Week 34: Level 1 Sign Offs - Take 4

So Sign Offs had come round again. As everyone now knows, I've been desperately trying to crack plough stops and this has also included a few wheel switches - I am currently skating on 6 x 88a Radars with 2 x Sweet n Lows as my pushers. In my head they seem to help, however, my head didn't help much on Sign Offs.

I only had two blocks left to pass before I could go up to Level 2. These blocks were stops (t-stop, plough stop, right & left foot glides) and 15 second balance & lateral hops. Now, I was pretty confident with t-stops, my one foot glides and my lateral hops. 15 second balance I was okay with if I focused but I knew it would take some divine intervention for me to get plough stops. I really wanted to pass at least one block, so I put my hopes on the balance and hops block.

The first block that came up was the stops. We started with balances but by the time I got on the track my legs were shaking so badly! I felt so confident when I arrived; calm yet ready to get on with it, however fear had creeped up in to my mind. Right foot glides were first, the first attempt I failed, the second I looked like I was going to cut the apex so I panicked and put my foot down, the third I did cut the apex. Bollocks. Left foot glides were fine. I could do them til the cows came home. Next, t-stops. I tried, I really tried. However, my legs were so shakey that I just couldn't. My body refused to turn, my wheels refused to stay down, at one point I even put my toe-stop down which I have never, ever done before! Crap. Finally, plough stops. I felt like I tried, but I knew I didn't. I was pretty pissed off and decided to turn in to that sulky skater. I lay down on my back, arms across my chest, eyes closed and didn't really acknowledge anyone.

I wasn't the only one who had let nerves get the better of me. One of my fellow skaters even burst into tears before she'd even started, and one of my wives is notorious for having slight panic attacks before Sign Offs and it got me thinking...why do we put so much pressure on ourselves?

Some people blame that doing it on the whistle is the problem. It catches you out and makes you panic. However, we've done drills of skills on the whistle and they've been fine. So I don't think it's that. It must be the fact that these are the ones that count. You can probably do the skills absolutely fine, but if you don't get them right today, if you slip up, make a mistake, then that might prevent you from passing the block. But why is that so important?

I think numbers play a big part. Numbers are always used as a ranking system. "The average time people take to get fully signed off is...months", "I have...blocks left to pass", "I need to get...laps in 5 minutes". These numbers get stuck in our head and if we don't reach them, then we're disappointed in ourselves. It's not uncommon to hear "I'm so annoyed. Yeah, I got a personal best, but I didn't pass the block" and I think that's sad. I've seen people cry over numbers. Hell, I've cried over numbers. But they shouldn't matter. I saw a quote recently that stuck with me:

"Some people quit due to slow progress. Never realising that slow progress...

....is progress."

And it's so true! 8 months ago, I started skating and ever so slowly I have improved. Some days I feel like I've hit a wall. Some days I do get really upset. But if I look back, I have improved. Before Christmas, I couldn't skate on one foot for a second let alone go round half the track on one foot! Before Christmas, I was convinced that I would be in level one forever and that I would never leave as I couldn't stop and I couldn't glide. But one day it clicked and now I can glide! So who knows what I might be able to do in the next six weeks? Even if I don't get it, that isn't the end all. I can just wait another six weeks and try again, and then another, and then another. This might not be true for all leagues and we might be lucky, but the fact is that you can just practice, practice, practice until you get it. No one is going to tell you to quit. You are the only one responsible for quitting and if you love it enough then you will put in that effort.

In the end, I passed one block - 15 second balance and lateral hops. In my notes, the things I had to improve on were plough stops, t-stops and right foot glides. I was very pleased and now I have a new goal, so I just need to practice but remember that goal is not the only rung on my ladder.

Week 33: The Ol' Wheel Switcheroo

So, revision week! The week in which we go through everything to see what we've mastered and what needs working on before sign offs. I knew my one huge weakness was plough stops. I cannot do them. Not even a little bit. I still just keep on rolling. I asked for advice from other skaters and my wheels kept coming up a lot. There was a little debate as to whether I needed softer or harder wheels (I'm currently skating on 92s) but I decided to try out the softer wheels first and swapped with a friend who was skating on 88s.

