRG ladies didn't make it easy.

We had some of the NC B-teamers ask a few of us rookies to stay in white for the next bout, the Carolina Bootleggers vs. the NC Rookies.They asked Devlin, myself, Hits, and someone else to move up. We found ourselves facing the creme de la creme of Carolina's skaters. Their roster included Elektra Q. Tion, Sheeza Freak, Beth Row, Erna Beatin...it was a tough group. We worked together, we played smart, but it was tough. We fought for every point we posted and had some difficulties with penalties. I mean it was a long day and we were all tired. I went to the penalty box only once across my 4 scrimmages. But we did our best. I gotta say I love the floor at Skate Ranch. I got hit and I would wobble, BUT I never fell. I took blocks from some of their heavy hitters. I remember Q coming up on me and leaning on me and I was just determined, "I am NOT going down."

It was a great day. I only had a minor problem with anyone I skated with/against. And it made me feel better about what I've been doing in derby lately. Thanks CRG for hosting us AND for the excellent pork.

Tonight's B-Team Practice

Thank you to my loyal readers, first and foremost. Honestly. This self-reflection is good for me. And I was telling somebody earlier that I've never had much luck with journaling, but because I know I have a readership, I can't disappoint.

Since I'm thanking people, I'd like to thank my dear derby wife, Devlin Syder. I wasn't feeling all that great and didn't know if I could make it to practice, but I could hear Devlin's voice in my head telling me to go to practice.

So, in the spirit of being adventurous, I decided to try out my spare wheels. I have a set of mostly bald Speed Rays. The skates were sold to me with the wheels on 'em. I was told they are still great for sport court. I've skated on sport court now twice. Since we bout on it, but I've never skated on it, I thought I'd try these wheels out on our floor. I have 4 red and 4 blue. These are approximately 92a and 93a durometer. They're also wider (not drastically, but somewhat) and heavier (solid aluminum hubs).

It was an experiment, to be sure. I thought I might try them out at a Thursday practice, but then I thought that team practice is a good mixture of derby play and derby skills. And it was. I slipped all over the place. I still pushed myself and jammed and did everything I could. I wasn't able to dig in as deep with my sprints and crossovers, but I still tried.

I've been feeling that skating through mud sensation lately. But I still think I'd rather have to exert a little more effort if I have total grip in the turns.

So to my actual thoughts on practice...

I feel like the B-Dazzlers are clicking now more than ever. The most dedicated core is sticking together and working like one pack.

I also think everyone's getting better at the little things. We did banana peel in reverse derby direction, then turned around and did Sharkbait derby direction and we mostly did turning toe stops, without colliding with each other. Our hit timing could all still use work but I think even the best of the best say that. (Speaking of, did I tell you Elektra Q. Tion noticed my skating on Sunday? AAAAAAAH!)

It's really cool to work on something at practice and get the chance to put it into action. We're trying to go back to the basics, since B-Dazz is very much a new team these days. But it's tough to be reviewing the basic and still have to skate against people. When we get to employ these simple strategies, that's good. We are able to quickly see the result of our work.

My brain is no longer processing what's going on. I may update this post at a later time, but you know me, probably not.

Invitational

The Invitational is today. I'm strangely not nervous. But I wasn't nervous before the bout last weekend either. I thought I'd try to have team spirit with my boutfit. BUT I don't own any red leggings or shorts. How crazy is that? Oh well.

More to come later.

Ok, so I was a Drunk (right, yeah, put the 20-year old on the Drunks, haha!). Oh wait, did I mention this was a CoEd bout? It was. I had three boys on my team. Celtic Crusher, Sweet Meat, and the Professor were Drunks. And they were all extremely valuable. Sweet Meat as a jammer, wow. You hit him, he turns around and skates backwards, hit him again, and he turns back around. The man is a beast. Crusher was an excellent blocker, holding down the back of the pack. And the Professor did a wonderful job skating anywhere needed. And little Patty Valentine needed very little help as a jammer once he got moving.

We first played the Crunks. I played against teammate Nita Beer (pitting husband against wife). I blocked in a variety of positions. We played pretty well together, though naturally we had trouble playing as a team. We came together well and managed to hold back one of the Crunks' strongest players, MistHer, who was jamming. I am most proud of that bit of recycling and blocking and team work.

During halftime, I noticed my coaches working on some lineup changes. I told them I would happily jam if need be, since I was relatively fresh. I brought it up again later and they put me in to great success. I had a great crew of blockers, including Boot Scootin' Bully of Blue Ridge Roller Girls, lead jammer status, and a soon-to-be powerjam. I got 4 grandslams, scoring a total of 20 points before calling it off as the other jammer came back onto the track.

I did have some trouble after that whilst jamming when I was struck about the face. HARD. And somehow none of the refs managed to see it. Boy did it suck. I cried a little. And we had to call a timeout to page the medic just so he could tell me he didn't have any ice. Luckily my teammate Sour Bash Kid had ice and a plastic bag to spare. Thanks Bash!

That helped Team Drunks get back on top of the score. I had lots of people tell me I skated well. I was pretty proud of that. And also happy to get my second (and third) bouts under my belt. Congrats to ref/my ride up there OhCeeDee on kicking so much ass. And thanks to Derby City Skates for being present for me to drool over and purchase some items.

Also my shoulder(s) feel great, thanks for asking, considerate reader. Now I'm gonna fall into a derby/baconator coma.