Sunday was a non derby day. Well, that's a lie. It was a non skating derby day. We had our team photo shoot! Our photographer kicked butt and what we have seen so far is so amazing. We went up to this antique mall that has a few abandoned buildings nearby and we each got to pick where we wanted our personal pictures to be at. I choose this old window that was painted red at one point and was peeling and mainly white. It was really cool experience. Next was our team photos. I have only seen one of them at this point, can't wait to see the rest. It was also a great team builder for us.
Afterward we all went out for drinks and a good time. I learned a lot about my teammates and a lot about myself. This game called corn hole...There are two boards and four bean bags per team. Two teams take turns throwing bean bags at the board. Not sure how points are scored. But I did learn that I sucked at this game. Not a huge deal, but it was still really fun. Knowing the people you skate with is just as important as knowing how to skate. You have to be able to trust the ones you skate with, trust they they have your back on and off the track. Your team is your family. In times of need your teammates need to be there for you and vice-versa. I can't wait for more team days with my derby family. I love these girls so much.
~ <3 Kiss My Blarney
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Monday, June 4, 2012
You have to know when to stop
Sunday was an interesting practice. I am still trying to get my right foot to stop cramping when I skate. So I tried to skip a hole at the main point where I cramp up. It actually helped quite a bit. It still hurt some, but I think was more of a tired hurt than what I have had in the past. Hopefully it will keep working and I can completely get rid of the pain. If not it looks like I will be spending some money and getting custom inserts, hopefully this will help.
Sunday practice was as usual an endurance building practice. I would like to think that if my foot didn't hurt so bad that I would be able to have a little more endurance, but I will only be able to find that out once I get rid of that pain. We practiced our basics a bunch, basics that I have yet to practice or learn. We started with shoulder and hip checks. Basically that is when you use the respective body part to hit an opposing player. Luckily I have big hips and lots of power in them. A lot of that is from my time in Karate. I wasn't at the point to receive hits, but I did give them.
Then we worked on blocking with our butt. This always reminds me of a sticker I found at one point: "I love you with my butt, I would love you with my heart but my butt is bigger." I do need to learn how to juke a little bit better to be able to block more. Juking is when you pick up your skates of the floor and side step. I think I did okay with the technique though. When I was being booty blocked by my partner I did a few things that would be considered a foul. Those things I need to work on not doing but there is only one way, practice! You are NOT allowed to touch the back of an opposing team member and you are not allowed to bump them out of your way from behind. So basically if you are getting booty blocked the only thing you can do about it is get around them or at least get side by side to them. Then you can hip or shoulder check them.
If you ever want to look super silly practice hip and shoulder checks and booty blocking by yourself. Basically you get into your derby stance (a low squat) and pop your hip/shoulder out to where your want to "hit." I suggest if you practice this at home do when nobody is around and practice hitting your hip/shoulder against the wall or couch if your couch is tall enough. If someone is around grab them and try to knock them over with your hips. It may sound really stupid, but powerful hips are a good thing! Granted some of my hip power is front and back from Karate and this is side to side. I am not sure if I would be able to use my hips to block backward, I might accidentally try to use another technique from Karate like elbow them. That would be a major penalty, so I think I might leave that out.
After the majority of practice my right shoulder began to hurt a lot. I had shoulder surgery two and a half years ago and it took a long time to nurse it back to the strength that it needs to be at. It still isn't perfect. I can't put my full weight on it for something like a push up, but I can push myself off the floor to get up. The good thing was that it wasn't hurting like I re-injured it, it was more of a super tired sore with weakness. But those who know me should be proud. I stopped then and got off my skates. In the past I push myself through my injuries and that is the WORST thing you can do. If your muscles hurt from working out, yes work through it. But injuries you should stop. I know that if I kept skating that I would continue to push it. At that point if I fell I would do one of two things: either try to catch myself with my arm and actually injury myself again or I would have try to not fall anywhere near that side and I would have injured something else. But after a night of ice and rest my shoulder is doing alright again.
I am very happy with the group that I skate with. We are becoming super close. Some of the girls like to push me and make me try things that I am afraid of. I am very grateful to them for that. The best part? They seem to know when to push me and when not to. At last practice they were jumping, I am not ready for that at all. I used to jump on skates but that was a long time ago and it scares me now. They didn't try to get me to do that at all.
