I've only been to one practice this week. On Easter, we were late returning from out of town so I missed practice. And on Thursday I had plans after work which ran later than expected.
On Monday's practice, we practiced stopping and hitting. I am able to stop doing the plow stop, but not within the WFTDA minimum skills of 10ft. (unless I go slower than I should) but I do know how to stop that way so at least I can continue to improve. T-stops are another story. It took me a long time to just get my foot behind my other foot, but the dragging it is not easy at all. I've managed to get it so-so, but a lot of times I was dragging only on 1 or 2 wheels, when I really need to get all 4 wheels on the ground to get the maximum amount of friction to stop.
I don't know if anyone else has this problem, but I've noticed when I am trying to get my feet to move a certain way, I hold my arms the way I want my feet to go. Like when we do the duck walk (feet turned with toes pointing outwards) I turn my arms so my fingers point the way I want my feet to point. I do the same thing with the T stop, pointing my fingers the way I want my toes to go. Is this weird? Why do we do that?
For hitting, we started off hitting each other as we skated around, but then our coach grabbed a large blue pad for us to hit while she held it. We did shoulder hits and hip hits. I've never been fabulous with the hand eye coordination, let alone when you add motion to the mix, so aiming a hit while I'm moving is very awkward for me. I did ok I guess. On the couple of hits I did manage to land solidly, I ended up falling, and I still have the instinct to flail and grab onto something to prevent me from falling so I ended up grabbing the shirt of the person holding the hitting pad.
I feel like it is going to be forever before I am ready to bout. The girls make it look so easy, but all the little pieces of each skill are going to be a lot to learn and remember. I feel a bit overwhelmed at times.
This week will be a quieter week. The rink we practice at is being resurfaced on Sunday and Monday, so practice is cancelled. On Thursday's practice I will be wearing rental skates (most likely) as I am sending my skate to Minnesota tomorrow for the broken toe stop to be fixed. They said they'll send it back the same day, so hopefully it won't take too long and I will only have to be on rentals again for one practice.
One thing I am looking forward to is getting my hair done on Monday night. The following week we are having team photos and headshots done, so I am getting my hair cut (and highlighted!) in preparation for that. I will definitely post before and after photos.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Friday, April 22, 2011
bruises are the best part of derby
On Sunday night's practice, I fell while doing a leaning drill (trying to push the other person out of bounds). I pushed her out of bounds and landed on her skate when we both fell. There's a beautiful, blue and purple bruise on my outer right thigh, about 1 inch in diameter.
I only have a crappy cell phone pic or else I would post it.
My sister actually was the one who told me that the bruises are the best part of derby. I'm not sure I agree with her, but I can tell you, that I've shown my bruise to a handful of coworkers, most of my teammates, and even the lady who sells cupcakes on the cupcake bus. I apparently have no shame when it comes to pulling down my pants to flash the bruise.
I have other bruises too, on my lower legs, likely from falling on my own skates. I have bruises that I don't recall getting. I also have a tender spot on my shoulder from where we practiced hitting.
On Monday's practice, I was able to use my left leg a lot more to push off on, and actually did my 25 in 5 using both feet. I am still coasting around the corners, but by using both feet, I was able to do 17.5 laps. That is my new personal best, and there are a few factors that I feel went in to achieving it. For one, I was pushing off on both feet which helped a lot because then my right leg wasn't getting tired from doing all the work. Another thing I feel helped was that I was keeping score for the scrimmage the veteran skaters were having, so I was off skates for the previous twenty-ish minutes. I think being warmed up and doing drills for a while, followed by a rest period, helped me to start the 25 in 5 with fresh legs so I didn't get as tired as fast as I normally do. This won't always be able to happen, since we tend to do it near the end of practices, but it is serving to boost my confidence. I'm sure that once I learn to do a crossover, and as I continue to build up my endurance, I will be able to do it and make it look as easy as some of the other girls do.
I only have a crappy cell phone pic or else I would post it.
