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!

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.

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.

Tuesdays Rock!

Seriously, the B*Dazzlers are an amazing team. We work together so well.

Tonight, we really showed that. We recycled well in drills, we maintained walls. I am just so happy that we've got such a great team and I can't wait until Saturday! You ready, Low Country? You ready to eat our dust?