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.