My sister actually was the one who told me that the bruises are the best part of derby. I'm not sure I agree with her, but I can tell you, that I've shown my bruise to a handful of coworkers, most of my teammates, and even the lady who sells cupcakes on the cupcake bus. I apparently have no shame when it comes to pulling down my pants to flash the bruise.
I have other bruises too, on my lower legs, likely from falling on my own skates. I have bruises that I don't recall getting. I also have a tender spot on my shoulder from where we practiced hitting.
On Monday's practice, I was able to use my left leg a lot more to push off on, and actually did my 25 in 5 using both feet. I am still coasting around the corners, but by using both feet, I was able to do 17.5 laps. That is my new personal best, and there are a few factors that I feel went in to achieving it. For one, I was pushing off on both feet which helped a lot because then my right leg wasn't getting tired from doing all the work. Another thing I feel helped was that I was keeping score for the scrimmage the veteran skaters were having, so I was off skates for the previous twenty-ish minutes. I think being warmed up and doing drills for a while, followed by a rest period, helped me to start the 25 in 5 with fresh legs so I didn't get as tired as fast as I normally do. This won't always be able to happen, since we tend to do it near the end of practices, but it is serving to boost my confidence. I'm sure that once I learn to do a crossover, and as I continue to build up my endurance, I will be able to do it and make it look as easy as some of the other girls do.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Breakthroughs and fun stuff!!
Tonight I was determined to lift my left leg. As we were skating warm up laps I lifted it a few times but I couldn't figure out what to do with it after (serious duh moment). One of the other fresh meat girls congratulated me and when I said "yeah but what do I do now?" she matter-of-factly stated to just push off on it like I do with my right.
I still feel like I pushed more with my right leg, but throughout the night I used my left leg a lot.
Practice tonight was faster paced, and more intense than usual, and we were grouped together with the veteran skaters for the whole night. One of the best things about tonight was that we got to learn to hit! It was awesome to actually try to hit someone, and to land the hits! (When I say I hit, I mean shoulder checks and hip checks). As fun as it was, it was difficult to concentrate on all the little pieces that go into hitting- skating, keeping yourself low and keeping balance, maintaining speed with your partner, and landing a solid legal hit. (NO ELBOWS).But I know with practice I will be able to get it all together without having to think about each little part.
One thing I noticed is that I really need to work on my endurance. My legs are sorer than they have been after any previous practice, and I made myself take a few breaks during practice to rest them (as well as to drink more than a gallon of water). I don't know how some of the other skaters can make it through an entire practice with just a small water bottle. Maybe I need to start drinking a ton of water during the day before getting to practice.
Now I must go shower and put some icy hot on my legs.
I still feel like I pushed more with my right leg, but throughout the night I used my left leg a lot.
Practice tonight was faster paced, and more intense than usual, and we were grouped together with the veteran skaters for the whole night. One of the best things about tonight was that we got to learn to hit! It was awesome to actually try to hit someone, and to land the hits! (When I say I hit, I mean shoulder checks and hip checks). As fun as it was, it was difficult to concentrate on all the little pieces that go into hitting- skating, keeping yourself low and keeping balance, maintaining speed with your partner, and landing a solid legal hit. (NO ELBOWS).But I know with practice I will be able to get it all together without having to think about each little part.
One thing I noticed is that I really need to work on my endurance. My legs are sorer than they have been after any previous practice, and I made myself take a few breaks during practice to rest them (as well as to drink more than a gallon of water). I don't know how some of the other skaters can make it through an entire practice with just a small water bottle. Maybe I need to start drinking a ton of water during the day before getting to practice.
Now I must go shower and put some icy hot on my legs.
What's new?
So I figured out how to add blog lists in my side bars. I added the few derby blogs I follow as well as a few non-derby related links. I also changed my layout. I'm sure it will change more as time goes on, I want to find the perfect derby related picture to use as a background. But for now, I think I will experiment now and again with the layouts.
Also feel free to link to your own blog in the comments and I will add you to the list because I think it is really great to read about other people's derby experiences. Also, you will see that I follow the Hellions of Troy Blog. I suppose I should actually mention that that is the team I have joined. I am actually including a photo in this post (for the first time!)
