Catching up.

I promised myself I'd always be on top of this and post after each practice. Today will involve two weeks worth of posts...but don't worry...it won't be too long. Honestly, there isn't really all that much to say.

WEEK ONE- So this week we practiced in the Xcel. We did stages like we always do in that area. The coaches allowed us to pick our groups 1-4 depending on our level of comfort. I put myself in 2. Even though I was scrimmage ready last session, I have also been off skates for too long and knew I was rusty. I was comfortable with the group I was in for all of the sessions although, admittedly, there were times where I think I should have moved myself up just to be sure I was challenged. I found out later that that top group did some one foot weaving and surly a few other things that would have been helpful in prepping for WFTDA skills testing. I left feeling OH SO HAPPY to be back skating. Man how I have missed it!!

WEEK TWO- My insurance for September didn't happen. So I was off skate. This sucked since the ENTIRE team was getting skill tested and I missed it. I know I can get tested next week...but it won't be nearly the same. There is something about suffering with teammates that makes it all bearable. I hope I'll be able to make it. 25 in 5...I WILL defeat you!

Crapping Bricks.

Well, we had our first official deb meeting. There are 32 returning girls and over 40 new girls. I left the meeting with mixed feelings. I Think mostly because I am so unsure of myself and my abilities. The good news is that we are going to 3 hour sessions. The first will be basically working on skills- agility, footwork, falls, starts, stops, endurance. 2nd is team work stuff. The 3rd hour is scrimmaging...with MNRG skaters. Great. Right? Except---we are no longer scrimmage ready and will have to test into it by passing WFTDA skills. I am freaking out about the 25 in 5. (Skate 25 laps around the derby track in 5 minutes or less). I have tried and failed at this three times in my derby life. Once was when I tried out for NSRG after only skating for 4 months. I got 23 laps in 5 minutes and fell once. The second was at an outside NSRG clinic. I got to 23 again- no falls- but it was outdoors and hot. The third time was last session for debs. We tested "just for our information". Again I fell, and again I fell short of the mark. I think by like 20 seconds. I feel gross and disgustingly out of shape when I have to do that test. And now that it has direct bareing on weather or not I get to keep scrimmaging just tears me up. My teammates are so supportive telling me I can do it...but...I really don't know. Especially after not skating this summer. I guess I'll just keep trying it every week until I get it. Right? Right.

Session 3

Hi everyone! It's been a long lonely summer without roller derby. In other news, it's been mad fun watching/hearing about some of my teammates go through bootcamp and eventually getting drafted onto the Minnesota Roller Girls. This Saturday officially will begin the fall session for 2011. This will be my third session. I have a lot of thoughts about this. 1.) I haven't been skating near as much as I should have been in the off season- mostly due to the fact that my skates were at Reidell getting fixed, must also because I've been lazy. 2.) This makes me very scared to start skating again, I'll obviously be out of shape and I hope I don't have to start over at ground ZERO again. 3.) I have been skating a few times and most recently (although I was mad sore for 2 days after) I felt like my skills were at or better than they were last year. 4.) WE GET TO GO TO A COUPLE MIXERS! This means we were invited to two smaller leagues to do some scrimmaging for the PUBLIC! Exciting and scary all at the same time. My mom and dad say they will come to Eau Claire to watch. I'm really excited to see what they think. As of right now I think they have some serious misconceptions about what roller derby really is. All for now..until Sunday. Whoop!

It's been a bit.

But that doesn't mean anything. Last time I posted I was riding high on my 30 second lead jammer status. Allow me to post a picture. Although it doesn't prove I was lead jammer...I think it was taken just off the line. This is an especially good one since you can't see how inappropriately tight my black scrimmage shirt is. (If you didn't read my last blog you don't know that I showed up to practice wearing pink when we were asked to wear our scrimmage colors. (Hey..I was out of the house since 9am!) Luckily I had a black undershirt..you know the one that is supposed to have a "slimming" effect...yeah..I needed help getting it on OVER my clothes..lol..). Anyway. Yeah. That was a serious highlight.