With the new wheels on, I hit the track only to find that everyone was queuing up behind cones instead of skating round. This was different. I skated up behind my wife "What's going on, wife?" "I don't know, wife...but stay with me." We were then told that our warm up was going to be a race. The race involved skating up to three separate cones, performing a skill, and then returning. All the while holding a kitten ball with a bell in it. The skills were one knee taps, double knee taps and then a plough or t-stop. The team who came last in the race had to do 10 push ups. We came last. We did the 10 push ups. My shoulders are still hurting from a dodgy one.

We then stretched and were told that we would attempt to cover everything and, bonus, we weren't going to be doing any squats! That's right! No squats! It's funny, though. You don't know what you've got til it's gone and I actually kind of missed the squats. But there was no time for reminiscing as it was time for weaving! Gah! The dreaded weaving! Surprisingly, I managed to get all but one cone on both times I went round. How good is that?! Ahhh, weaving! I haven't lost you after all!

Next was sticky feet. We all had to line up on the outside line and sticky feet round it like one giant pace line! It was great fun, although those 88s certainly made me work for it! The extra grippiness was working my thighs overtime - I bet the lady who I swapped with's thighs thought they were on holiday! The giant pace line then moved onto the track to practice track movement. On the whistle, we had to skate from the outside to the inside, and visa versa. There was an awful lot of us again, so there were a few close calls but that just made it even more fun!

Look how many there were of us!

Next on our whistle stop tour was 15 second balance. I did over balance a few times, put my toe-stop down, wobble a lot, and occasionally roll, but I managed to stay one foot for 15 seconds the majority of the time! Woohoo! 15 second balance - check! (I did however find out that the lady I swapped wheels with couldn't do it in my wheels. So it may have been my sticky wheels. I'm trying to be optimistic about it...) We then moved on to practice some lateral hops which I think went pretty well. So lateral hops - check!

Onwards, to 20 in 5! This seemed a little ambitious for a session that we had to fit all of the skills in, plus the one skill I so desperately wanted to practice hadn't come up yet. I was hoping for a one-on-one session with a team skater so I could see what I was doing wrong, but there were so many newbies at the bottom (yay!) that there was no room. That was fine. We would do stops. So I then tried to decide what to do about 20 in 5. Skaters who hadn't been signed off on it yet were going first, as was fair, so I had some time to think. The lady in my wheels was in love with them, so she wanted to see if they would help her with her endurance skating. I said it'd be interesting to see what I get in her wheels then, but she gave me a concerned look and told me that I probably shouldn't as they're stickier and would likely hinder my endurance thus disappointing me. I told her I'd been signed off on it already so it was out of curiosity and surely I should know if these wheels hinder my endurance - I had to know if I should buy a set. She still looked concerned and told me not to get my hopes up too much as I prepared myself for my 5 minutes on track. I managed to do more crossovers than I usually do, which is good, but I didn't know if that was slowing me down. My spotter was telling me my laps as I skated past "That's 6...that was 10....now on 14...." But I didn't know how many minutes had passed. Once I got to 20, I was expecting the whistle to go. It didn't. 21...22...23..and the whistle goes! 23 and a half I managed on the sticky wheels. A personal best! Woohoo! (Bizarrely, my wife who got the same laps as me last time also got 23 1/2. This inspired her to invent the word "wifestrating".)

Legs shaking and completely shattered, I got back up on the track for pace-line and pack work. Pace-line went well, as usual, as did pack work. I even got a few cheeky whips as I was recycling round the outside, it was fun but completely failed it's purpose as I ended up about 10 feet in front of the pack! We then tried a drill I'd never done before. We were in a pack and had to recycle, but then a coach would skate behind us and hold up a number of fingers. We then had to silently mirror it back to her while staying in the pack and recycling. I think the pack work disintegrated a little, but I'm sure we did well! We then moved on to focus for a bit and then stopped, ready for the next skill.

