Week 40: Level 1 Sign Offs - Take 5 Pt. 1

It's that time again! Unfortunately, we were only allowed into the venue an hour later than usual so it was kind of a half sign offs session. We even got kitted up in the car park to save time for when we got in! It also meant that whatever we didn't cover this week, we'd get to do next week and we might even be lucky to get reassessed on the blocks we didn't manage to pass.

I only had one block to pass, which consisted of right and left foot glides, plough stops and t-stops. My anxieties had now moved from plough stops to right foot glides. I had spent a lot of Friday practising them and just not being able to fully make it round a corner. After balancing on my right leg for what felt like the whole of the weekend, I came to the conclusion that it was how I held my left leg. I always used to instinctively tuck it behind me but I then found that this caused me to lean forward and get really low, which then threw me off kilter and caused me to put my foot back down. So I tried to work on a different stance, putting my left leg in front of me and keeping my knees together. It was a little ambitious to change my technique the day of sign offs but if it worked, why not? I gave it a go during the warm up and it seemed to work, so I started to feel a lot more confident.

We had our usual warm up of squats, knee taps and a couple of sprint laps and then were divided into groups to be assessed. I was in Group 1 so we were first to go on track. It seemed odd that I was on track straight away, only having one block to pass which wasn't the first block, but we were just told to skate around so I carried on. A few minutes later, we were told to go into sticky feet, which confused me. I had passed this block. Why was I having to do it again? The blocks had been adjusted a little, did this mean I had to be assessed on everything again? I started panicking; what if I failed a different skill, one I knew I could do but didn't know I was being assessed on?! I confidently finished the block, but was not particularly happy about what I might have to do next, so I asked a coach, who set my mind at ease - "You guys are just showing the others, who haven't done sign offs before, what to do." Oh phew! We were just demonstrating the structure of sign offs. That's alright then!

Next up was the block I needed to pass to move on to Level 2. I made my way on to track and started skating. A lady behind me was saying to herself "I can do this, I can do this..." which made me realise I too was really rather nervous, so I focused on my slowing my breathing down and stopping my legs from shaking. The first skill was right foot glides. Right, this was it. On the whistle, I shifted my weight on to my right leg, picked up the left, brought my knees together, got half way round a corner, lost my balance. Balls. Right, lets try again. Weight over, leg up, cut the corner. Bollocks. I looked to my wife, who was sitting in the middle, and shook my head at her. Right, one more time. Weight, leg...nope not happening. Fuck, fuck, fuckity, fuck. I'd buggered it up. I hadn't passed the block, but I still had to keep going with the other skills. Left foot glides were a doddle. I could do them all day. (Why won't you do that, right leg?!) Next was t-stops, and every time the whistle went, I was on a corner. They were a little wobbly, but I stopped every time. Next, was plough stops. Ahhhhh, plough stops, how I still fear you slightly. Once again, I managed to stop every time. It might have taken a little longer than some people but I stopped. My only concern was that my plough stops are quite narrow. They start wide, but I always end up quite upright. I kept looking over to the coach for clues in her facial expression, but they never give anything away. Then we were told to come off track. It was done. Let the chips fall where they may.

I spent the rest of the session obsessively watching my wife. I'd be talking to people in the centre but as soon as a whistle went, I had to stop mid-sentence to see how she was doing. She's been training as long as I have but due to commitments or illness, this was her first sign offs. I so badly wanted her to do well because I knew she was awesome. I knew she could do it.

A little while later, I got pins and needles in my feet so I skated up and down the end, practising stops (oh yeah, I could do them when people weren't looking!) and then stretched. I almost didn't ask the coach how I'd done as we'd had so little time to get de-kitted and out of the building, but I needed to know.
When I asked, she showed me her notebook, under the number 182 were the notes R Foot Glides. "Right foot glides?" I asked. "That means you managed the left ones" "But that's it? Right foot glides? That means I did plough stops?" "Yeah you did!" Squeeeeee! I did the biggest, happiest jump and ran off. Plough stops! Muthaclucking plough stops!!! A few people saw my dance of happiness and asked if I'd passed. "No! But I did plough stops!!!!"