Last Monday, The Hellions of Troy had a scrimmage with the CNY team (Central NY I think). During the scrimmage us fresh-meat gals got to observe various NSO positions. I spent the first half in the penalty box, watching the game and learning about timing penalties. I learned that both jammers can't be in the penalty box at the same time. Never knew that before.
For the second half I was an outside penalty catcher. This means I stood with a white board on the outside corner of the track, and if a ref needed to relay a penalty to the inside penalty catchers, he would tell me, I would write down the number of the player under their team initials, and write the code for the penalty and flash show it to the inside penalty catchers.
At the end of the scrimmage, I wrote down the score on the white board (The Hellions won!) My fellow Hellion, Short Temper, who blogs for the team, mentioned that my blog needs pictures (I agree). So she took a photo and sent it to me.
Without further ado, here is the first picture for this blog.
I promise that the next picture will be more derbyish. At this point I wasn't wearing any of my gear since we only skated warm-ups and the 25 in 5 before the scrimmage began.
Thursday's practice involved more actual skating. I opted not to NSO the regular scrimmage of the veteran skaters since I feel like I really need to practice as much as I can. I was able to lift my left leg for brief periods throughout practice, but I am definitely much stronger lifting my right leg. I think I need to attend an open skate session in between practices to really focus on getting my left leg up and getting my crossovers going.
I fell quite a lot on Thursday, and not just when we were practicing falls. During the 25 in 5, which is happening near the end of practice a lot more often, I fell, but I still managed to get 15.5 laps which considering the fall is pretty near my best of 16.75.
Overall, being on skates, being in derby position is getting a lot easier, and I amaze myself at how far I've come. But I still get frustrated sometimes with how far I have to go still. I really don't want to fill this blog with a bunch of "I can'ts" so I will make a list of the things I can do, that 2 months ago I had never tried.
I can skate around the track several times without falling (most days) :)
I can do swizzles
I can do a plow stop
I can do two-footed weaves between cones (slowly)
I can give and receive hip whips and arm whips (needs some improvement)
I can skate slowly shoulder to shoulder and hip to hip with a partner
I can fall on single knee, double knee, all fours and the baseball slide
I can get up from falls without using my hands
That's a longer list than I thought it would be. I plan to keep adding to it!
Also feel free to link to your own blog in the comments and I will add you to the list because I think it is really great to read about other people's derby experiences. Also, you will see that I follow the Hellions of Troy Blog. I suppose I should actually mention that that is the team I have joined. I am actually including a photo in this post (for the first time!)
Last Monday, The Hellions of Troy had a scrimmage with the CNY team (Central NY I think). During the scrimmage us fresh-meat gals got to observe various NSO positions. I spent the first half in the penalty box, watching the game and learning about timing penalties. I learned that both jammers can't be in the penalty box at the same time. Never knew that before.
For the second half I was an outside penalty catcher. This means I stood with a white board on the outside corner of the track, and if a ref needed to relay a penalty to the inside penalty catchers, he would tell me, I would write down the number of the player under their team initials, and write the code for the penalty and flash show it to the inside penalty catchers.
At the end of the scrimmage, I wrote down the score on the white board (The Hellions won!) My fellow Hellion, Short Temper, who blogs for the team, mentioned that my blog needs pictures (I agree). So she took a photo and sent it to me.
Without further ado, here is the first picture for this blog.
I promise that the next picture will be more derbyish. At this point I wasn't wearing any of my gear since we only skated warm-ups and the 25 in 5 before the scrimmage began.
Thursday's practice involved more actual skating. I opted not to NSO the regular scrimmage of the veteran skaters since I feel like I really need to practice as much as I can. I was able to lift my left leg for brief periods throughout practice, but I am definitely much stronger lifting my right leg. I think I need to attend an open skate session in between practices to really focus on getting my left leg up and getting my crossovers going.