So now you are wondering...cool..so in May you had a seriously kickass practice and it's now July and we haven't heard a peep out of you. What gives? Well, my friends...I think I only had one or two practices after that lead jammer day and the apparently weren't super exciting since I didn't even remember to come back and blog about it. I know one those of us who weren't trying out ended up working with the new girls on basic skills..and you know what? That was actually really pretty fun. IT's fun to see how far I've come. We also had a GREAT banquet. I should post a picture of that too, right? Right? See here my WONDERFUL scrimmage team (plus some coaches). Now looking back at my pictures I'm getting a bit sad. I'm noticing that 7 of those girls made boot camp and a good percentage of them will make the team. 2 of those girls have moved. And..um..3 of those are coaches. That leaves...let's see...OH....5 of us left. LOL. It will be exciting to see how the team grows next year. Tiki said that if she has her way we will be traveling...yeah..exciting right? All for now...will be pretty quiet on the derby front since we are on the off season. Start again in August. My skates are currently getting fixed (I had some stitching come off) and I'll hopefully have them back soon so I can be good and ready for fall session. Whoooop. Debs.

Lead Jammer!!

OMG! Today's practice was simultaneously the most difficult and most fun practice of the session. :D I don't even know where to start it was so wonderful! This post is going it be a mess. The first thing I noticed when I got to practice was that there was way to many of the girls wearing black or white. This threw off big flags in my head because our scrimmage teams are black and white. (I'm on black. Whoot!!). I quickly asked about it and yes, Hanna had sent out an email asking the scrimmage girls to wear their colors. OOPS! I had been out of the house since 9am. I was adorned in BRIGHT PINK. Awesome. The good? thing is that I also had a black undershirt along that I had been wearing that day under a dress shirt. Practice started with ladder drills around a big track. We were practicing in the exhibit halls. Normally I hate it there because the floor is so slippery. After warm ups Betty found me and convinced me to change my wheels into some better once that she had brought for me to try. Yes, she really is just that awesome. When I first started skating I had the stock wheels that came on my Rock Flame skates. I quickly upgraded to Flat Outs which are 88a. I loved them and they pretty much got me through my first year of skating. Then I borrowed some old wheels from a friend of mine that were Interceptors- 93a. Coincidentally, she had also received them from Betty. Again, yes...Betty LaRude really is just that awesome. Lucky for me my friend wasn't quite ready to use wheels that were that hard and she graciously loaned them to me. Thanks Ferret! I used a full set of these for a month or so and even got new Red Bone bearings for them. (ABEC 7). Either I wasn't 100% ready for them, or they were just too slippery for me and so I created a hybrid set. Interceptor's on the outside, Flat Out's on the inside. This was great...until I developed a really annoying squeaking that followed me wherever I went. Turns out the old Interceptor wheels were breaking down and the rubber was slowly coming off the metal hubs. So I was left with ---go back to a full set of Flat Outs...or deal. I chose to deal. Well, last week Betty asked me what was squeaking and I told her and didn't think anything of it. That lady remembered me and brought me something new to try! While we were changing out my wheels I REALLY wanted to keep my flat outs on the inside and try the new wheels (Atom Grods with ABEC 9 bearing) on the outside. I remembered that a full set of interceptors was too much for me. She talked me into, or rather kind just went a head and put the full set of Grods on my skates. WOW! I stood up and INSTANTLY felt a difference. I don't' know if it was the bearings or the wheels by I felt like I was just gliding. I need me some of these. Thank you Thank you Thank you Betty!