I was over the moon. I drove home with butterflies in my stomach and my cheeks aching from smiling. Right foot glides, I will master you. And I will get to Level 2 next week. Just you watch me.

Week 39: Why I Love Men's Roller Derby (or Why You Should Have Watched The MRDWC)

Alas, the dreaded stomach bug has rendered me far too weak to train this week, so I thought I would talk a little bit about what I spent my weekend doing - being ill and, more importantly, watching the first ever Men's Roller Derby World Cup.

I was introduced to Men's Roller Derby ("Merby" or "Broller Derby" for short) at the beginning of this year when I went to officiate at a Team England Men's practice. I was aware it existed - the Brawds have their own brother team, the East Anglo Smacksons - but I had never watched any before. It had never really crossed my mind that I would be interested in it. I was used to Roller Derby and I didn't want to watch another off-shoot of it. The same reason why I have never watched Junior Roller Derby, although I probably should! Anyway, I digress. Even though I had never watched Merby, I was excited to see some, especially at an International standard! From then on, I was hooked, Merby had won my heart.

Source: Roller Derby On Film

This weekend was the first ever Men's Roller Derby World Cup and it was held in Birmingham, UK, which was awesome as the Roller Derby World Cup is usually held in America. I knew several officials that were there for the event, which made it even more exciting! I was ill, as I may have mentioned, which meant that I got to stay in bed and watch Merby all day, and that is what I did for the whole weekend (well, until I had to go back to work on Sunday, from which I hurriedly returned and proceeded to keep my face about 4 inches from the screen for the final.) "Why?" you may ask, "What's so great about Men's Roller Derby that I should take a break from Roller Derby to watch it?" Well, I'm glad you asked...

The game play itself is different:
I don't necessarily mean the rules are different, they're not. But how they play is different. The tactics are slightly different and, being heavier built, skaters tend to throw themselves in to it more. That's not saying there aren't the light, juking, quick on their feet players. A jammer in the final even took a minute to stop and assess the pack before he made a move. There is a lot more recycling in the pack, a lot more goating, and lot more trickery. It is also a lot more penalty heavy, though.

There is always an apex jump:
Men love their apex jumps and it's pretty much guaranteed that you'll get to see one during a game. It makes me squeal with joy everytime!

There is much more camaraderie:

I'm not saying there isn't in Roller Derby, but it's more noticeable in Merby. The jammers always line up and shake hands before each jam, sometimes the whole pack acknowledges each other and gives a friendly pat on the back. I've even seen a player being goated or incessantly harassed while trying to get past a blocker but as soon as the whistle goes, they shake hands, slap each other on the back, give a big smile and leave as friends. It's really heart warming to watch.

To be fair, though, it wasn't just all the Merby action that made this weekend awesome. It was the general power of Derby! There were so many stories going round that just made me feel proud to be a part of this sport:

Source: Rollin' News

A player from Ninjapan broke the plate on his skates during the opening ceremony. When he took them to the Quad Skate Shop stall, it turned out he had been wearing the same skates for 15 years; they were completely battered with even a hole for his toe to poke through. Instead of repairing the skates, they sponsored him with a brand new pair.

Source: Rollin' News

 Team Argentina's funds unfortunately ran out while they were at the tournament. So much so that one of the team members, El Pibe, had to sell one of his tops that he skated in that weekend, simply to buy food. Once the word spread, a red cowboy hat was passed through the crowd and over a £1000 was raised for them.

Source: YouTube

During half-time of USA vs. England final, Optimus Quad, of Team Argentina, started to make a speech about how brilliant their weekend had been and wanted to thank everyone. He then went on to thank his girlfriend who had introduced him to roller derby and continued to get down on one knee and propose to her in front of thousands of fans. She said yes! The crowd went wild!