I fell quite a lot on Thursday, and not just when we were practicing falls. During the 25 in 5, which is happening near the end of practice a lot more often, I fell, but I still managed to get 15.5 laps which considering the fall is pretty near my best of 16.75.
Overall, being on skates, being in derby position is getting a lot easier, and I amaze myself at how far I've come. But I still get frustrated sometimes with how far I have to go still. I really don't want to fill this blog with a bunch of "I can'ts" so I will make a list of the things I can do, that 2 months ago I had never tried.
I can skate around the track several times without falling (most days) :)
I can do swizzles
I can do a plow stop
I can do two-footed weaves between cones (slowly)
I can give and receive hip whips and arm whips (needs some improvement)
I can skate slowly shoulder to shoulder and hip to hip with a partner
I can fall on single knee, double knee, all fours and the baseball slide
I can get up from falls without using my hands
That's a longer list than I thought it would be. I plan to keep adding to it!
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Derby vs Life
I feel like it has been forever since I have written here and yet it has only been 6 days. 6 very long days.
I have derby practice on Sunday, Monday and Thursday nights. Tuesdays and Wednesdays I usually do team trivia with my husband and our friends. Friday evenings all I want to do is come home and crash because Thursday's practice ends at 11, and by the time I get home and showered and unwind a bit, I don't get to bed until 1 and have to be up by 6 (at the latest) to leave for work by 7. Saturdays are my only 100% free day, and really, the only time I have to myself is the early morning (since I go to bed so early on Friday night). We usually do end up having some other plans. (Tonight its a poker game).
Derby seems to be taking over my life. Don't get me wrong, I knew what I was getting into when I signed up for this, but just in case anyone is reading this and thinking they can handle the time commitment of practices and the rest of life will just go on as normal, you might be right, but you might be wrong.
The time commitment is not a problem for me. Before derby I spent those three evenings a week doing laundry or just vegging on the couch being lazy. Or going to bed early. There's been an adjustment to my sleep schedule, but that coincided with a change to my work schedule so the only really tough day is Fridays, as I mentioned above.
If you're like me, someone who thought they were in relatively ok shape but wasn't really working out or actively doing anything to get there, you are in for a rude awakening. Spending 2 hours on skates, 3 times a night, is an awesome work out, and I feel fabulous when I finish, but the next day (or 2 or 3) my legs and back are sore! My knees and ankles are stiff. Its nothing I can't handle, but its definitely noticeable. And then there are the bruises. I fall a lot. Thursday I feel like I spent more time on my butt than I did on my wheels.
I know that as I get in better shape, I won't hurt as much, but for now I am so lucky to be able to spend my down time resting and recovering. I have infinite amounts of respect for the girls who start their derby journey as moms. My friend in Canada (Lucy Purr) has a three year old at home. I cannot imagine coming home from practice, bruised and sore, just wanting to shower and curl up in bed, and having a child to deal with. One of the things my husband likes about me joining derby is that I got off his back about us having kids sometime soon. I still want kids, always have, but I figured I'd learn derby, get into some kind of shape and then have kids in a couple years. I don't want to just get comfortable on skates and then have to be out for a year to be pregnant and have a baby. I'd like this to be something that becomes a part of my life for a long time.
Anyway, I'll write more about the practices this week in another post.
I have derby practice on Sunday, Monday and Thursday nights. Tuesdays and Wednesdays I usually do team trivia with my husband and our friends. Friday evenings all I want to do is come home and crash because Thursday's practice ends at 11, and by the time I get home and showered and unwind a bit, I don't get to bed until 1 and have to be up by 6 (at the latest) to leave for work by 7. Saturdays are my only 100% free day, and really, the only time I have to myself is the early morning (since I go to bed so early on Friday night). We usually do end up having some other plans. (Tonight its a poker game).
Derby seems to be taking over my life. Don't get me wrong, I knew what I was getting into when I signed up for this, but just in case anyone is reading this and thinking they can handle the time commitment of practices and the rest of life will just go on as normal, you might be right, but you might be wrong.