By this point, I had discovered it was now 9:15pm. Our sessions finish at 10pm and we've got fit in cooling down, stretching, and de-kitting in that time. We still hadn't practiced stops so I was starting to come down from my high after the 20 in 5. One of my fellow skaters asked if we could please practice stops, and we were told to get on track. T-stops were first which I can pretty much do, although I fall over a lot, and the new wheels took a while to get used to. Plough stops, there was no difference. I thought my legs were getting wider, but I was still just rolling to a stop. So with about 10 minutes of practicing that, where no improvement was made, we were told to have a cool down skate and start stretching. T-stops - semi-check! Plough stops - no hope in hell.

Needless to say, I was bummed out. I did like the stickier wheels and am considering buying a set as they were fun to skate on but they just didn't help with my plough stops. Looks like it's me, my ol' 92s and a tonne of practice before Sign Offs next week. Sigh.

Week 32: Fun & Games

So, unfortunately, there wasn't really any progress for this rookie skater this week. There may have even been some regression. But instead of moping about or getting angry (okay, I may have got a little frustrated), I ended up having a really fun training session!

After all the squats for warm ups again (gotta love those squats!) we were told that this week was 2 weeks away from sign-offs! Eeek! That made it the last week where we focused on a specific block which meant weaving, pace line, pack work, and focus.

Now, I've been signed off on weaving but today didn't help to prove that! I have no idea what's happened but the ability to weave seems to have been completely lost. Every time I went to go round those cones, I was terrified. I've always been scared of weaving. I think it's because I seem to put my weight on my heel when I turn so that makes me feel like I'm going to fall over. This then makes me even more scared because I don't want to end up impaling myself on a cone! I know that I can do it but I just can't! Maybe I put my trucks too tight when I changed my cushions? Oh, who knows?! I just know it's really frustrating...so I'm going to move on!

So, next was focus, which went really well. No more falling over when looking backwards! Pace line went well and pack-work was good fun although my favourite line seemed to be "pack is long!" As someone said, being able to plough stop might have been useful for control! Damn those pesky plough stops!
I love working in packs or pace-lines, as you get to to work in a team and that's what roller derby is all about. You get to use the skills you've learnt individually, in a group situation. You learn how each person skates, how they react, and you start to work in sync. Our coach said that when most people start working in packs it makes them go "This is it! This is the reason I'm here" and that it absolutely true!

At the end of the session, my wife ended up starting an impromptu game of tag during the cool down skate. It was actually really fun and it kind of took your mind of skating. So I could skate super fast round the track, without being scared of falling or slipping, and without the pressures of being under assessment. It was an excellent way to end the evening, even if it wasn't much of a cool-down!

So not much to report this week, just lots of fun! But, hey, Roller Derby is fun!

Week 31: Ever Upward

This weeks session was pretty hardcore! Well, for Level 1. I imagine it gets even more intense as you ascend the levels.
Our warm up was brutal. So many squats, knee-taps where we had to be up and off in three seconds (I did pretty well with that, though, so I was happy), derby stance, sticky feet. We got shouted at. A lot. "Keep going!", "You can get lower!", "One...two...three! Come on! You need to get up!", "This should be in derby stance so I don't know why you're popping up!" After the warm up, our coach for the evening announced "I'm a regimental bitch when it comes to coaching" You don't say?!

Every coach has a different approach to training and it had been a while since we'd had our asses whipped into shape. It turned out to be a very rewarding session.

It was week three so we were covering things like stepping, one foot balances, hopping, etc. We also covered crossovers as we didn't get to do that last week. With crossovers, we were told to think about pushing both legs, to get them really wide and keep pushing until we ran out of floor, etc. My crossovers got really wide, longer and more fluid doing this, which I was really proud of. For some reason, though, I'd kind of forgotten what they were. Well, I could do them on corners but on the straights I was trying to push my foot sideways without turning it or leaning so kept tripping myself up. It was very bizarre. The coach saw me doing crossovers but noticed I'd stopped doing them on the straight and told me I had to try and do a whole lap of just crossovers. She skated round with me and kept saying "Don't glide! Come on now!" Me retorting with a pathetic "But I can't!"..."Why can't you?"..."The corners are too sharp, the straight is too straight, it's too scary, I go to fast to keep up, [insert lame excuse here]" I was followed for about 4 laps, I must've cut track on the straights so many times, fellow skaters in the middle were cheering me on, but dammit, I tried my best! Afterwards, I was told that my goal was to do crossovers for a whole lap. I'll be damned if I don't do it! (It only feels like yesterday that I was writing about not even being able to do them!)

