Week 8: Time To Play With The Big Kids

This week, we were greeted with a "Right! Put on all your gear, except your skates, and make your way on to the track". Here, we were asked to draw a 6 with one foot while drawing a circle with one arm. It was tricky. "That's what Roller Derby is like. Now go put on your skates!" An interesting start to the evening! But our coach was essentially saying that you've always got to be doing two different skills at once and it's always easier if you try and break it down. This actually made sense and that was the theme this evening took. We also had a kit check. I was told off about how thin my knee pads were but, fortunately, my new ones (Smith Scabs - Psycho) arrived this week! Yay!

This week was also a change as I decided it was time to move on to the track with everyone else! There were no other newbies to head over to the other part of the rink with, so I had nothing to encourage me to go over there and I knew I had to go on the track at some point. My first fear was that there was no bar at either end as there was no end. So where, in a 10 minute warm up, I would skate to one end, stop, then skate again, stop, etc, this was 10 minutes of continuos skating. In a boiling hot skating rink. I thought I was going to die.

We began the session with taps (were falls, but are now called taps with the new WFTDA rules) which I can do amazing well on my right knee now! I can go down and pop back up almost instantly. My left knee, not so much. We then moved on to stops. T-stops scared me but Plough stops encouraged me to go faster. We were told to skate as fast as we could and then try and stop. I could't stop. But I damn well tried! And I was given a "Nice! Well done!" by our coach which made me smile! 

The only issue I had was corners. I'd spent my last 7 weeks skating in a straight line so I was very clumsy when it came to corners, more stepping around them than skating. Especially as I can't do crossovers yet or sticky-feet!

I left feeling pleased that I'd moved over on to the track and discovered it wasn't as scary as I had thought! We've been told that next week we're starting with 25 in 5. This means 25 laps of the track in 5 minutes. It sounds terrifying. Wish me luck! 

Week 7: The Times They Are A Changing

During sign-offs last weeks, there was a little confusion as to some skills and some people hadn't been taught some even though they'd been along to the last 6 weeks. This meant that something needed to be done so people were being taught everything they needed to know. This meant they had to bring in the big guns.

The big guns, or I should say gun, was the founder of my skating team. She was my all-time roller derby idol. I'd seen her in bouts and had been in awe at how quick and talented she was at skating. It's like she had been born in roller skates. She had come in to write a whole new training programme which also coincided with the new WFTDA (Women's Flat Track Derby Association) rules. We were going to be taught everything we needed to know to pass our minimum skills with flying colours. This as reassuring and uplifting. But also kind of scary. Our coach was very intense. She lives and breathes roller derby and she wasn't afraid to push us.

So after some warm ups and stretches, me and my friend headed back over to the newbie area. Our coach for that area, called us back over. "Just listen to what she has to say and then we can go over there and practice". This sounded okay, until I realised I wasn't good at standing on skates without the rail. My legs started to shake. Right! Knee fall! I was going to stay here until we had to go and practice. I think I might need to work on standing! 

The evening's sessions took the pattern of each skill being explained and demonstrated extensively and then we were given time to practice it. I loved the fact that each skill was explained. It helped so much as you could then focus exactly where you were putting your weight, your posture, etc. However, we were only given about 10 minutes to practice, which didn't seem enough to me. With my other sessions, I've been given more of a free rein to practice what I want for as long as I want. So, this week, I didn't feel I had enough time to truly practice the skills. What made it worse was that I had to sit out for about 20 minutes at one point! I have a respiratory allergy but haven't been told the cause yet and, unfortunately, I had a flare up where I was having a hard time catching my breath. Whether it was the sweltering temperatures in the rink or whether it was because the staff were painting the lockers(!), I had to go sit outside. I spent ages trying to catch my breath and couldn't for a while, but I knew I had to go back in and skate! Unfortunately, by the time I got in, we practised falls and then that was it.

My friends who had moved to the track were buzzing. They'd loved all the tuition and couldn't wait until next week. I, however, felt a little bit let down. I was expecting a lot, but had hardly felt like I'd skated at all! For the rest of the week, I was craving getting back on to my skates but never had the opportunity. 