The time commitment is not a problem for me. Before derby I spent those three evenings a week doing laundry or just vegging on the couch being lazy. Or going to bed early. There's been an adjustment to my sleep schedule, but that coincided with a change to my work schedule so the only really tough day is Fridays, as I mentioned above.
If you're like me, someone who thought they were in relatively ok shape but wasn't really working out or actively doing anything to get there, you are in for a rude awakening. Spending 2 hours on skates, 3 times a night, is an awesome work out, and I feel fabulous when I finish, but the next day (or 2 or 3) my legs and back are sore! My knees and ankles are stiff. Its nothing I can't handle, but its definitely noticeable. And then there are the bruises. I fall a lot. Thursday I feel like I spent more time on my butt than I did on my wheels.
I know that as I get in better shape, I won't hurt as much, but for now I am so lucky to be able to spend my down time resting and recovering. I have infinite amounts of respect for the girls who start their derby journey as moms. My friend in Canada (Lucy Purr) has a three year old at home. I cannot imagine coming home from practice, bruised and sore, just wanting to shower and curl up in bed, and having a child to deal with. One of the things my husband likes about me joining derby is that I got off his back about us having kids sometime soon. I still want kids, always have, but I figured I'd learn derby, get into some kind of shape and then have kids in a couple years. I don't want to just get comfortable on skates and then have to be out for a year to be pregnant and have a baby. I'd like this to be something that becomes a part of my life for a long time.
Anyway, I'll write more about the practices this week in another post.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Highs and Lows
Sunday night's practice was a roller coaster of sorts.
It started off as always, with a few warm up laps, during which I was actually able to lift up my left foot a couple of times. I still haven't figured out how to push off with my left foot, but just being able to lift it up was great, even if it was only for a couple of seconds at a time.
One of the drills we did was leaning against another skater. I partnered up with one of the veteran skaters who I am in awe of. She is my derby idol. She makes it all look so easy, but she is super nice and helpful too. Anyway, so we were shoulder to shoulder, leaning against each other, skating around the track. The purpose of this is to try to direct the other person. If you were in a pack situation, you would want to have the advantage. A couple of times I actually tried to push my partner out of bounds, and succeeded! It was awesome.
However, on one of those pushes, our skates sort of collided and my toe stop ended up falling out. When I was trying to put it back in, I discovered that the part it screws into was broken. I ended up having to unlace my skate to take my toe guard off so it wouldn't be flapping all over the place, and then I rejoined the group.
The rest of practice was ok. We did some whips which are always fun, even tho I fell a couple times because I was going so fast. We did the dreaded 25 in 5 which felt even harder tonight and I wasn't able to beat my best but I kept going.
After that, it was pretty much the end of practice, but the coach wanted us all to do a few drills to work on stance. the first was the grapevine (where you cross your leg in front of you on one step and then behind you on the next step). The next was galloping and the last was galloping while getting your feet to touch in the middle. We were to do each drill across the rink and back again.
Well, I never got to either of the galloping drills because I was still on my way across the rink with the grapevines by the time everyone else finished. Two of the girls came over to see me and I ended up having a breakdown. I was just getting so frustrated. They both said they would stay with me and finish my grapevines with me. It was really awesome to have their support.
I know there are going to be more times like this, where I feel so frustrated, but if there is anywhere to have those feelings, derby is definitely the place. The girls are all so supportive. They've all been there before. Getting your body to do some of the things we have to do would be hard enough to do off skates!
I'm also really thankful to have one of my fellow fresh meat girls be super supportive. She comes to derby from a hockey background, and I can tell she is going to be an awesome jammer one day. I drive her in to practice on Sundays and tonight on our way home, she reminded me how far I've come already. She also mentioned that I work harder than anyone else.
I have to keep reminding myself that 6 weeks ago I had never been on skates. my first night on a roller rink I was on my ass more than on my feet. 3 weeks ago I wasn't able to get up without using my hands. now I can. I'm really glad I'm keeping this blog as documentation of my journey. Hopefully it will help out some other new skater some day.
