Week 13: A Brave New World

Now, I said that I was going to wait until I got derby skates and that I was going to wait until the first week of the next rotation, before I properly started on the main track.
This week, those two things had come around so it was time to keep my promise to myself and get on that track!

It was quite scary. Mainly, because my new wheels had finally arrived (after the cock up with my other ones) but I hadn't tried them out. Well, I'd tried them on my kitchen floor but it's very slippy and slightly uneven, so it wasn't particularly successful. So I was expecting to land straight on my bum as it was something new. However, I didn't! I had a quick skate up and down the end of the rink and then made my way on to the track for warm ups. They were grippy but not too grippy, speedy but not too speedy, and sticky feet was easy! I was originally concerned about trucks being too tight as when I tried sticky feet on the Thursday, in the rubbish wheels, I found it quite hard. Now, it was obvious there wasn't anything with my trucks! (I think I mean trucks. I'm completely rubbish at that kind of technical stuff!)

A few remarks were made about my shiny new skates and wheels (and that my shiny white wheels were certainly not going to stay white for long!) and I heard from a few of the team members that they were pleased to see me on the track, which made me feel even better about my decision to move on to there.
I'm not entirely sure why I was scared, though. It was week one, so it was basics, which I had done time and time again; derby stance, skating stride, falls/taps, etc.
Our first task was skating stride and to think about what edges we use on our skates, and so on. We were then paired with a more experienced skater so we could watch how they skate and they could watch us and then tell us what we were doing right and what we could work on. I was paired up with a signed-off skater but then was called over "Honey, who are you with?.....Right, well can you guys split up and pair with one of the new people" Eeee! Did this mean I was actually doing something right?! I was asked to help someone with their skating stance when 13 weeks ago I couldn't even move on skates! I know it's not that impressive, but it was like someone had given me a big gold shiny star!

The rest of the evening I was super confident. I pushed myself with the taps, trying to get back up as quick as I could. I even got a comment of "It's amazing to see how quick you get back up now!". I got as low as I could with my derby stance. So low in fact, that after the 5 minutes or so of practising, I thought I was going to throw-up! At the end of the night, I was buzzing! I felt so good! I'd been on the big track, it was full of people - experienced and new, and it was amazing! Not scary! Go Fresh Meat!

Oooo, and may we take a moment to admire my shiny new skates:

(For those who are interested, they are Riedell R3s with 92a Rollerbones wheels and Gumball toe stops. Oh and a layer of Zebra Duct Tape to protect the toes from scuffing.)