We started practice with backwards skating/sprinting drills. And then sprinting/falling drills. Umm..when did I forget how to 4pt fall and (especially) sprawl? Its U.G.L.Y. I am going to need to work on these. Even my recovery was questionable. I seem to be able to handle the turn around falls and recover well. We then worked on jump turns. Now..you remember that the debs have worked on these twice and both times I missed. Once I was gone and the other I was off skates. I felt like an idiot. As we went though, I slowly got the hang of it. I definitely need to keep working on them, but they slowly became less...scary. I bail on the left turn from front to back EVERY time though, even with Tiki yelling "STOP THINKING and GET OUT OF YOUR HEAD." We then got to scrimmage!!!!!! I was so excited. Contemplated sitting out because of my ankle, but I'm so glad I didn't! I know I wasn't awesome at any of it. But..I also didn't feel quite so lost as I have in the past. It's hard because we don't' scrimmage very often so I feel like we forget stuff. But today we actually had a small ref team there calling majors. To my surprise I did not get called on one. When we were getting ready to start Tiki and Hanna told us that everyone had to Jam at least once. I think I've said before that I hate jamming. This body is not made for it. I'm slower than molasses half the time. Well, at one point Hanna handed me the jammer pantie and asked if I'd went yet. I was like...no..no I haven't. I waltzed my butt out to the jammer line mutter apologies to my black team under my breath. I've jammed before and don't' think I ever even made it out of the pack. I was actually quite terrified. Well, this time, no only made it out of the pack but I looked up at my ref and lo and behold she was giving the lead jammer sign. I think I audibly said "are you kidding me"? I certainly wasn't the first jammer out of the pack, but thankfully, it doesn't matter...I just had to be the first jammer out of the pack legally. :D I was stoked and then looked to see I was 1/2 a lap behind the pack..yeah...my experience as a blocker told me I'd never catch up. When I hear Hanna say "Flik you can call it off if you don't think you'll catch up before she (the white jammer) does". And..of course I did! After that jam I was just...happy. I guess derby does that for me. I told Hanna that I guess I'm just going to concentrate on marking it through the pack leagally every time I have to jam and then hope that the other jammer screws up or that my girls can push her out. And to my amazement Hanna laughed and said "That's what I do, I'm a horrible jammer". Sweet. So...my lead jammer status might have lasted all of 10 seconds....and I might not ever be lead jammer again. But I've done it. Put that feather in my cap! When we were done we had to 5 minutes of hell and it was...hellish. But also, not as hellish as I've experienced in the past. Maybe I'm getting better. Maybe Betty's wheels were just that wonderful. Maybe a combo of the two? We then ended with 5 minutes of core. One exercise for every 1 minutes. Sit Ups, Mountain Climbers, Plank, Sit ups. They blew the final whistle and at least 8 of us just laid there. We were all so tired. I love my debs. I love my scrimmage team. I love my coaches. I LOVE DERBY. Yep.