Week 6: Sign Offs

This week it was sign offs. This is where aspiring skaters get marked on basic derby skills, today was Level 1 & 2. These mainly include derby stance, falling, stepping, weaving, cross overs, etc. And they are every six weeks. Now, I've been every six weeks but I still didn't feel like I was confident enough to do these. It was around the track too and that was scary enough as I was still relying on the safety of the bar at either end - I can't stop otherwise!

My friends who I go with decided they were going to give it a try and the team members were encouraging everyone to try it but I still wasn't convinced so I decided to stay at the other end and just practice.

At the beginning of the session, there was another lady who hadn't been for a while and was a bit unsteady on her skates. I instantly sympathised as I knew exactly what she was going through so I decided to slowly skate up and down with her while she got her confidence back. I wasn't trying to be cocky and thinking "Oh yeah, I've been there but now I'm awesome", it was the fact that I knew exactly how she felt and I found it comforting when I had people skating with me. It makes you feel like you're not alone. So, after everyone went to go for sign offs, we spent the session skating up and down. We both gained confidence as the session went on and by the end we were having great fun! The lady's merby boyfriend also came over occasionally to have a chat and to help us practice, which was nice and there was always a team member on hand to give us tips and to help us perfect what we were practising,

Part of me was regretting not trying out for the sign offs but, when my friends returned they seemed a little disheartened and felt like they'd done really badly. I knew, of course, that they hadn't! I kept looking over and admiring how well they were doing. But everyone is always self critical. However, I was buzzing from my session. I'd got my falls down (no pun intended!) and was beginning to get the hang of stops. I felt like I could've pushed myself a bit more but I knew I could do that next week! I knew that by the next sign offs, I'd be ready to try them.

Week 5: A Little "Me" Time

So hey! I'm finally up-to-date with my posts! I am now writing about the week I have just done! I hope you've enjoyed reading them so far and I hope I've helped the newbies out there, who started off exactly as I did, the confidence to keep going! If you love it as much as I do, you won't want to quit!

So this week I didn't get the chance to practice with my Mum again, but that was the least of my worries. Up until now, I have always gone to Derby practice with friends. It's good moral support and it makes it more fun. However, this week, none of my friends could make it! Eeek! The first issue on my mind was "What if I hurt myself and I have to drive myself home?!" until it occured to me that I drive myself home anyway! "What if I hurt myself and no one helps me?!" until I remebered that there is always someone with a First Aid Kit there! I was running out of excuses, so I took a deep breath and headed to the skating rink without trying to think about it.

A group of ladies were standing outside the rink waiting to go in. All of them were better skaters than me, some of them my Roller Derby idols as I'd seen and cheered them on at bouts. It was quite intimidating. I shyly stood at the edge of the group and waited to go in. "I love your skates!" said one of the girls "They're just so pretty!" This made me smile. "Thanks, I do rather love them!" The ice had been broken. I felt a lot more comfortable and joined in with other conversations. My anxiety levels subsided. This is another thing about my roller derby team. I've heard about some teams being quite cliquey and the more experienced skaters can be quite elitist, but ours are so lovely! You always feel part of the team no matter how well you can skate. Everyone is super friendly and will always talk to you and try to help you out. It's like one big family!

I put my skates on and decided I'd watch other people warm up before I felt like I wanted to skate. Everyone moved on to the centre of the track so I decided to skate up and down the side by myself. It was nice because I could just concentrate on what I was doing but I did hear some sweet comments from the center such as "Awh, I didn't want to leave her!" which some may find patronising, but I found nice as it shows they care.

After the warm up, I skated to the middle for stretches and then headed back over to the newbie area. It turned out that I was the only one this week. What used to be a group of six of seven had been reduced to one. One of the skaters I knew told me that, if I was happy with it, I could stay over here and she would help run through the skills with me. First, we started with the basic Derby Stance. We practised skating up and down in Derby Stance until I got used to it. Next, we did falls. I was told to mix it up a bit and try all three falls - single knee, double knee and 4-point. Most of these I was comfortable with, except falling on my left knee. So I was able to practice that until it seemed to click. Next, 180-knee turns. I had tried these before and I gave them a quick go, but I was too scared to skate fast enough to get enough momentum so we then moved onto stops. I'd never tried any of the stops, but I remembered being told about my wheels preventing me from doing certain things and was convinced stops would be one of them. I mentioned this to my coach who called over a skater with the same skates and wheels as myself. She said that she could stop just fine. It took more work as the wheels were more slippery, but she could do it. This meant that if I could do it on my wheels, I might find it even easier on indoor wheels. This was reassuring!