Source: Indiegogo

A Team Ireland member, Rave-N-Bust Her, wound up breaking his leg during their game versus Germany. His leg is so badly broken that he is unable to travel home for 6 weeks and, because he cannot work, this means he cannot pay his rent. So an indiegogo page was set up to raise money for him while he has to stay in England. So far the page has raised over $2000 for him. Visit this page to donate: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/help-rave-n-busther

All this stuff makes me all teary eyed and me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. That is what this sport is about. Yeah, we like to put on skates and kick each others asses, but really it's about bringing people together and supporting each other. I've said it before, and I still stand by it, Derby brings the most wonderful of people together and I really don't think you can say that about any other sport.

Source: Roller Derby On Film

No, no, I'm fine...it's just allergies...

Week 38: Practice 2.0 (Beta Testing)

I apologise for the late post. I have, once more, been knocked down with another stomach bug (I swear NSOing can be more dangerous than skating!) and it has taken me until today to be able to concentrate on writing.

This week we had a bit of a change around. As it's a new year, we've got a new Coaching Coordinator who was ready to resculpt our training structure. Their main aim is to get rid of the bottle neck that we seem to have at Level 1. Not that it's a bad thing, as it shows we're getting more and more skaters in, who are staying! But it just means that we're being deprived of training time and space on the track, and the higher levels are looking a little empty.

Warm up and stretching was normal. We skated round the track, did squats on the whistle, knee-taps on the whistle, a couple of speed laps and then stretched. During stretching we were told what was going to happen to our practices and how our sign-offs would be changing, etc. Basically, our sign offs are going to have a few skills removed as they're not necessarily essential to pass on to Level 2 and less skills to learn, means less to pass, which means people should move on to the next level quicker. The other change is that our rotation has been extended from 6 weeks to 2 months. This is mainly down to our venue often cancelling our practices at short notice, meaning we used to lose a week of skills in our rotation. Two months also means that we have longer to practice skills, thus increasing our chances to pass sign offs and move up quicker.

After the warm up, the rink was then split into 4 sections. We had Level 0 (newbies), Smacksons (Men), Level 1, and Level 2, each with their own coaches. At first it seemed a little odd, having such a small section for practice, and not having a track, but we practised stepping first, so that didn't make much difference. The one thing I noticed instantly was the cosiness of it, though. Not in a cramped way, but in a more sociable, intimate way. At the end of each skill, we were able to stand around in a group and discuss it and everyone was allowed to voice their opinion and tips. Not that we didn't do this usually, but there used to be so many of us that it was hard for everyone to have a say and, unfortunately, other conversations would start in little groups so often people were spoken over or ignored.

We had a go at 15 second balance, which was fine, and then moved on to lateral hops. Now this is where cracks started to appear. We only had the width of the track to practice lateral hops and lateral hops cause you to gain speed pretty quickly, so if you tried doing more than two, you'd end up slamming into the wall or have difficulty stopping. For higher experienced skaters, this might not be a problem, but we're still learning how to stop and to control our speed to it wasn't the best thing. We had to limit our hops, which meant that we didn't really get a chance to practice them. Even more so as we had to be split into three groups because there were still too many of us to safely do it at once. However, another positive came from this way of skating - reassurance and help. As were were split into groups, and because we had to line up along one side while waiting for our go, you found yourselves watching your fellow skaters more. This then sparked remarks like "She's just stepping, she needs to pick that other foot up" etc, which led to advice being given and improvements made, and skaters going "Can you watch me? Am I doing it right?". Again, not that this didn't happen on the track, but sitting down in the middle of a track while other skaters went around you, made it harder to watch and harder to give advice as they'd be gone again before you could get it out. I also found that being on the track could feel a little lonely as the people in the middle would talk amoungst themselves and the people on track were focusing on what they were doing, so you only had the coaches to pass advice whilst you were skating.

Next was gliding and this is where I think the track is the most useful. With the new setup, you found yourself using half the track to pick up speed and then the other half gliding, and then having to stop. This meant that you didn't come to a natural stop, so unable to test how far you could actually glide, and there were no corners so you couldn't practice going round them like you have to do for sign offs. Admittedly, I think it's a great way for people to get to grips with glides when they are first learning but maybe not for when you want to get to sign offs standard.