The next few skills brought me down to a bit of a low. Stepping wasn't too bad. I can step, I've been signed off on it. But I swear the floor at our practice rink is so awful that's it really hit and miss whether you're going to find a level surface. The floor is wonky, bumpy, holey, and just generally drunk. So when I couldn't stop rolling or just wouldn't move, I couldn't decide whether it was the floor or whether I was just making excuses. It was very frustrating. We even tried grapevine stepping, a way of getting us to see what crossovers would feel like. It was terrifying. Crossing a leg behind wasn't too bad, but crossing a leg over the front was really scary! We then tried 15 second balance, which I failed miserably at. I have no idea why I can't get it. But I just can't! So by the end of this, I was fed up. I just felt like the evening had come to an end. After trying our one lap in 15 seconds (which I tried twice and didn't make), I just felt like kicking off my skates and going home. It might sound like I was over reacting but I think we all get it at some point. Just that feeling where all motivation has gone.

 

We managed to get through everything scheduled for the session quite quickly, which meant that we could have another go at our 20 in 5, now that we had properly gone over crossovers. I kept track of laps for one of my derby wives. It was her first time at trying it but she did amazingly and got 21 & 3/4 laps! I was so proud of her! I was in the last group to try. I was hoping for 20 again. I knew I'd be gutted if I got less than 20, but it was the end of the session and I was feeling pretty fed up. I tried crossovers and I'm sure I got a few in, but they certainly weren't for a whole lap. If I had done them, maybe my legs wouldn't have been so sore at the end! Anyway, it turns out I got 21 & 3/4! A personal best and exactly the same as my wife! It was a very good way to end the session and boosted my mood considerably!

Sometimes, you just can't help but feel disappointed with yourself. Be patient, you'll get there, celebrate small victories, and just look at how far you've come!

My 4th(ish) NSO Role & International Incident!

Well! I was very fortunate this weekend as I got to NSO at my first ever international event! There were two bouts and I got to NSO for both.

The first bout was a ladies' bout and it was between Kid Block's Welsh Team and Kitty Decapitate's English Team. I did get a little overwhelmed as these were some of the best skaters the countries could offer and included; Kid Block, Kitty Decapitate, Stef Mainey, Goregasm, Boba Fettish, etc. But I put my game face on and got on with the task at hand, which, for this bout, was Line-Up Tracking. (I may have given Stef Mainey an awkward cheesy grin as she skated past me at half time!)

The HNSO who asked me to officiate at this bout had said that they were looking for "international standard" NSOs and I can understand why. It is the same job but it is upped a level. The skaters are faster, harder, better and the game seems way more intense. Normally with line-up tracking, if I can't see a number on the pivot line, then I will find it as they're skating round. But the packs move a lot faster, the skaters are recycling more, they're never in the same place! They certainly keep you on your toes and that just makes it even more fun!

