#derby update

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Bouted for the very first time!

So last Saturday (October 8th, 2016) I had my first ever roller derby bout with my home team the Black Cats. And needless to say, it was the most amazing experience ever!

The night before the bout, I was so nervous and excited that I had to put on my go-to chill album, Ray of Light, in order to get to sleep!! The nerves continued the next day, when I had a hard time keeping down my lunch.

After a brief photoshoot for my league’s website, it was time for the bout! I was one of three skaters making their debut at this bout, with one other debuting skater on my team, and the other on the opposing team, the Snowy Owls. Both of the debuting skaters for the Black Cats (including me) were put on as low-rotation blockers. In scrimmage, I usually try to play a mix of blocking and jamming in scrimmages (rarely ever pivoting), although in the bout I pivoted once (not that my jammer needed it).

Though I wasn't in the first couple of lineups, by a few jams in I felt pretty settled and actually managed to feel calm on the track working with my teammates. The opposing team took an early lead but by half time, the Cats narrowed down the margin to 5 points (we were trailing). About halfway through the second half, two of the opposing teams' skaters fouled out and there were some moments where my teammates and I were really successfully holding the opposing jammer. When you hear that jammer say "I can't", you know you're on top of your game. The score was reasonably close all the way through until the last 5-10 minutes of the game, where the Cats broke away to end up victorious by a 23-point margin. We won! There were group hugs all round and one of my teammates literally lifted me up off the ground in excitement!! ^^

Post-bout I was so overcome with emotions that I felt really overwhelmed but so so happy. I wanted to cry tears of joy but my body wouldn’t let me. It was honestly the best debut bout experience that I could have asked for. And home bouts are like scrimmages but way more fun! 

Also I found out I’m making the journey to Bendigo for the Bendigo Rebellion as a bouting skater! So much excitement!! Can’t wait for more bouting action!

Do you remember your first bout? What was it like for you? If you haven’t had it yet, what do you hope it will be like? 

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Scrimmage update

It’s been a while (like literally months) since I’ve done one of these so here ya go! 

Getting used to full-contact scrimmages, being a bouting skater, and all the challenges that come with it has really been something! I can’t even find the words to describe it accurately. It’s been challenging at times and I’ve really had to step up to the plate...er...jam line? but I feel like I’m growing more and more as a skater and as a person. I went on an outdoor skate nearly 2 weeks ago with the crew I usually outdoor skate with, and some of them commented on how much I’d improved since I last skated with them a few months earlier. As I was skating on that run, I thought to myself - either this run has become easier to skate or I’ve become better at skating. Probably both - the run became easier because I got better at skating. Knowing that I’ve improved skills-wise has been a real confidence booster for me. I hope to keep improving, but sometimes I need to remind myself that improving can take a lot of time and practice.

That being said, I feel really good about myself and my performance tonight at scrimmage even though I only got to jam twice and had to rest a fair bit because my ankle kept screaming at me in the second half. I’m starting to really get the hang of blocking and I felt like I was working with my teammates really well tonight - and as a result, blocking really effectively. I no longer feel completely useless on track. I somehow avoided penalties too and got lead in the one jam I was in in the second half! I had quite a few scoring passes but had to call it off because of a particularly crunchy fall I had. Ah well, I’m ok and not injured which is good :)

I hope the home bout goes well!! GO BLACK CATS!!! :D 

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Fully contacted for the very first time

Last night I had my first green (full contact) scrimmage. To be honest it didn't feel that much different from the first half which was an amber level ("""light""" contact) scrimmage. I felt like a human punching (well, hitting) bag and also kinda useless. But there were still times I did ok, like the time I did nice footwork on the inside line as a jammer, the times I nailed my star passes (giving and receiving), and the time I helped hold the opposing jammer back long enough for our jammer to get lead. One of the highlights for the night was getting knocked over, somehow it ended up as a pile up (well they don't call me MaDownHer for nothing!) even though I was sure I fell fairly small, I had the biggest skater in the league fall on top of me (who is approximately twice as heavy as me), but she just rolled off my back and the only harm I came to as a result of that incident was that I had a sharp pain in my knee for the rest of the jam (and a nice little bruise to prove it happened). I know that the main goal for me personally at the moment is to try and improve my teamwork and be a better teammate. Last night, I felt that I achieved it in some ways but there were times when I didn't feel as connected with my teammates on track. It's still my goal! It will be one of my ongoing goals. Apart from working on my jamming and blocking skills. Skates' session helped a fair bit with that tonight. And thanks to her I have another nice tool in my arsenal which I love that will hopefully help me be more effective as a jammer. Apologies for the infrequent updates, a lot of the skills sessions that I will now be doing involve strategies for our team so my lips are always sealed! I'm not eligible for any of the August bouts, but I will hopefully make my bouting debut at my league's next home team bout. I can't wait to find out which of the home teams will draft me! Will I be a black cat or a snowy owl? Stay tuned to find out! On the plus side, I have a sparkly helmet in the post (note: not the same helmet that I've been waiting on for over 3 months now), potential new toe guards (once I can decide on a design), hopefully a fancy new SISU mouthguard as of Wednesday, and I will hopefully be ordering custom helmet stickers very soon!