OH! Also...as per my blog from the last time we scrimmaged...you know..the one where I was practically in tears because I took out MY OWN jammer twice? The one where I made my new goal of taking out the white jammer at least once.? Well..I failed. HOWEVER...and I verified this with two of the girls who jammed. I DIDN'T get in their way. victory! I am improving. Yipee.

Sprints, and Endurance, and Barrel Rolls! Oh my!!

I am in love with roller derby. Every practice I love it more and more. Highlight of Sundays practice was easily barrel rolls. Picture yourself skating as fast you can and then throwing your self to the (concrete) ground only to roll and get up and spring again. Yeah..it's as scary as it sounds. And, YEAH it's as fun as it sounds! Lowlight of Sundays practice was easily getting yelled at (three times) by two different coaches. When I say yell I mean picked out of the entire group for extra..erhm....encouragement. I mean that....I actually secretly love the one on one attention even if I feel like crap for being picked out. It also sucked cuz I think they forget sometimes that I'm nursing an ankle injury. BUT...I don't' want to be the girl that uses that as an excuse...and so I endure. The ankle is getting better every week and I just HOPE it will soon be pain free. It really only bugs me now on turns/weaving, etc. I also take it easy on it when doing any predictable fast work with it....we worked on turn around falls/sprints today (relay style) and I didn't get up as fast as I probably could cuz I didn't want to risk tweaking my ankle. Thankfully my teammates still love me. I hope.
I spent Saturday night at my teammate's house and she graciously helped me wrap my ankle, so it was much more snug than I'm able to do on my own and I think it really helped. So...thanks Jessperate Measures! :D Warm ups today were actually quite easy we were just allowed to free skate around the concourse. This was also where I got yelled at the first time for not staying in derby stance. I need it. I welcome it. I just...ugh. You know? It pretty much sucks being told to get in derby stance when you already think you are! HA. We then met as a group and were told that today was going to be the hardest practice of this session and that we were really going to be pushed. We were encouraged to sit out what we needed too and really listen to our bodies. We broke into 6 "teams". 1st drill was a fast skate around the concourse and then pushing the next girl in your group. Then we went over to the side and did core work. (10 push ups, 20 sit ups, 30 mountain climbers, 40 flutter kicks). This went OK for me. I was nervous about pushing the girl behind me and knocking her over (she's a new skater this session) but she took it like a champ ...got a bit wobbly, but didn't fall. The next 2 drills were the same line/teams. Smaller distance but sprinting to a single knee turn around fall, get up and sprint back to the line and snow plow to a stop before the next person could go. Then we did it again but this time double knee falls turn around. Then we lined up again for another full concourse drill. This time we were to skate as fast we could for TWO laps and then snow plow stop from the fast pace before the next person could go. I was first in line...and wow...this was a low point of the practice. I know I'm not fast. I also know I have poor endurance. But it's embarrassing for the whole team to see it. I was a good 20 feet behind the other 5 girls I raced against on the first lap and had dropped to a good 30 feet by the time my 2nd was done. This is where I got yelled at for the 2nd time...by Tiki...which always seems to smart worse than if any of the other coaches say anything. Oh..and plus the WHOLE TEAM heard it. I come through skating as fast as my slow-ass-healing-ankle-self can push myself and I hear "Dig deep Flik, I know you can push harder than that". When we were done with the two laps we then had to do more core this time it was (10 push ups, 30 sit ups, 40 mountain climbers, 40 flutters). Thankfully this was the end of the endurance portion of practice. We then broke up in to 3 mixed groups. Wet Spot always likes to let us line up from most comfortable to least comfortable meaning the girls you are with are at the same skating level as you more or less. Tiki likes to line up and count off which makes for pretty even teams all around. The first group was with Lydia. We worked on tight turns around cones, hockey stops, and wide weaving. Hanna was there for the first part and was able to pick out what some of my problems are so I have something to work on, so that's nice. Second group was Tiki and BARREL ROLLS! OMG awesome. Third group was Betty where we worked on weaving forwards and backwards, one foot and two feet. Also did a little turning. Then we got together for one last endurance drill. Sticky skating behind Tiki trying to keep pace. I SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKED at this. Seriously. I had no business being as slow as I did. There was a time when i lost sight of the entire group. Sure there might have been a few stragglers behind me but I am so....just...hard on myself. My endurance is down cuz I haven't been able to push myself and I just feel like such a failure these days at practice. But...alas, by the time I got home I (we ..the whole team) had an awesomely encouraging email in our in boxes from Tiki. It is ours to have and to hold and I'm not embarrassed to say that I've read it about 8 times already. In fact. I am going to post it here so I will always have it.

"You ladies blew me away. Our drills were really difficult and everyone pushed themselves harder than I could have asked. Honestly, the league could only hope to get girls as amazing as you all are.

I know that some people struggled with certain skills. I also know that when we struggle we can beat ourselves up (myself included). Please believe me when I say you women have come so very far and you look like real Roller Derby players (ALL of you). I am so proud.

Whew, what a group.

Thank you for making this so rewarding.

Hugs and slugs,
Tiki"

Yeah, I guess that's probably why I hate to get yelled at by her. We all do! She's just that awesome.

To sum it up this practice rocked my socks of in so many ways. And...did I mention I love roller derby?

05/01/11- Sunday at the Xcel

Another Debs practice under my belt. A last minute change left us in the Xcel concourse again. Not that it's a bad thing...at all! Although, I will say they tend to be a bit easier practices because more often than not it is station work. I actually arrived at practice right on time (which actually makes one late) due to getting a late start on my 1 HOUR COMMUTE and then having to stop and get some athletic tape for my ankle. I wanted to see if taping my ankle would help it at all. I missed warm ups all together ...which I'm kinda thankful for. Tiki took everyone around the concourse several times and every one had to follow what she did. Falls, sprints, jumps, knee taps, etc. Gross. Then we did stretches...or rather they did stretches. There was also an announcement that I totally missed (and forgot to ask about) in which everyone cheered. I did catch the very end of it and can only assume we are having some sort of end of the session party which will be fun.

