So roller derby today involves a lot of scrum starts. They look sort of like rugby scrums (not that most of us have played rugby.) The top teams are all doing scrum starts. The strategy has funneled down to teams all over the world. I don't like scrum starts.
As a jammer, I don't like them because it seems to involve a lot of illegal contact. Watch Bonnie Thunders attack a wall in a scrum. The best jammers literally push with their thighs against the asses of the wall of blockers. This takes a lot of faith in your opponents. If they wobble, the jammer risks getting a backblock minor. If they fall, it can be a major. The fact that the jammer is initiating contact to the ass of the blocker is illegal. I was jamming in an invitational when I made incidental contact to the back of a blocker with my thigh. She didn't wobble, but I was still assessed a minor backblock. I don't want to risk fate any more than that.
As a blocker, scrums are chaotic. It's 10 people in like 2 square feet of space. The jammer seems to escape from my wall. So the jammer is escaping and the wall of blockers is almost at a standstill. You don't have the momentum to catch her.
If you ask me what I want when I'm jamming, I will not say a scrum. I want you guys to take off the line, so I have room to get some momentum and get my head in the right space. I know I'm part of a team, so if scrums are what we're gonna down, I'm gonna put my all into scrums. But I'm secretly praying the new ruleset kills them.
Showing posts with label wftda. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wftda. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Saturday, March 3, 2012
TODAY!
I met Bonnie D. Stroir! Omigod!
More to come later. When I process it all.
Ok, so after several hours of obsessing over derby including:
1. Assessing my next gear purchase.
2. Getting excited about any wheel Atom has ever produced.
3. Shopping for skates I don't need.
4. Reading the blog of one of my new idols, Elektra-Q-Tion
and 5. Being upset that none of the blogs I follow have updated lately.
So, I've decided to stop being a jackass and post for all of you.
I will try to condense the amazingness that Bonnie shared with us. She has a lot of great metaphors, firstly. I love her sharks and seals theory. Basically the inside and outside lines are deep water where sharks (blockers) thrive. Seals (jammers) do best in shallow water, or the middle lane of the track.
She gave us a lot of good advice about energy too. There are a lot of personalities in derby and instead of trying to fit into the mold of what traditional strategy says we need to do, we should complement each other. If you're the anchor in a wall, it's your job to be the calm one.
She gave us lots of little strategies and then let us go on the track and play with them. In short bursts, we got to try them out. I felt like I had a lot of success implementing her ideas. I can't wait to put them into practice at scrimmage or in scrills.
Bonnie has a lot of ideas that are in direct contradiction with what we've all been taught. She maintains that being low has its time, but derby position is not always appropriate. She gave us a lot of help with juking which is totally awesome, because it's something I desire strongly to work on.
She also spent some time talking about the derby mental game. She talked us through the game From the Bench, On the Track, and From the Box. She had some great tips for calming down if it starts to get overwhelming. Her tips are to regulate your breathing and give yourself simple mental command.
After all this, I came home and read derby blogs and am now looking at gear. I found some used Antik MG-2s in my size. I am seriously considering Revenge plates. I would like to try the Atom Snap wheels.
Anyway, this is all a whole lot of derby and I've got practice in the morning, so I'm going to bed.
Good night, hope dreams of skates come to you!
More to come later. When I process it all.
Ok, so after several hours of obsessing over derby including:
1. Assessing my next gear purchase.
2. Getting excited about any wheel Atom has ever produced.
3. Shopping for skates I don't need.
4. Reading the blog of one of my new idols, Elektra-Q-Tion
and 5. Being upset that none of the blogs I follow have updated lately.
So, I've decided to stop being a jackass and post for all of you.
I will try to condense the amazingness that Bonnie shared with us. She has a lot of great metaphors, firstly. I love her sharks and seals theory. Basically the inside and outside lines are deep water where sharks (blockers) thrive. Seals (jammers) do best in shallow water, or the middle lane of the track.
She gave us a lot of good advice about energy too. There are a lot of personalities in derby and instead of trying to fit into the mold of what traditional strategy says we need to do, we should complement each other. If you're the anchor in a wall, it's your job to be the calm one.
She gave us lots of little strategies and then let us go on the track and play with them. In short bursts, we got to try them out. I felt like I had a lot of success implementing her ideas. I can't wait to put them into practice at scrimmage or in scrills.
Bonnie has a lot of ideas that are in direct contradiction with what we've all been taught. She maintains that being low has its time, but derby position is not always appropriate. She gave us a lot of help with juking which is totally awesome, because it's something I desire strongly to work on.
She also spent some time talking about the derby mental game. She talked us through the game From the Bench, On the Track, and From the Box. She had some great tips for calming down if it starts to get overwhelming. Her tips are to regulate your breathing and give yourself simple mental command.
After all this, I came home and read derby blogs and am now looking at gear. I found some used Antik MG-2s in my size. I am seriously considering Revenge plates. I would like to try the Atom Snap wheels.
Anyway, this is all a whole lot of derby and I've got practice in the morning, so I'm going to bed.
Good night, hope dreams of skates come to you!
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