TWO

That's how many jean sizes I went up from the last time I went jean shopping!! Crazy. It's all derby cuz my waist is smaller or the same, but my thigh muscles are huge and defined. Sometimes I like staring at them through my tights, ha!
But now finding good fitting jeans is a bit of a challenge. The jeans will fit my thighs, but be way too large at my waist. That is one thing that they don't tell you about...

Ankle update

My ankle is at 90% and Dr. Ralph said I never had to stop skating, but I took off a week and a half after a few bad falls on my ankle during last Monday's practice. I went to practice last night without my skates and it was hard to just sit there and not skate. My fellow fresh meat were awesome about it. They included me in everything as they could, even though I was off skates.
But I cannot wait anymore! Tomorrow I am going to skate again! Even if I am not completely healed, although maybe by tomorrow I will be? Jayne lent me her ankle brace (if I need it) and I bought athletic tape, as well as shin guards, so I am ready for scrimmage! I hope.

Ya see, fresh meat scrimmage tends to be really chaotic.

Slightly injured

Well. I didn't want to mention this before, but now that it's official I might as well post about it.

I believe it was the 7th of March that I fell on my skate wheel and bruised my tailbone. Because of that, I didn't notice until the next day that my ankle felt wonky. I bought an ankle brace during my lunch break at work and the next day, the 9th, was assessments. I was fast, but not as fast as I could be and I couldn't be as agile as I once was, but I thought everything was fine... except for the fact that I fell more than I have been used to and my ankle kept feeling wonky. Especially during the following Monday, the 14th's practice. Dr. Ralph came to practice on Wednesday the 16th and affirmed my suspicions - it's sprained.

BOO :(

At least I made it to level 2 (I get my detailed results back tomorrow when I meet with Flo).

And it should be healed within another week. If not, well, I have to probably get an x-ray.

Injury treatment:

I've been putting it in a bucket of water and ICE for 15 minutes each day. Then I rotate it in small circles both directions and keep it elevated above my heart afterward for at least an hour or two. The first day in the ice was the hardest. The second day, well, I think my foot might be getting used to it? Tonight is the third day. We'll see how it goes in a few minutes!

P.S. I have an iPod touch with a camera on it, so I'll try to post with photos from now on! :)
P.P.S. Did I mention that I still can't sit without pain? I didn't? Well. Now you know.

It's worth it.

First Vet Scrimmage

Yesterday the vets let us scrimmage with them for the first time. For real. Full contact. No mercy.

I played B1 (and jammed once). I would prefer to be B2 or B3 because I tend to race up past the Engagement Zone (which is 20 feet ahead of the foremost pack skater) and that means if I hit or help any skater up there then I go to the penalty box - not good!

During the jam that I was jammer - I lined up against Ivana.

I've never seen her jam before. I thought she might try to block me outside right away, but she didn't. In fact, I sprinted off the line and got around the opposing B2 and B3 on the outside thanks to two of my blockers, and then on the straightaway I got stuck behind Thrash, but Gloria came up and blocked her for me and I skated free around the track. I looked over at my jammer ref and saw him pointing at me - LEAD JAMMER! Whoa!
I never saw Ivana. I don't know if I lapped her during my scoring pass or what, but after I got past all 4 blockers to score, I was reabsorbed and then everyone was yelling at me to call it off, so I did.

And I was exhausted. Seriously. My ankle hurt from getting blocked down a few times and I was tired from not having any warm up. But still. I somehow got lead jammer and scored! My first time jamming with the vets! How huge is that?? :)

Yeah. I thought I was hooked already. It. Just. Got. Worse. (or better, ha)

Blocking positions

There are a max of four blockers per team allowed on the track. They are called pivot, b1, b2, and b3.
The pivot has the stripe on her helmet.
B1 is the pivot's buddy at the front of the pack. She usually holds the inside line.
B2 and B3 stay at the back of the pack. B2 usually hold the inside line and B3 kind of goes wild in her blocking with the B2 keeping an eye out. When the B3 is knocked down or aside or out or something, the B2 will try to hold the opposing blocker or jammer until B3 can get back into position.

See these videos for more about the basics of roller derby.

Level 2 Assessments

(Part of the Fresh Meat class 2011 at the March bout)

Reflecting upon my skills assessment:
t-stops kinda sucked, didn't fall on the jump turns this time, and went too fast on the cones, but didn't skip or train track them - should have been lower and gone slower. Sigh. Everything else was good.