Photo taken by Christopher Yarrow

My next role was Penalty Box Timing for the men's game and my chance at a new skill. I have done penalty box timing before, using a stop watch per blocker but I got to use a different technique this time! One stop watch plus paperwork. This might be normal practice to some people reading this but it was completely alien to me and the rest of my league. I got a chance to practice it at a scrimmage but the team were being really good and I didn't get too many players in the box! Essentially, you have one stop watch per penalty box timer, including the manager, but just the two timers have a clipboard with paperwork. When a skater comes in the box you have to start timing the minute, then write on the paperwork the jam number, the player's colour, their number, position and then the time you start the stopwatch, what time they have to stand and what time they're done e.g. If Red 52 came into the box during the 5th jam then it would be: Jam 5, Red, 52, B (for blocker), 0, 50, 60.
Now, that's easy enough. It starts getting more complicated when another blocker comes in. You have to look at the time it says on your stopwatch when they sit down, take that as your start number and then do some quick maths to work out their stand and done times. E.g. Red 903 comes in while Red 52 is still in the box. Red 52 has sat 36 seconds. Your paperwork would look like: Jam 5, Red, 903, B, 36, 1:26, 1:36.
It gets even more complicated if there are three blockers in the box, especially if it's a constant, fast paced, penalty heavy game. Furthermore, you have to fill in the paperwork for your jammer and remember to get the times off the penalty box manager.
I did happen to be timing quite a penalty heavy game and the box wasn't empty for long, so they definitely kept me on my toes! I thoroughly enjoyed it, though, as I like keep busy and I love a challenge. I did have to scrawl an apology on the side of my paperwork where I lost count of the jams during a very busy period, but I really did love it. (Especially as one forum I read says this technique will make you "the bad-ass of the penalty box" Yeahhhhh!)

Photo taken by Christopher Yarrow
(You can just see me being a bad-ass between Shref and 33)

Overall, I had a fantastic time. Everyone was lovely, I got to work with some of my favourite officials, I met some wonderful new ones, and my vegan cookies went down very well! I was a little sad that I didn't get much time to properly browse the merch stalls and to talk to some of the skaters manning them, but I did manage to pick up some goodies during half time.

Week 30: SQUATS!

This seemed to be the theme of this week's session and, boy, were there lots of them!

Our warm up was squats on the whistle, then normal skating, then more squats on the whistle, then another break, then more squats, then derby stance, it felt like it was never going to end and my thighs were very unforgiving! In fact, I did have to come off the track as my poor left leg was starting to hurt. However, after all these squats, a lot of progress was made! Derby shows you that squats are magical things. If you have a real issue with squats then derby may not be for you. Believe me, you do a lot of them and they work absolute wonders!

From: http://activateapparel.storenvy.com/

 After all the squats, we moved on to one-foot glides. A derby nemesis of mine! Gliding along the straight of track wasn't so bad. I could do it for a little while on both feet but it seemed to be easier on my left. With a little more practice, I managed to go round a bit of a corner on my left foot! It was scary. Shifting all your weight and then leaning even further over makes you feel like you're just going to stack it. You won't though! It makes you turn to go round the corner! Who would've thought that?!

We then moved on to stops. Another nemesis! We skated round and practised t-stops. Now, I must admit, I am getting better at them. I do stop. But they are pretty shaky and I can't stay straight. But, hey, at least I stop! We then practised the pushing drill with plough stops. This is where one person gets into the plough stop position while someone pushes them. They keep adjusting their weight and feet until they can't be pushed any further! I never got to practice this as it was halted due to an unfortunate fall by a fellow skater but I got to go practice them at the end of the track, in the newbie area, as the next drill was 20 in 5 and I knew there was going to be a bit of a wait.

My plough stops started to improve while I was practising. It seems that I'm a leftie when it comes to them (I use my left leg more than my right) which I never would have guessed as my right leg always seems to to all the work! But I seemed to be able to get my left foot at the right angle to cause enough friction to stop. Now, if my right leg would at least stop with it, we'd be fine!
I was glad to get the left leg working though as I'd never been able to feel this elusive friction everyone talked about so now I know how it is meant to feel in my feet. Hopefully that will help to nail those pesky plough stops!

I never got to do my 20 in 5 as I was too busy practising my plough stops and talking to a new lady at the bottom of the track (It was her second week and she'd was getting used to some bad-ass new skates! She found them a bit too wheely to begin with and almost went back to crappy hire skates, but we managed to convince her otherwise and she thanked us for it at the end - everyone finds new skates weird. You just need to keep going and you'll get used to them!) I was a little gutted I didn't get to try my 20 in 5 again as loads of people managed to smash their personal bests and I would loved to have seen if I could beat my 20 and a half!