It started off as always, with a few warm up laps, during which I was actually able to lift up my left foot a couple of times. I still haven't figured out how to push off with my left foot, but just being able to lift it up was great, even if it was only for a couple of seconds at a time.
One of the drills we did was leaning against another skater. I partnered up with one of the veteran skaters who I am in awe of. She is my derby idol. She makes it all look so easy, but she is super nice and helpful too. Anyway, so we were shoulder to shoulder, leaning against each other, skating around the track. The purpose of this is to try to direct the other person. If you were in a pack situation, you would want to have the advantage. A couple of times I actually tried to push my partner out of bounds, and succeeded! It was awesome.
However, on one of those pushes, our skates sort of collided and my toe stop ended up falling out. When I was trying to put it back in, I discovered that the part it screws into was broken. I ended up having to unlace my skate to take my toe guard off so it wouldn't be flapping all over the place, and then I rejoined the group.
The rest of practice was ok. We did some whips which are always fun, even tho I fell a couple times because I was going so fast. We did the dreaded 25 in 5 which felt even harder tonight and I wasn't able to beat my best but I kept going.
After that, it was pretty much the end of practice, but the coach wanted us all to do a few drills to work on stance. the first was the grapevine (where you cross your leg in front of you on one step and then behind you on the next step). The next was galloping and the last was galloping while getting your feet to touch in the middle. We were to do each drill across the rink and back again.
Well, I never got to either of the galloping drills because I was still on my way across the rink with the grapevines by the time everyone else finished. Two of the girls came over to see me and I ended up having a breakdown. I was just getting so frustrated. They both said they would stay with me and finish my grapevines with me. It was really awesome to have their support.
I know there are going to be more times like this, where I feel so frustrated, but if there is anywhere to have those feelings, derby is definitely the place. The girls are all so supportive. They've all been there before. Getting your body to do some of the things we have to do would be hard enough to do off skates!
I'm also really thankful to have one of my fellow fresh meat girls be super supportive. She comes to derby from a hockey background, and I can tell she is going to be an awesome jammer one day. I drive her in to practice on Sundays and tonight on our way home, she reminded me how far I've come already. She also mentioned that I work harder than anyone else.
I have to keep reminding myself that 6 weeks ago I had never been on skates. my first night on a roller rink I was on my ass more than on my feet. 3 weeks ago I wasn't able to get up without using my hands. now I can. I'm really glad I'm keeping this blog as documentation of my journey. Hopefully it will help out some other new skater some day.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Who Am I - Nice Girl vs Tough Chick
So, in case you missed it in previous posts or in the description of myself, I'm Canadian! This means I was raised to apologize a lot- even for things that aren't necessarily my fault. If we were in a crowded elevator, and you stepped on my foot, I would say sorry because my foot was in your way. However, one of the things the girls keep saying is "There's No SORRY in Derby!" I've heard it a lot lately, but last night's practice I heard it more, because I kept saying sorry for being in the way of another girl while we were stretching and doing drills.
If you asked ten (non-derby) friends of mine, to give you one adjective describing me, seven or eight of them would say NICE! I've just always been a nice girl. If you are my friend I will move Heaven and Earth for you. I've always put other people before myself, and maybe in some ways that isn't a great thing, but I was raised that way. We didn't have much, but my mom was always willing to share. Our house was so full of laughter and love from my mom's friends, that we kids didn't realize how much we didn't have. We always had friends and that was what mattered.
The philosophy behind "No Sorry in Derby" is simple. You shouldn't say sorry for hitting a teammate hard during practice, because you are supposed to be hitting them hard. You wouldn't say sorry to a girl on the opposing team would you? Hell No- you'd knock her flat and keep going.
I don't think that I will have a problem in that department, its just in general. I am nice. I will apologize. I just need to cut back on it at derby practice. I'm sure I'll continue to apologize to random strangers when we both turn the corner in the grocery store and bump carts, or when some idiot cuts me off (sorry I was in your way), but in derby, I'll just shove you out of the way and go on with what I was trying to do.