Last Thursday we were doing a few skills around a square, every corner was a different skill. I may not have been able to do every skill, but they convinced me to try. I did finish the square which made me happy. Although I had a spill in the middle. I was trying to do a 180 knee fall. You go down on one knee and turn 180 degrees so you are facing the opposite direction. I am not sure what went wrong but after my knee fall I turned. Somehow I landed completely on one of my boobs, so hard in fact, that I knocked my glasses clear off. Other than the mammogram from the floor I was completely fine. I could only imagine the pain I might have had if I didn't have natural padding.
Tomorrow is my first official Weight Watchers meeting. I will be paying for the month and signing up right before. I hope to start learning what I need to do to make my life better. I may be posting a few things on here as I go, but we shall see.
~ <3 Kiss My Blarney
Sunday practice was as usual an endurance building practice. I would like to think that if my foot didn't hurt so bad that I would be able to have a little more endurance, but I will only be able to find that out once I get rid of that pain. We practiced our basics a bunch, basics that I have yet to practice or learn. We started with shoulder and hip checks. Basically that is when you use the respective body part to hit an opposing player. Luckily I have big hips and lots of power in them. A lot of that is from my time in Karate. I wasn't at the point to receive hits, but I did give them.
Then we worked on blocking with our butt. This always reminds me of a sticker I found at one point: "I love you with my butt, I would love you with my heart but my butt is bigger." I do need to learn how to juke a little bit better to be able to block more. Juking is when you pick up your skates of the floor and side step. I think I did okay with the technique though. When I was being booty blocked by my partner I did a few things that would be considered a foul. Those things I need to work on not doing but there is only one way, practice! You are NOT allowed to touch the back of an opposing team member and you are not allowed to bump them out of your way from behind. So basically if you are getting booty blocked the only thing you can do about it is get around them or at least get side by side to them. Then you can hip or shoulder check them.
If you ever want to look super silly practice hip and shoulder checks and booty blocking by yourself. Basically you get into your derby stance (a low squat) and pop your hip/shoulder out to where your want to "hit." I suggest if you practice this at home do when nobody is around and practice hitting your hip/shoulder against the wall or couch if your couch is tall enough. If someone is around grab them and try to knock them over with your hips. It may sound really stupid, but powerful hips are a good thing! Granted some of my hip power is front and back from Karate and this is side to side. I am not sure if I would be able to use my hips to block backward, I might accidentally try to use another technique from Karate like elbow them. That would be a major penalty, so I think I might leave that out.
After the majority of practice my right shoulder began to hurt a lot. I had shoulder surgery two and a half years ago and it took a long time to nurse it back to the strength that it needs to be at. It still isn't perfect. I can't put my full weight on it for something like a push up, but I can push myself off the floor to get up. The good thing was that it wasn't hurting like I re-injured it, it was more of a super tired sore with weakness. But those who know me should be proud. I stopped then and got off my skates. In the past I push myself through my injuries and that is the WORST thing you can do. If your muscles hurt from working out, yes work through it. But injuries you should stop. I know that if I kept skating that I would continue to push it. At that point if I fell I would do one of two things: either try to catch myself with my arm and actually injury myself again or I would have try to not fall anywhere near that side and I would have injured something else. But after a night of ice and rest my shoulder is doing alright again.
I am very happy with the group that I skate with. We are becoming super close. Some of the girls like to push me and make me try things that I am afraid of. I am very grateful to them for that. The best part? They seem to know when to push me and when not to. At last practice they were jumping, I am not ready for that at all. I used to jump on skates but that was a long time ago and it scares me now. They didn't try to get me to do that at all.
Last Thursday we were doing a few skills around a square, every corner was a different skill. I may not have been able to do every skill, but they convinced me to try. I did finish the square which made me happy. Although I had a spill in the middle. I was trying to do a 180 knee fall. You go down on one knee and turn 180 degrees so you are facing the opposite direction. I am not sure what went wrong but after my knee fall I turned. Somehow I landed completely on one of my boobs, so hard in fact, that I knocked my glasses clear off. Other than the mammogram from the floor I was completely fine. I could only imagine the pain I might have had if I didn't have natural padding.
Tomorrow is my first official Weight Watchers meeting. I will be paying for the month and signing up right before. I hope to start learning what I need to do to make my life better. I may be posting a few things on here as I go, but we shall see.
~ <3 Kiss My Blarney
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