I once again lined myself up at the "less confident" end of the line. I will not be doing this again. Mainly because I have a hard time dealing with the work ethic that some of the girls (SOME..not ALL) have at that end of the line. It's hard to keep pushing around them. My ankle thanked me, I'm sure...but I can also just sit out with the harder drills if I put myself in the middle or upper group. Station one was Wet Spot. We did some jazzersize and then worked on weaving. Normally I'm a champ at this but my ankle does hold me back more than I'd like. He also worked on hockey stops...i wasn't able to attempt these at all. Next was Betty. She worked on weaving pace lines. This is where I really noticed that even at my debilitated (thank you spell check) state I should probably still be in the middle group. It was alright...I worked on my "dont' be a douchebag" skills. I also tried to concentrate on myself...staying in derby stance. My back feels it today, so I know I did good with it. Betty also had us weave backwards which initially sounded horrifying, but turns out it's way easier than it sounds or even looks. Station 3 was Hanna. We worked on pushes. This is something I had worked on pretty seriously during another practice but know that the girls I was with hadn't. It was really fun to see their responses and smiles. I got a glimpse of what Hanna, Lydia, Tiki, WS, and Betty must feel every week watching us discover different skills. We also started to learn whips. Heck yeah!! Then we all worked on endurance together. We were told to skate around and they'd tell us when to stop (which meant we had no idea how long we'd go for). First lap sticky skate, 2nd sprint...alternation. Holy crap!! Feel the burn. Remember...we were at the Excel Energy Center..skating around the concourse. Not just a derby track. Turns out 8 minutes later we were done. Hanna said at try outs they make you do 10 minutes of hell which is 10 minutes of sprinting on the derby track. Ugh!

Me. Out.

Ankle Whoas

Yesterday I attempted dry land all on my own. I had to skip the tuck jumps and the left lunges and the burpees. All great stuff for my legs. My ankle is still...not functioning. I can feel the arm workout today though, so it was worth it if even just for that. I also recently tried skating outside on the driveway and quickly felt so much pain I had to stop after two trips down and back. This is just...defeating. There is only a month or so left of DT's and I have this lingering injury. Sunday will be 5 weeks. 5 weeks of longingly looking at my skates. Everyone told me that ankle sprains/strains (I'm not really SURE what I did since I didn't go to the doctor) are along rehab. Right now I ask myself if I should try skating at practice Sunday...we will be back with Tiki (I assume) and it could be...HARD. Since she missed the last one we had and then we had Easter off. *shrug*

I skipped a week...but I'm baaaaack.

Total time off skates during ankle injury= 3 weeks. Not bad right? I absolutely babied my ankle and every day it got a bit better. I had to attend one skating practice in my tennis shoes and it nearly tore me part. We did tons of hitting and jumping and I really feel I am set behind because I missed it. One thing that I learned just from listening is a hing for timing hits. I need to remember or piciture myself taking her place. Not just hitting the front of her or whatever....if I picture myself taking her place, then I'm not going to miss. I hope this helps once I get back into the swing of hitting. The upside is that WS and Betty were absolutely encouraging (not a surprise, seriously) in my decisions to not skate until I felt my ankle was 100% better. At that point I couldn't even walk pain free..although I wasn't limping. This week, although I'm still experiencing pain, I strapped my skates on and started with some light skating. My girls were all so encouraging and happy to see me back on skates. More than one teammate is dealing with overcoming an ankle injury as well, so it's nice(?) to have people who relate to what I'm going through. We were in the Xcel concourse this week so we did the usual station work. This was nice, because it was lower impact than a normal Tiki practice. It was a really good first practice for me (post injury). We started with 10 laps around the concourse. Ideally WS wanted alternating 100% with 80%. I started slow- turtle slow, and kept increasing my speed on each lap. The happy shouts I got from my teammates were great. To my surprise my ankle started feeling better as I skated and picked up speed, and not worse. My teammate Bus suggested that my ankle is probably at the "heat" stage of healing...meaning warming it up really helps. I made it to 5 laps when all were done with 10. Not bad since I had started out so slow. I caught the end of stretching before we were told to line up in from most comfortable to least comfortable. This was interesting. I'm one of about 20 scrimmage ready girls (there are about 80 debs total) and I wandered over to the "least comfortable" end of the line. I knew I needed to start slow and build up my ankle strength again and I figured working on basics with the new girls was where I belonged. Low and behold there were two of my fellow ankle rehab girls down there. It was quite funny. We started with fast feet stuff. I did most of it modified and VERY controlled lest I tweak my ankle again. We then moved on to stopping. I was able to do most of this and actually did a lot more than I thought I'd be able to do at this point in my healing. I even did some turn around toe stop stops....very carefully at first. I did some snow plows...which i am thankful for. I was doing a fast hard snow plow when I hurt myself, so it was good to get "back on the horse" as they say. After that was sticky skating and a lot of pace line work. All good basic stuff all around. I iced my ankle good and took some Ibuprofen after. During the drive home I was constantly wondering if I pushed it too far and if I'd be in pain the next day. I'm here to say as of 10:34pm Monday night my ankle is no worse for the the wear. If anything the skating helped it. Bus gave me some more stretches to do over the next week or two (we have no practice Easter Sunday) and boy, I can't wait until I'm totally pain free. Practice was a win. Practice is always a win. Life is good.