The thing I loved about my one-on-one session was that the coach could really help me with what I was doing. In usual sessions, the skills are demonstrated, practiced for a little while but then it moves on to another quite quickly. This week, I could practice one skill for as long as I wanted and the coach was able to watch my feet the whole time so she could then tell me what I was doing right and what I could improve. For example, with T-stops I was told "You got the position perfect that time!" or "Ah, you're putting your pressure on the middle two wheels. You can use the front two, or all four, but the middle two cause cause you to break your ankle if you put too much pressure on it and fall", etc.

I think this week really helped me improve my skills! I did fall over backwards again, but this time I knew to fall on my bum rather than my coccyx and managed to get up, if in pain, but not in agony, and carry on skating! And, what's more, I'm getting more and more confident on my skates. I love it!

My Name & Number!

You may have noticed, the Roller Derby Skaters tend to have awesome names. Most are puns based on the skater's name and something violent or skating related. To see the list of all registered names visit Two Evils.

Ever since I saw my first ever Roller Derby game, I wondered what my skater name would be. I'd been through a few, most of them terrible, until one day, I was bought an album for my birthday. This album was Hugh Laurie's new album - Didn't It Rain. It's an amazing mix of blues and jazz and I loved it! Then it struck me! My favourite song would be a perfect Derby name - Wild Honey!

Now I had to decide on a number. I originally wanted 9 3/4 but decided that, as my name had no Harry Potter references, it didn't really work. So I decided on 18. It's one of my favourite numbers and it happens to be the day of my birthday.

However, when I was at my last NSO game, I started to look at everyone elses numbers and it suddenly came to me! I had completely over looked a very obvious number. A number relating to one of my all-time bands, Blink-182.

So, that's it. It's been decided and I am getting my t-shirt printed. I am:

Wild Honey

#182

 (I just need to get permission from  lady in the USA who is "Wlyde Honey" before I can register it on Two Evils. But I can still use this name in my team!)

And for now, here's the song that inspired my name:

My 2nd NSO Role: Penalty Timer

So this week, I also NSO at a public scrim. It was on Independence Day and a Merby team, formed from members of a nearby US Army base, decided to hold a mixed team scrimmage. A scrimmage is a casual game of Roller Derby, usually played by members of the same team but divided into two teams. It's a friendly game and the rules usually are a little more casual.

I'd accepted this NSO role the day before the game and I had offered to be a Line-up Tracker like I was in my previous NSO role. However, I was given the position of penalty timer. I read up on the role beforehand and it seemed awfully complicated! Especially concerning Jammers!

I got to the venue and was introduced to the Head NSO and my other Penalty Timer and was told that the Penalty Box Manager would be along shortly. I was given a sheet of instructions ("We're not doing the paperwork for this, so it should be quite easy") and two stopwatches. Without the paperwork, and the fact I was only concerned with the blockers, my role seemed pretty easy! I just had to time a minute when someone entered the penalty box and remember to tell them to stand at 50 seconds and that they were done at 60 seconds.

My Penalty Box Manager arrived and, lo-and-behold, it was the Head NSO from the previous bout I had NSOd at. This was reassuring and I knew I was in safe-hands as she helped me out a lot at the last game.

We headed to the Penalty Box and, although I was nervous to begin with, I got into the swing of things and we even started having a laugh with the players who were sent off and told stories and ate Sour Cherries. Yum! I must stress, though, that this probably wouldn't happen at a proper bout. NSOs are meant to be quite serious and straight faced but, as this was a scrim, we were allowed to relax.

The game ended and everyone was even given certifcates to thank them for their participation, which was lovely! I was offered a dairy-free cookie by one of the skaters, which I happily took and scoffed down (it was delicious!) and made me way home in high spirits. My second NSO role had gone exceedingly well and I started to consider what it would be like to travel all around the world NSOing.