Ahhhh, skate day returns. However, it didn't run as smoothly as I had hoped.
Before practice last week I was told to get there for 2.30, which I did, just, no thanks to the football traffic! This week I was under the impression that training would be the same time. Luckily I had decided to 'get there early' for 2pm to catch up with folks before training began at '2.30'. To my utter horror I arrived at 1.55 to find everyone getting ready and skating around. F*********CK!! Turns out Sunday training is 2-4, not 2.30- 4 as I had once been told :-/
I don't think I've ever got ready for training so fast in my life. Luckily I didn't miss any of the warm up, phew! We did some good warm up stuff, sticky skating, derby stance and squats. We then went into our 25 laps (25 and a half for me this week!) We then paired off and practiced stops; my plow stops still mightily suck (but got better by the end of the session), t-stops still a bit weak, but my transition stops are coming along very nicely :-D We then went into practicing laterals, hopping infront of each other then plow stopping. This all went swimmingly.
We then got into some pack work. The back three skaters had to do a knee dip, get back up then work their way through the pack until breaking free at the front. I made a good few attempts at getting through, but kept tripping up. The final attempt at getting through was pretty impressive (in my head). I saw a gap, made the leap, got through, got hit, got my feet tangled, and did a pretty hefty bellyflop.
Miss D shouted (in jest!) whilst laughing 'BECKY KIRBY, BELLY FLOPPING IS NOT A WFTDA APPROVED FALL'. Totally my bad, sprawled out like a tiger skin rug, I felt like a total tit for not falling properly. I was very angry at myself. Anyway, despite this, I was punished for not falling properly. I had an immediate burn and welt on my hip, and I was winded, big time. I got up and skated into the middle for some time out.
Mmm, Rink Rash . . but this photo doesn't do it justice :-(
Once feeling back to normal we got into pacelines, and double pacelines. That was great fun, apart from I kept getting grabbed on my ouchy hip :-( We weaved from the back to the front, then front to back. All very enjoyable. I do love a good pace line!
After all this we worked on some blocking and hitting, but seeing as though I have only done about 5 (very basic!) minutes of this I had to sit it out :-( In the end I pootled around the outside, and practiced my jumps and transitions. I was gutted at having to miss out, but hopefully I can get some help and then next time I can join in.
At the end we played a bit of endless jammer, and I got to be the Jammer, woop! I was jamming for Team Orange, and I pulled that star panty onto my helmet with pride! The aim; my girls had to aid me through the pack, whether pushing or whipping, I wasn't allowed to do a thing. I was a bit miffed at not being able to do a lap after breaking through though, I quite wanted to try and score some points!
After all that, we were pretty much done. I'm not sure if I made any progress today, but I learnt a bunch of stuff. I also incurred two Track Cut majors . . . oops! But in my defence, I had no idea what I'd done wrong.
Things learnt today:
Belly flopping is NOT a WFTDA approved fall
When you fall think small
When knocked out of bounds, come back in BEHIND the person that knocked you out (I always knew this, but didn't realise I'd done the opposite, hence getting the majors)
I'm looking forward to Tuesday practice now, I wonder what's in store!? I'm looking forward to getting up to speed with hitting etc, I felt kind of left behind not being able to join in with that today. Hopefully I can work on that soon, and then I can really get into it all.