I have an injury. :(

This week was skate practice. YIPEE! I live for these and always have fun. Warm ups always suck. Always. But I always tell myself that if I get through those then the fun starts. Today was a hit heavy practice. We played queen of the rink with Vue (VueDoo Prodigy of MNRG) and Tiki. Lydia (Lydia Punch of MNRG) and a few other vets soon joined in. I'm quite sure the vets aren't hitting us as hard as they can YET, but it was fun to see some fellow Debs (Amelie and Lush) lay down some hits that took out a vet or two! Debu-Taunts were invited to do Queen of the Rink for the preshow on MNRG's April 2nd bout. WHAT an honor! I guess it's linked up to some kind of meat raffle and it should prove to be entertaining! Only those who were scrimmage ready were allowed to sign up. Yeah for hard work paying off! I signed up for an extra practice- i.e. clinic- after our 2 hour hard practice. I knew that skills would be broke down and I knew that I had a few that I was hoping to get some good feedback on. One is snow plows and the other was left knee taps. We spend time initially (after warm ups on and off skates) on cross overs and stride. Kimbers (Shiver Me Kimbers of MNRG) worked with my group of 3-4 and I think I finally realized that I "get" cross overs, and need to stop being so wussy about them. She said my from is good, I'm digging in with both legs. Now I just need to make myself DO THEM. We did cross overs skating the wrong direction. I can do them but, man, are they U.G.L.Y. Next station my group went to was Wet Spot and we worked on stopping. I.E. Snow plows! Something he said clicked with me. And I think it's because Tiki kinda yelled at us today saying we all need to work on them cuz it shouldn't take us 5 feet to stop. She's right. But it's just so darn hard!. Anyway..I finally got the where to push from (wheelwise) so I was really pushing myself...sprinting and then cranking out a stop. BAM..I roll an ankle. It was like pain I've not felt in my adult life. I had to get all first respondered up and everything. Ump was on duty and fixed me up good. I AM SO DISAPPOINTED THAT I WILL PROBABLY NOT BE ABLE TO DO THE PRESHOW!!!! Stupid Ankle. Stupid me for pushing it. As of now I'm laying low. Trying not to walk on it and trying to baby it. I don't want to miss practice on Sunday too. :(

03/20/11- Sunday- Never stop moving your feet.