We then had a short while to practice stops, where I only did a plough stop and got a "Yeahhhhh, Honey!" off our coach! (Still not convinced though. It's taken me so long that I'm waiting for Sign Offs to make me believe!) We then had a track laid for skills that really needed a track such as pace-lines, pack work, crossovers, etc. We were told that if we had other skills to practice then we could go over to the end of the rink and practice there. I didn't quite like that, though, as it felt like we were intruding on the newbies which I can imagine might have been a little intimidating, so when the track skaters needed extras for a pace line, I dived straight in! I love a good pace line!

We were then given a chance to practice crossovers while a few of the coaches helped out the ones who were less confident with them. I gave some advice to one of the newbies who seemed to be struggling and then continued to practice mine on my new wheels, trying to get them big and wide and to push with both feet. A little later we were told that the boys were going to come on the track so unless we "want to skate really fast" we were advised to leave the track so they could get some practice in (they are notorious for showing off!) but I took it as a challenge to see if I could hold my own against the boys. I think I did pretty well. I managed crossovers on almost all the corners and kept at a relatively fast pace and it was good to get a proper skate in as I hadn't really felt like I'd had a good work out that session. When it came to cool-down stretching, I was out-of-breath, drenched in sweat, and feeling like I was going to throw up (although, in hindsight, I believe that may have been the stomach bug) and I had a chat with some of the other skaters to see how they felt about the new arrangement.

I think the new layout will work well. It's not that great yet in the Level 1 section as we've still got so many skaters but once that bottle neck is cleared, then I think it will be a good thing. It's good for the Level 2's as they get to practice more of their skills than constantly going back through the Level 1 skills. I'm not saying they shouldn't work on the Level 1 skills, practice makes perfect, but it just doesn't seem fair for them to be constantly working on the skills they are able to do and neglecting the ones they need to learn. It also isn't fair on the people who can't do those skills to have people who can take up their track space. I think the Men prefer it as it gives them space to practice the skills they need to work on as they have a different coaching structure to the ladies. Level 0 still get to keep their area at the bottom to work on skills and build confidence. It might have it's teething issues, it's bound to, and no-one likes change but, from what I remember, we had a little moan about the last time the practice structure was changed and we ended up loving that one!

*****

P.s. We also had our AGM that weekend where awards are given to the team skaters for "Best Blocker", "Most Valued Player", "Most Feared", etc. I was given a certificate for officiating, along with everyone else who had NSOd over the year, but was then surprised with the "Special Recognition Award"! They had brought it in this year to recognise people who had put in extra effort to the league. I think it was for this blog and my NSOing and the times I've helped out, but I was a little overwhelmed to listen properly! But I wanted to say yet another thank you to the Brawds for giving me that award and to just say that I do all of that because I love to. I love my league, I love roller derby, I love watching it grow and helping it grow and, afterwards, I just love writing about it! So, thank you, thank you, thank you!!

Week 37: Brawds Assemble!

So this week was my first training session with the Brawds in three weeks! It felt a bit weird to be back on the track, but a good kind of weird, like I'd just got home after being away for a while.

We started our usual warm up of squats on the whistle, knee taps on the whistle, a couple of speed laps and then stretching. I even got to demonstrate how I stretch my back (I don't do the happy/sad cat one, I do the lying on the floor and twist one - I don't know the names!) even though it was a lot more difficult to explain than demonstrate! We were told we were going to practice one foot glides, stops and crossovers, ending with our 20 in 5 endurance laps. We also had a kit check to explain what was needed of your kit when playing in a bout.