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Purple Star!

So I passed my physical Purple Star test!!!! Now I need to pass my written test and I can participate in full-contact scrimmages! I'm pretty stoked at the results so far, to say the least, and I can't wait to make my bouting debut soon! Thanks to everyone who helped me get this far 💜

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Waiting

For test results. Just waiting…

With bated breath.

Yesterday and tonight I had my Purple Star test and hopefully by this time tomorrow I will find out if I passed my minimum skills* and get to be a bouting skater! I’m kinda nervous about the results, but as nervous as I am, I think I gave it my best shot. If it turns out I failed the test, I can use the feedback to improve and kick the test’s butt next time.

It’s strange, looking back at my progress so far and seeing how far I’ve come. A year ago, I had done only a few weeks of fresh meat training and had just bought my first pair of derby skates. Even when I look back to the last time I tested (for Yellow Star), I remember how much more terrible I felt after the test but I ended up passing. And also how stressed I was to perform at my best.

Even seeing my mindset change from the last test to this test has been interesting. I feel like I’m approaching things in a much healthier way than I used to. I can only hope these results will be good ones. Fingers crossed!

*in my league the minimum skills are broken up across the three physical tests you need to pass to get to bouting level, and some other stuff is thrown in the tests too.

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Guest Scrim!

Last night (or tonight, depending on how you view time), I went to a guest scrimmage with Diamond Valley and it was awesome! After a couple of sadly fruitless jams as a jammer, I managed to turn it around in the last jam and score 10 points+ in the final jam before going to the bin and sadly losing lead. I was still pretty proud of how I jammed and blocked, especially when one of the bouting level skaters from the opposing team came up to me afterwards and said "YOU! You got down really low and put your shoulder in my gut and knocked the wind out of me! It hurt but it was really effective! Well done!" And now I'm really happy for several reasons 1. That was the best compliment for my (offensive) blocking that I have ever received so far so it made me really happy (THANK YOU!) 2. Everyone was really nice, especially their newer skaters at amber level (aww so enthusiastic!) 3. It is now my birthday where I am! 😊🎉🎂 for other time zones the date hasn't rolled over yet (unless you're in NZ or something) but it will soon! Apologies for the lack of training updates, I've had to keep my lips sealed! 🤐 some of it (after party outfit) is entirely voluntary because I want it to be a surprise, other stuff (what my league has been working on) is for strategic reasons. Thank you very much to Diamond Valley for a wonderful open scrimmage! I had a blast! 😊

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Shaina!

That's right. Tonight, my derby league was coached by the one and only Shaina Serelson (of VRDL, formerly of Rose City). I'm not going to say very much at all about what she taught us because it's TOP SECRET. 🤐🤐🤐 Yes. All caps and emoji are necessary. All I can say tonight is 2 things: 1. I was really happy with the way I jammed tonight and one of my league's coaches compared me to one of my league's top jammers inadvertently (awww thank you!!) so that made me smile for days :D 2. At the end of the session, Shaina got us to pair up and discuss things we found challenging tonight, and then things we were good at tonight, period. It felt kinda weird typing that because we Aussies say "full stop" instead but hey. The main point was to be unapologetic about things we did well because "as women we tend to talk about things that we found challenging but then overcame" and either qualify our successes or be shrinking violets and shy away from them. And then there's Tall Poppy Syndrome and people cutting other people down when they do something well. To have someone who I look up to a lot in the derby world reaffirm the Unapologetic Bitch philosophy really made me feel good about myself and reinforced that the values that I try to uphold are justified. Especially at times when I feel like I'm made to second-guess myself, which is a lot (especially when you're a woman, and also especially when you have a mental illness that revolves around self-doubt). And to that I say, thank you so much Shaina, you rock! Fuck fuck fuck yeah!

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!!!!!!!! (The Post Formerly Known As)

This post was titled in this way because not only is it a Prince/Regurgitator (if you don’t know who they are check them out for some sweet Aussie tunes) reference, but because of the sheer amount of exclamation marks I used in this post (!!!)

I just felt so good after Monday night’s training session!

We did mega pack twice which was really fun and I hope we get to do it again!

In endurance I kept really low, ended up lapping some of the purple stars (bouting skaters) multiple times, and got a new personal best of 29 laps in 5 minutes! So proud of myself!!! :D I remember when I was constantly getting 25s hoping for 27 really badly - now my goal is to get 30 or more laps!

My backwards crossovers are improving thanks to a new trick I was taught on Monday night! I hope I can get to the rink this week so I can practice them some more!

Then we did this relay thing and we had to transition and go backwards at speed and I felt so seamless doing it, not losing very much speed if any at all!!!! So glad I practiced my transitions at speed :D (at least on my good side). There were TATs, stops and transitions aplenty! I couldn't have asked for a better training session but I need to keep pushing myself (within reason) to keep improving as a skater and as a derby player!