A derby ref leaves Toronto at 10pm traveling 65 mph and a derby player leaves Cleveland at 10pm......
I guess it has been a month since I last blogged eh? It’s been a busy month. Much of it has been spent practicing playing with my team the Flour City Fear in preparation for our first two games in Cleveland. But first I had a little reffing thing to take care of called The Fresh and the Furious, hosted by GTAR, in Toronto, ON.
I had been looking forward to #fnf2016 for a long time. Ever since Winter Wipeout where I had my first taste of tournament derby. It is a chance to work with refs you have never worked with before and learn a ton of new things. And in my case, gauge how far I have come since I started. I had a good crew mixed with a couple of people I had been with and others I had not. Ended up working 8 games. I OPR’d 6 of them and JR another 2. On top of all the derbz that day, I got to hang out with many of the refs and NSO’s that I have learned from in my short derby ref career.
The week after Fresh, I headed up to Guelph to help out Royal City and Tri-City with a couple of home games. That is a bit of a drive but it was just within the maximum distance I will drive to ref derby. The main reason I made that trip is because I wanted to work with a few of the refs who call those leagues their home. One ref in particular who has been really supportive and mentor like to me as I have been on this journey and it was great to work with him again. This event is where the best picture of the season, for me anyways, came from. I don’t know.....I think derby has done wonders for my legs and my butt.
And finally on to the main event. The Flour City Fear debut in Cleveland against the Cincinnati Battering Rams immediately followed by our second game against the Cleveland Guardians. I worked hard to get myself as ready as I possibly could heading in to this back to back doubleheader but no preparation could have prepared me for the heat that we encountered in that building.
Think of the hottest building you have ever been in. Add 10 degrees and crank up the humidity to 90% with no breeze. That is what we played in for about four straight hours. It was brutal.
We played our asses off in both games. Cincinnati absolutely obliterated us but we put up some points and had some jams where we held their jammers to 0 points because of outstanding blocking. We worked well as a team given how little time we have been together. I found the first game to be terribly difficult for me as a jammer. I was literally running myself into the ground attempting to break through their walls. And I was not very successful. I took 3 cutting penalties in the first half and was absolutely exhausted even though I only played 4 or 5 jams. During the half I calmed myself down and for the 2nd half I played more of a hybrid role. Sometimes I went out as a jammer and other times I went out as a blocker and I felt that my play improved a lot after that point.
The 2nd game went much better. I started out the first half as just a jammer and performed better than the first game. I started incorporating some lateral movement into my jams and my blockers opened up some huge holes for me. I accomplished all of personal goals as a jammer in this game. I exited the pack, I got lead, I scored points, I made multiple scoring passes and I had a double digit point jam. The 2nd half of the Cleveland game I played more of the ”go where the team needs me” role because by this point we were all exhausted and the heat was taking its toll. I can’t say how proud of I am of this team and how happy I am to be on this team. Even though we weren’t ahead on the scoreboard, we were laughing and having a good time. We were high fiving each other and a lot of the times the other team as we came off the track. I love the class that we exuded.
Going forward I look to become a better player. I can already see where my skating has improved by being a player. I hope going forward that my schedule permits me to continue playing and reffing at the same time because I love both for different reasons. But the reason I love both is because of the amazing people that I get to associate myself with.