One foot glides weren't so bad. I can do my left one. My right ones are still a little iffy and I always seem to cut the apex, so I tightened my king-pins a little and that seemed to stop me from turning so sharply. Next was stops. My t-stops were pretty good, although I still keep turning to the right slightly. I know it's because my body is twisting to the right, so I need to work on that! Next was plough stops and, before we practiced, we were asked if we had any questions. I had to ask "How can you sit down and dig your heels in without falling over? Everytime I do that, I fall on my arse!" I was told I have to bend my knees more and get them over my toes, although everyone's stance is different so it might be different for me. I was then offered a little one-on-one session from one of the coaches. When she first started, she went through exactly the same thing as me. It took her 8 months to master plough stops and she kept getting so frustrated. This was a great comfort to me as it shows I'm not the only one! The one-on-one session was really helpful; we held onto the rail and got into a plough position so I could see how it felt. I then kept pushing my heel out so I could feel the friction from my wheels. After watching her do a few plough stops and hearing a few tips about where she puts the pressure in her feet, which leg she puts more weight on, etc, I gave it a go. I was only going slowly as we were at the bottom of the track so I couldn't pick up much speed, but I managed to stop...until I started rolling backwards - "If you're rolling backwards, you're in the right position! As when you plough stop you're rolling forward but you then almost try and change the direction while rolling, which then creates friction, causing you to stop!" Woohoo! I practiced it a few more times, and fellow skaters kept coming over to say how much better my plough stops were looking, so overall I was rather pleased (if still not convinced I can properly do them!)

Next was the 20 in 5. I always like doing 20 in 5s as it visibly measures progress by keeping track of your laps. (Although, you should never obsess over that number as it can cause many a heartbreak, as I mentioned in a previous post.) I was in group 3 so we had a nice little break before we got to start. I then lined up and prepared myself and was off! My crossovers have definitely improved over time so I was ready to try them out more. However, I don't know if it's because I'm on smaller, slimmer wheels, but I kept slipping on my crossovers and at one point I actually fell over, which has never happened to me during 20 in 5. I lay sprawled on my back for a second or two before realising that I should probably get up (along with encouragement from the onlookers) and managed to haul myself up and skate off the pain. One of my wives was also skating in the same group as me and, after a couple of minutes, I saw her come off the track. She'd recently been to the doctors about chest pains so I was concerned but assumed they were just playing up and she needed to rest. Next thing I hear is "Take a knee!" No! My wife! I got into a double knee slide and then instantly shuffled my way over to her. She was curled up into a ball, struggling to breathe, clutching at her chest. Fortunately, we have a few nurses in our league, so one was already on the case while another first-aid trained skater was trying to get her legs out straight.

From this moment on, it was action stations. One of the coaches looked after the rest of the skaters and directed them to the end of the track to stretch. Another one was already on the phone to the emergency services. The nurse was talking my wife through everything, trying to get her to slow her breathing, telling her to try and ignore the pain, getting her into a position that would make her more comfortable. Someone had taken off her skates, elbow pads, wrist guards and helmet. A coach had given me the objective to search her bag to see if there was any medication or information about her illness. There was nothing but her phone so I rang her partner to see if they knew anything. I de-kitted myself and then went over to see how she was doing. I felt a little useless and helpless, really. It was scary seeing one of my best friends in such a state. The other two skaters looking after her were taking care of it so, instead of looking on like a lost puppy, I decided to make myself useful. When the emergency services came, I decided I would go pick up her partner and drive us both to the hospital. I collected up her kit and packed it away. I put everything in my car for a speedy get away, but the emergency services seemed to be taking a while.

Meanwhile, unknown to me at the time, there were skaters outside in the car park. One was waiting, ready to flag down the ambulance when it arrived, another was helping to clear the car park so the ambulance could get through. Everyone was genuinely concerned and I promised to keep them updated as the situation developed. Fortunately, my wife was okay. The ambulance arrived and the paramedics did lots of tests, managed to calm her down, got her to sit in a chair and eventually walk out to the ambulance for an ECG. Her condition was, and currently still is, a bit of a medical mystery but there was no trip to the hospital and I got to take her home to her very concerned partner.

It was all a bit of blur, really, (I can't imagine what it must have been like for my wife) but what astounded us both was the amount of care and organisation the other skaters had. They were on it and took care of everything. It really made you realise that if you ever did injure yourself, you would be in seriously good hands. Afterwards, everyone posted in our facebook group their concern and their relief when they found out she was okay. There is so much love in our league, it's crazy. I'd like to think that all leagues are like that but at least I know that we're part of an amazing one.