We then went back on the track for a cool down skate which involved a game! Yay! We had 4 whistle signals and each one was a different skill (one whistle - t-stop, two whistles - plough stop, three whistles - right foot glide, one long whistle - left foot glides.) My ploughs occasionally worked although that may have been just rolling to a stop, my t-stops were never straight and my right foot glides were pitiful but I only went and did almost half of the track on my left foot didn't I?! A corner and part of the straight! Woohoo!


I never, never, never thought there would be a day when I could do one foot glides.So we all know what the moral of this story is? Do more squats. Do all the squats!

Week 29: 2014 - The Year of Derby

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a good one and I hope 2014 is an awesome year for you all!

Personally, I've had a three week break from skating and I've had a damn cold since Christmas Day so I haven't even been working out. This meant that my first week back at Derby was going to be a tough one! It actually wasn't as bad as I was expecting!

It might have been the adrenaline. I was so excited for practice. I'd NSOd at a derby game the day before which always gets me psyched up for practice as I just want to be on skates! Furthermore, me and the Wife had been watching Estro Jen videos for about an hour or so before practice and we were uncontrollably excited. Seriously, this video never fails to get me in the mood for skating:

This woman is absolutely amazing and is definitely one of my Derby idols!

By the time I got to derby practice, I was all "Yeah! Lets do this!" There was just one flaw in my go-get-em attitude: I hadn't been on skates for three weeks. I was a little shaky to begin with and I didn't dare pick my feet up for crossovers. But I soon got back into the swing of it. Maybe it's just like riding a bike? I must say, no matter how long I've been off skates for, I've never forgotten how to skate. I sometimes find it hard to believe that once I couldn't even move on skates! I'm hoping that now I've learnt it, the basic skill will be something that stays with me for the rest of my life.

This week's practice was Week 1 in the rotation so it was back to the basics - skating stride, track movement, derby stance, and falls/taps. There was an awful lot of us on the track this week so it was a bit crowded but this kind of made it fun. Track movement was especially fun and we had to start on either the outside or inside line and then, on the whistle, move to the opposite side. With so many, it meant for some very close calls and it was great to have to weave round people which I imagine is how it is like in a bout. We even played a game! We had the "Jammer, Pivot, Block, Referee" game, where each fall/tap is associated with word and when that word is shouted, we have to perform the corresponding fall. Left knee taps are my nemesis and still don't seem to click properly in my brain, which caused me to land on my bum instead of my knee at one point! I definitely pushed myself though, I tried to recover as quick as I could and I had this massive urge to learn toe stop runs (which I fear) in order to help me pick up speed when coming out of a tap. This is a big deal to me as I was terrified of toe stop runs to the point that I was convinced I would have to make do without them! I am now planning on getting fully padded up and swanning about on the living room carpet, practising them!

We even had some new learning methods to try. One of them was one footed sticky feet, in order to get used to what each foot does. Right footed sticky feet isn't so bad! I could quite happily leave my left foot alone while the right foot did all the work. This is usually how I go around corners if I'm not doing crossovers. However, left footed sticky feet is very weird! My left leg really didn't like that fact that it had to do all the work for once and it was very alien for the first few laps, corners completely baffling me!
The other skill we learnt was weaving through a pace line! Now, you're all well aware that I really do hate weaving and I was really not looking forward to my turn! Surely weaving through moving targets has got to be harder, right? Plus the fact that if you catch a cone with your wheel it just moves, if you catch your wheel on another person's wheel that could be disastrous! Funnily enough, though, it was a lot easier! I may have missed a couple of people but I actually thoroughly enjoyed it and found it a lot easier than weaving through cones! Who would've thunk it?!

2014 is definitely going to be my year! On average, it apparently takes people 18 months to be completely signed off. That means that by the end of 2014 I should be signed off, or almost there! (Although, I'd be happy if I could just stop by the end of the year!)
If you're still considering taking up Roller Derby, I fully encourage you to! If you look back to my first week, I couldn't move on skates, was absolutely terrified, and was toying with the idea of completely giving up. However, I stuck it out and now Derby is a huge part of my life.
You shouldn't even need to worry about buying kit as most leagues tend to have kit you can borrow and, if they practice at a skating rink like us, then they should have skates for you to hire.
If your New Years resolution was to try something new, then why not try Derby?