Whip It!

To start out, I'd like to be honest about something.  Drew Barrymore's movie Whip It did NOT inspire me to try roller derby.  In fact, I didn't watch it until, after attending a bout in October, I scoured the internet for All Things Derby.  Yes, my first exposure to roller derby was the Mission City Brawlin' Betties v. Bakersfield Diamond Divas.  I left that bout thinking, "Those girls are rock stars.  I wish I could do that."

Last night we did whips.  It was just about the most fun I've had at practice so far, and I didn't suck at it horribly.  Whips are basically where you're transferring all of the forward motion of one skater into another skater (the jammer).  We also skated around trying to push each other down.  I loved it!

Reading over my blogs, I seem to be on a confidence roller coaster.  Practice is that way too.  Yesterday I was dreading practice, not because I'm afraid of falling or getting hurt, but because I don't like feeling like I suck.  All day, I thought to myself, "Why am I going to practice knowing that I'll leave feeling crappy about myself?"  Of course, I was wrong.  The feeling crappy about myself bit comes from me, not from practice.  Last night I left feeling pretty incredible.

I think what it comes down to is that I'm good at some things and not so good at others.  Duh, right?  Except that I'm used to being able to be good at whatever I put my mind to.  No, I'm not perfect by any means.  Far from it actually.  Some things just aren't worth putting my mind to and so I continue sucking at them.  But most of the time, when something matters to me a lot, I can at least eek out a reasonable amount of skill.  Skating is different because some of it requires muscles and flexibility I don't have yet, and some of the more agile moves are just beyond me.  I feel like my strength is in my ability to get low, engage my core, and stay stable.  I discovered that yesterday while doing pushes and whips.  No, I'm not a star pupil, but I was in my element.  I can't wait until we actually start blocking.  I think my hips were made for blocking.

We also did speed drills yesterday.  I'm not fast enough to pass assessments yet, but I was somewhere in the middle of the group.  Before I write about the speed drill yesterday, I have to share another story.

On Sunday, I went to a kids birthday party at the skating rink, and spent the whole time practicing.  It's awkward practicing skills that require me to fall in that kind of setting, because hardly anyone else is falling, but I did go down on a knee a few times.  Anyhow, when it comes to the organized races, I got off the track.  I did not need to embarrass myself like that.  Until my family started taunting me.  I saw my brothers in law get out there for the race, and somehow I decided that I needed to at least beat them.  Which I did :)  I finished somewhere in the middle of the group, not the fastest, not the slowest.  I did not do crossovers during the race because I'm not quite confident enough with them yet.  Part of the problem is that crossovers make me go so freakin' fast that I feel like I don't have much control over the turn.  I was proud of myself for getting out there though, and I didn't do a face plant like my brother in law did, hehe.

Anyhow, back to the speed drills.  We did as many laps as we could in 5 minutes.  At the end of the 5 minutes, I should have been spent, but I still had some energy left in me.  It's good to know that I've got endurance (running pays off!), but in order to go faster, I need to feel more comfortable on my feet, err, skates.  I need to feel like I have control over my turns even when I'm going fast.

I'm getting my family addicted to skating, but this blog is long enough already, and I'll save it for another blog.

Also, I should note that I learned how to change my blog settings and now anyone can leave a comment, even if you're not a registered user.  I love comments.  Just sayin'.