One more dryland under my belt. This week, again, we had Ump as a guest speaker to try and finish the rule talk. The rules are over 40 pages long and we all have questions so it's a slow go. Top that with girls who don't read the rules (as requested) before practice asking questions. Or top that with girls who weren't at the last practice asking questions that were covered in the last practice. Frustrating for Flik. We met in the meeting rooms again for dryland. I think we do this when the Roy is booked with other stuff...as in the roller girls get the boot and we make it work. Actually, dry land is REALLY good for us. If we don't work on core strength and ankle strength (gathered from lots of jumping) we are going to get hurt, and aren't going to be able to improve as a skater. I am amazed at how many girls skip the dry lands. (I know some have occasional conflicts but there are defiantly girls who frequently miss drylands...and they, coincidentally? are the same girls who complain that they "just aren't getting any better") Our warm up this week was killer! Tiki took us out and down the stairs to the main concourse at the River Center, she then took us across to another (double) flight of stairs and told us to SPRINT up the stairs, jog to the the flight we had just come down, WALK down that flight and jog again to the bottom of the this flight...SPRINT up, jog over, walk down, jog over, SPRINT up and repeat...until we hear the beloved four short whistle tweets indicating the end of action (or the end of a jam during a bout). I did better than some, and worse than others...but you know what? I didn't quit. I never stopped. By the third sprint up the stairs my sprint was more of a moving-my-feet-as-fast-as-i-can-while-feeling-the-burn-and-wanting-to-quit kind of pace. But I did it. I saw many girls start walking, especially on the lower floor where no one was watching (Tiki was at the top of the steps loudly reminding us to move our feet...faster) but I didn't let myself do it. I received encouragement a few practices ago about how to work on my endurance. (One of my major downfalls). I was told that when I get that feeling that I need to quit, or when I get that thought that I can't do it I HAVE TO PUSH THROUGH IT. Each time I do this I'm going further, faster, etc. Then...some day I'm gonna look and me like...wow...I did and I didn't die. The point is...if I make myself go that extra 30 seconds, or that extra two minutes even though I'm exhausted, eventually my body will find that as a normal pace/distance. And..of course there will always be a little faster or a little further that I can push myself for. It's a never ending cycle, which is why I just need to get over it.
We were then allowed to recoup while listening to the rest of Ump's rules talk. After that we did a few sprinting relays and also side shuffle relays. These were done in pairs to help us really concentrate on form and pace, and also to have someone there critiquing us as needed. Thank you Rolly for being a great partner! After that was wall squats. UGH! I am seriously getting stronger at these though and I'm happy for that. Kind of fun to feel how defined my thighs are getting. Now to work on those dreaded inner thighs! Ha. Then was sprawl jumps (or burpees). These are my nemesis. I can't keep up with the pace of the group...we were to do 20 and I maybe got in 15. But, again, I didn't stop and they seem to be getting easier (please let that be!). Then was line jumping. These are definitely getting easier, although one foot jumps still burn way before they should. We then cooled down with some core. We all sat in a circle and did circle core. Each girl, one at a time, chooses a core exercise and then we all do 15 reps. I like it, it's kind of bonding like. So..it wasn't even 2 hours of working out, but it sure felt like it.
In other news- tryouts are right around the corner and, man, is there ever a lot of talk about it. I won't be trying out this year. Due to circumstances in my own life, I just do not have the time to commit to practices multi times a week, or time to commit to committees and volunteering. I sure wish I did. Although, I'm pretty sure my skills aren't quite ready for MNRG...yet. I'm not really sure for NSRG, but I guess it doesn't really matter. I love the Debu-Taunts and am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO thankful for it.

03/13/11- Dryland

So this week's practice ended up being off skates or- Dryland as we call it. We did an hour of kick boxing lead by MNRG's own Gogo Galore. It rocked my socks off. I was dripping with sweat and had fun the whole time. It went fast too=BONUS. Second half was rule talk with head referee Umpire Strikes Back. Let me tell you it was full of laughs, mostly because of Tiki (one of my coaches- Tiki Torture also of MNRG) and Ump's interactions. So...I think next week is dry land too and THEN I get to make good on my goal that I posted last week.

03/05/11- Sunday Practice

I sort of think it's a good idea to post after each practice so I can log my achievements as well as my failures. I was moved to scrimmage ready after the first practice of session two. Since then we have only been able to scrimmage twice and let me tell you I feel SO LOST in the pack. I feel like when I look one way is when I'm hit from the other. Or I feel like when I look to help my jammer is when the other comes through. I'm assured by all of the coaches that this is NORMAL. In fact, they tell me that I will feel lost for a good year. Really? really? Skills worked on today: Sprinting- proper form, stepping, etc. Pushes- FUN!. Scrimmaging and Queen of the Rink. I actually feel semi in control of myself when it comes to Queen of the Rink. This is a game where we are all on the track (all the scrimmage ready people..not the entire Debu-Taunt roster..) and we partner up and then it's every team for it's self. If you fall, or get pushed out you are down and need to wait until your partner skates around and tags you to come back in. If she is down before she gets to you then your team is out. Last team standing wins. I love this! Today I really felt in control of my body and was timing hits and receiving hits well. Scrimmaging...well...scrimmaging is another story...I feel like a failure. I took out my own Jammer not once, but twice. There is just SO much to watch for! As soon as you open a window for your jammer is when the other jammer slides through. As soon as you get past one girl, another flies by you. My goal for next week: I will stop the white Jammer ONCE. Legally. :D

