I Haven't Been Posting...

...And I apologize. I've been to like 16 practices in the last week (obvious hyperbole), and haven't blogged. Our practices are getting harder, I'm pushing myself more and when I come home from practice, I usually pass out for an hour on the couch, wake up, take a shower, and go to bed. We've had some really good practices lately. We (the bodacious B*Dazzlers) set our goals for 2012. That was a pretty empowering little session.

We've also been doing a lot of great drills lately. I'm seeing a lot of improvements in my skating, even just from a month ago. My turning toe stops are improving too! Still working on doing them from a sprint speed, but I can successfully pull one off in a drill. I'm also actively working on breaking through walls. That will help me not only with jamming, but with being goated. The other teams often try to goat me. While I'm not a strong fighter to be able to bust through these walls, I have made some strides blocking back there. I remember one scrimmage in particular, the other team attempted to goat me virtually every time I was on the track. Instead of fighting, I just hit their jammer. I remember hitting CalQ out once and my jammer was able to call off the jam before CalQ scored any points.

I'm working on my pivot skills. The other night, at team practice, I noticed that the other team had lead jammer and also the track advantage, so I hollered for my team to get to the front. Unfortunately, either they did not hear me or were unable to get through the pack. So I just sat on the jammer instead.

Also I have a new mouthguard, so I'm more able to communicate!

I had something else to mention about one of my goals. But I forgot. So instead, I'll tell you about how Devlin Syder hit me really hard last night. My dear derby wife was in kind of a crappy mood last night. She said she was gonna hit someone really hard if we did any hitting. We did the drill that Rye calls Sharkbait, but some called Great Wall of Gina. You have a prom date, you're skating in a double paceline. When the whistle blows, the pair at the back takes action. The outside partner takes a knee and then sprints on the outside of the track. The inside partner waits and when the moment is right, skates on the diagonal to land a big hit on her partner. I partnered with Devlin because I knew she was feeling off. So I let her hit me. And she about hit me into the wall of the warehouse. Twice. The other pairs applauded and cheered for us. So naturally, when it came time for me to hit her, I did my damnedest.

That's all I got for now. Please be looking for my next post soon: Why Roller Derby is Better Than a Gang!