Speed/endurance assessments:
5 laps in 47 seconds.
29 laps in 5 minutes. But damn, Donna and a few others got that too. I was so close to hitting 30 though, closer than anyone. 29.75. Damn. Nobody will tie me again!! And I will destroy all the other meat with endurance assessments (the falls) for real, once my tailbone is in tip-top shape again! You better believe it! (pep talk for me, sorry, ha)

Scrimmage assessments:
I didn't hold my positions all that well. but some people say I'm too hard on myself. Hmm, I did try and did different stuff.
When I was b3, I kept yelling at Allison, my b2, to come back and make a wall with me, which we did several times. That was great! We held the jammer back pretty well! I also remember that Karin was pivot and noticing that she got stuck behind the pack after a hit or something, so I gave her an outside arm whip on turn 1 and got her back up to the pack. I am faster than her and I needed to stay back while she needed to get up front again, so I think that was a great move too.
When I was pivot, I got everyone up in the front and we raced until time ran out cuz our jammer was behind the oj. That was great. I also hit the jammer out and then stopped, stayed in play, made her come in behind me and kept her back pretty well after that!

Across the board, I started hitting really well. Got some great practice in that! It's easier during scrim than in drills, at least for me. I hit OM Alexis down a bunch and other girls too. When I was b2, I think, I saw the jammer coming on the outside, but I was inside, holding the line. So I pushed my teammate, b3, who didn't see the jammer was on her outside, at her while yelling about it - and knocked the oj out! ha! That was on turn 4. Beautiful. Then together we kept the jammer back for at least a lap or so. I forget who my teammate was and who the jammer was, but we were awesome.

I don't know when we'll get our results. But I'm not extremely anxious to receive them cuz I know I can't be cut anymore :)

Tomorrow..

(Pepper and me after our first real scrimmage on Monday, March 7th)

Round two assessments are coming up!! I doubt I'll skip to scrim with the vets, but I'm okay with whatever the training committee decides. They have our best interests and safety in mind. I can't wait to skate in a few hours though! Philly's win over Jet City has me seriously pumped!! :)

Motivation/Inspiration/Admiration

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Crossovers

I've been spoiled. The more I research derby online the more I realize it.

I'm spoiled because I made it onto one of the best roller derby teams in the world.

Maybe I shouldn't beat myself up about it though. No disrespect or discouragement to any ladies who long to skate derby, but I've read multiple accounts online of girls who are working on trying to do crossovers. Working. Trying. What?

Yes, I worked and I tried, but I learned to skate a crossover during my first roller derby workshop in RENTAL SKATES. Yes. And no, I didn't play ice or roller hockey. I roller skated as a kid - that was it.

What's the lesson here? I don't know. I guess I'm just glad that I live in a city with really great and experienced skaters or I'd be so bored with waiting for my fellow teammates to learn how to crossover.

You'll probably also hate me when I tell you that I can crossover while going clockwise too. And nope, I didn't even have to learn how to do that. It came naturally to me as a lefty.

Backwards crossovers? My second try I was able to do them, both directions. Now, I'm still working on being able to use them to pick up more speed...

I'm not just writing all of this to brag. Really, I don't mean to brag. I'm pretty surprised that I can do these things so easily. A lot of credit goes to my coaches, without them I wouldn't know what to practice.

What to practice if you don't have great coaches like mine:

If you want to learn how to crossover first you MUST master being able to skate on just your left leg and on just your right leg. And no, I don't mean just on the straightaways, I mean you should ALSO be able to skate around the turns (as sharply as the lines are) on one leg. Only then can you talk to me about trying to do a crossover. This goes for backwards skating too.

Everything everything everything EVERYTHING in skating is all about balance. Some moves you will perform you're moving your center of gravity 5 different times and directions in a matter of seconds. If you can't skate on one foot - how do you think you can move your center of gravity that much, that fast without falling? Or even if you don't manage to fall, you sure won't be aggressive because you're too busy trying not to lose your balance.

Get over yourself. Everyone falls.

Now get out there and skate! Skate skate skate. And if you are outdoors, go with a buddy. I went by myself once and wiped out. Luckily I had full gear on, but I still scraped all of the skin off of one of my thumbs. Not pretty.

Cut Results

Dear Blogosphere,

I made it!!!! I'm officially fresh meat!!!! Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!!

-b