Flik

Who is Flik? The first thing any roller girl hopeful thinks about is a derby name. I'm here to tell you first hand that it was way more complicated than one would think. Not only is it a name that will follow one through her entire derby career, but also, needs to be completely unique from ANY OTHER registered name. There are way around it...such as writing for permission to use the same or similar name...but who wants to do that? I tried on a lot of names before settling. I even made a name official, before scrapping it and going with something entirely different. Much thanks to Ferret Wrench for putting up with the endless "what about this name" and "what do you think about that name?" conversations. Once a name is settled on, then that is who one becomes. I'm that girl who is going to say the wrong thing sometimes. I'm that girl who likes things how they are supposed to be. That girl with the short line of patience. Who am I? I am Aries A. Fliktion- a girl who is seriously afflicted with being an Aries. And- that's ok with me.

My Aha! Moment

My roller derby journey started in the fall of 2009. A friend invited me to go to a Minnesota Roller Girl bout and I said "Huh- roller derby actually exists out side of TV?" This was right after Drew Barrymore's infamous "Whip It" movie debuted. I accepted the invitation and not even 10 minutes into the bout did I realize that I not only WANTED to be part of this rough and tough sport, but also, that I COULD be. There were two local leagues in the metro and each held open tryouts once a year.
I strapped on skates for the first time since I was 9 on February 14th, 2010. What an adventure. I was never a great skater even as a kid, but to my surprise falling didn't happen half as much as I remember as a child. Thank you adulthood and coordination. Through talking to people I found that the sooner I got out of rental skates and into my own proper fitting derby skates the better. This was a big decision. Jumping into Roller Derby, unlike other sports, is a big monetary commitment. There really isn't time to "see if I like it" before investing in gear. For obvious reasons safety is very important and the expense of gear goes to enforce that. If I wanted to try out for a league this year I would need to have my own gear, which only added to the urgency. Thankfully, I am lucky to live in the Twin Cities metro area which is home to not only one, but two derby stores. I've heard many stories of the frustration of buying gear and skates through online venues. Many, many roller derby girls world wide still only have online means as an option. But here I was, able to walk into either of these stores and not only try stuff on, but also have actually seasoned derby athletes help me. I suppose I got my skates and most of my gear in April or May of 2010. I don't really remember. I do remember the big difference good wheels and good skates made.
By this time I was starting to learn skills beyond just skating forward: Namely crossovers. Boy, am I ever glad I had knee pads! I remember attending clinics for both leagues to see what kind of skills were needed before I could consider trying out and (hopefully) making a team. BOY! Did I ever have A LOT to learn. When try outs rolled around I did go to try outs for North Star Roller Girls- not because I thought I had enough skills, but mostly because I wanted to be prepared and wanted to know what to expect for NEXT years (2011) tryouts. By that time I had heard about a recreational league (Debu-Taunts) that was being started by the Minnesota Roller Girls that would be open to any girl of any skill level.
Debu-Taunts officially started in August of 2010 and this is when the trials and fumbles truly started happening! MNRG had put together a formidable coaching team that seemed to know exactly what steps to teach us. Safety was their number one goal and they spent much time with us on dry land (sneakers and no skates) in attempt to strengthen our bodies and get ready for the wonderful sport of roller derby. They taught us how to fall properly, how to stop correctly, and generally how to not be a hazard to us or our teammates. That first session of Debu-Taunts there was over 50 girls standing there, learning just like I was. I can't say enough good things about the rec league. I learned that who I was - was a.ok. I didn't need to be someone else, I didn't need to impress people. Derby has a way of really empowering self. I would have never said I was a self conscience person...but I can see now that I am more confident and more...content. There is so much benefit from derby-way beyond the obvious exercises-is-good-for-the-body aspect.
Fast forward to January of 2011 and the 2nd session of Debu-Taunts starts. We add almost 30 more girls to the roster and learn that there is almost 60 more girls on a waiting list to get in. UNREAL! Now I am just so THANKFUL to have gotten in when I did. And that is what brings me to this blog. I want somewhere to track my fumbles and my challenges. That way, when I have an off practice (ooooh...does it ever happen...a lot) I can come back here and read where I started and how far I've come and to remember that there will ALWAYS be challenges and if I ever get to the point where I think I've got it all down---then that is the day that I've stopped trying.