If you asked ten (non-derby) friends of mine, to give you one adjective describing me, seven or eight of them would say NICE! I've just always been a nice girl. If you are my friend I will move Heaven and Earth for you. I've always put other people before myself, and maybe in some ways that isn't a great thing, but I was raised that way. We didn't have much, but my mom was always willing to share. Our house was so full of laughter and love from my mom's friends, that we kids didn't realize how much we didn't have. We always had friends and that was what mattered.
The philosophy behind "No Sorry in Derby" is simple. You shouldn't say sorry for hitting a teammate hard during practice, because you are supposed to be hitting them hard. You wouldn't say sorry to a girl on the opposing team would you? Hell No- you'd knock her flat and keep going.
I don't think that I will have a problem in that department, its just in general. I am nice. I will apologize. I just need to cut back on it at derby practice. I'm sure I'll continue to apologize to random strangers when we both turn the corner in the grocery store and bump carts, or when some idiot cuts me off (sorry I was in your way), but in derby, I'll just shove you out of the way and go on with what I was trying to do.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
ooh derby make it hurt so good!
On Thursday I was suffering from the head cold from hell, so I didn't skate. I still attended practice, and I NSO'd the scrimmage the veteran skaters had, but I just knew I wouldn't be able to skate.
That meant that tonight was my first time on skates in almost a week. It felt weird, but it also felt so good.
We practiced more falls tonight, which was great and I was able to get up on my weaker leg without using my hands. YAY for small victories.
I also had an opportunity to practice my crossovers, which I am slowly getting better at. I was able to actually cross my right leg in front of my left and then transfer my weight to my right leg but after that I didn't know what to do with my left leg. I'm sure I will get better at it with more practice.
Tonight we also did a couple of the most exhilarating things I've been a part of so far: Whips and push cars.
We began by skating in a pace line- each girl an arms length behind the next one. We wove our way between each other so the skater at the back of the line became the leader. After that, we used whips to propel us. There are two different kind of whips- hip whips and arm whips.
For hip whips, you grab the girl's hips and pull yourself around her, while sort of pushing her behind you. The speed you get from this is awesome.
But you get even more speed from arm whips. The skater who you are getting the whip from, stretches her arm out for you to grab. You hold onto her wrist and elbow, and she pulls you forward. These give you amazing speed!!
Push cars was a drill we did where we all got in a pace line, but grabbed each others hips, and the person at the back had to push the group like a train. It wasn't very difficult to be the pusher, and it felt so fast when some of the stronger girls were pushing us!
On another note, I did fall a few times on my bottom tonight. I definitely think I need to invest in some padded shorts because I feel that it is only a matter of time until I injure my tailbone. I really need to try to prevent that.
That meant that tonight was my first time on skates in almost a week. It felt weird, but it also felt so good.
We practiced more falls tonight, which was great and I was able to get up on my weaker leg without using my hands. YAY for small victories.
I also had an opportunity to practice my crossovers, which I am slowly getting better at. I was able to actually cross my right leg in front of my left and then transfer my weight to my right leg but after that I didn't know what to do with my left leg. I'm sure I will get better at it with more practice.
Tonight we also did a couple of the most exhilarating things I've been a part of so far: Whips and push cars.
We began by skating in a pace line- each girl an arms length behind the next one. We wove our way between each other so the skater at the back of the line became the leader. After that, we used whips to propel us. There are two different kind of whips- hip whips and arm whips.
For hip whips, you grab the girl's hips and pull yourself around her, while sort of pushing her behind you. The speed you get from this is awesome.
But you get even more speed from arm whips. The skater who you are getting the whip from, stretches her arm out for you to grab. You hold onto her wrist and elbow, and she pulls you forward. These give you amazing speed!!
Push cars was a drill we did where we all got in a pace line, but grabbed each others hips, and the person at the back had to push the group like a train. It wasn't very difficult to be the pusher, and it felt so fast when some of the stronger girls were pushing us!
On another note, I did fall a few times on my bottom tonight. I definitely think I need to invest in some padded shorts because I feel that it is only a matter of time until I injure my tailbone. I really need to try to prevent that.
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