So yesterday was the first major practice in a while. I have been missing for a few and then we had Jr. Derby. I decided that somewhere in there that I was going to try everything I could. I was kind of nervous about practice and how well I would do. I had a friend come with me, she is thinking about joining derby. This makes me really happy and also gives me encouragement. She is the type of person that will support you and encourage you. Maybe that is part of the reason that I tried so much yesterday. I know that I had a realization that if I am EVER going to be bout ready I really need to jump in and just do it.
We started practice with holding on each others hips and skating around. The person in front does most of the skating and the person in the back holds on. Getting used to this will help with being comfortable with getting close to your team mates and eventually being able to do hip whips. I tried it out and didn't do too bad. I was afraid at first to be in front. Was I strong enough to pull someone else? Would I trip her with my skates? Would be both fall? Would it be my fault? Yes, No, No, No. It worked out really well. Beside getting tired from doing several laps in a good derby stance I did it very well. Well, I think I did. We didn't fall, we got practice in, and I understand a little bit more about how it is possible to skate close quarters and not trip others up.
Falls. Something I have done on my own, with no one around, and only a few times. Last night I actually did them with everyone else. I can't do as many as other across the floor. Getting up is still hard. But I did them. The one knee falls I can't just pop right up from them like the rest, but they will get there. The all four falls I can do as well. Again though takes me a little longer and a little more effort to get up. The baseball slide I can do, not very well at all, but I can do it. It will take a LOT more practice to get that one down and to be able to do the 180 turn. The only thing I didn't try last night was the barrel rolls. I think I need to be a little bit better at the rest of the falls first. I think that doing the falls and the pride I felt in doing it helped me with the scrimmaging.
Yup, that's right. Scrimmaging. I did it. I was super nervous to scrimmage, I haven't ever done it before. I generally don't think I am good enough to scrimmage with the other girls. I'm not going to say that I was some miracle prodigy and kicked butt, because I didn't. But I did stay up, stay in the pack, and block people. I haven't done any of the blocks against another skater before, so I have no idea if I did it right. But I used my karate background and my big booty to my advantage. I did not want to try out being the Jammer. The Jammer is the one that starts at the back of the pack and on the second whistle their job is to pass the pack, hopefully first, score points, and call off the rest of the jam. But thanks to Femme, I was kind of forced/coerced into it. I was really really nervous at that point. Being the Jammer isn't the easiest of things. You are going to be hit, blocked, and pushed around. I wasn't sure if I had enough balance to do it, let alone enough courage to skate through the pack. But it's completely different when you are trying to skate through the pack. It's like a huge puzzle of moving pieces. You want to try to skate around the opposite team, hopefully when they are not looking and don't see you. I thought it was fun. I really liked the fact that I got through the first time with almost no problems. I wasn't the lead Jammer, but that is okay. I still had a job, and I still did it. Not once, but a few times. Jamming was fun, a lot more work, but fun. The last time I was a Jammer I was worried about the person that I was Jamming with. She is a very aggressive person. I don't think she means to be, just the way she is. Not only that, but she is a fast skater. Somehow, I think she let me, I got in front of her and made it to lead Jammer. There is no way that a Jammer at least 1/3 my size and a whole lot more skilled than me, didn't beat me through the pack on accident. But she did. I actually scored several points. I realized though that I lost where in the pack I was and which lap I was on. So I scored 5 points without realizing it. I was passed by the other Jammer and I called it off. Granted, by the time I called it off she got a few points. How many, I don't know, and it doesn't really matter. I was just happy with how I did. I am going to stop being afraid to try things. You can't get better if you don't push your comfort zone. Am I ready to jump yet? Probably not. Is that something I would try tomorrow? Probably not. But I will see. I will not be giving up, and I will not be sitting out because I am afraid. I will be a derby girl. I AM a derby girl!
~ <3 Kiss My Blarney
No comments:
Post a Comment