Catch Up Night - No Practice for Me Tonight

I know I'm overdoing when the glands on the back of my neck/head are swollen and sore...

New drill...VERY FUN...

Since we free skate at the start and end of each practice it's hard to gauge the progress of continuous skating time. This week started with about 30 solid minutes of free skating, and ended with about 15 more minutes.

During stretching, I noticed that it was easier to lay perpendicular on the on the floor, lean on my elbows and toes of my skates and lift myself up and hold myself there flat. We did an thing where we pushed one skater around and then they pushed us. We did a t-stop drill, using the childhood game Red Light, Green Light, and some drills of stopping by falling on one knee. We also did some toe-stops which I'm careful about doing because my stops are worn to the metal and I don't want to scratch the floor, I make sure they are turned to the most rubber side.

We went on to split up half and half and some went to backwards skating and I chose the 6 times on each knee fall (or stop), and some times on both knees. I went down so hard on the two-knee drop that I felt my brain hit my skull on top, kind of jolted me.

After this was the most fun part of practice. A new exercise where we split into two teams and lined up two arm lengths apart, (regulation for this is one arm length apart). Each team skated in synchronicity as best we could and the last person it the row shot forward and weaved in and out of each of skater to the front of the line and when they got there, the next last person did the same. That was REALLY fun and I think all of us loved doing it. I hope we do that one again and maybe with all of us... Learning to stay in synch. is a fun challenge and brings us together in many ways. Plus it looks really cool.

Here's a roller derby poem that my online friend lostatlast found for me the other night:


I USED TO DREAM ABOUT BEING A MOVIE STAR,

BUT I CAN'T ACT.

I USED TO DREAM ABOUT BEING A ROCK STAR,

BUT I CAN'T PLAY THE GUITAR.

I USED TO DREAM ABOUT PLAYING HOCKEY,

BUT I CAN'T HANDLE THE STICK.

I USED TO DREAM ABOUT PLAYING FOOTBALL,

BUT I'M AFRAID OF THE BALL.

I USED TO DREAM ABOUT BEING A STRIPPER,

BUT THE POLE BROKE.

NOW I PLAY ROLLER DERBY AND ALL MY DREAMS HAVE COME TRUE.

The Mob Rules...while i roll....

"the art of being wise is knowing what to overlook."
-william james

William James had that down....

by b_cortes, deviant artist

"a loving heart is the truest wisdom."
-charles dickens

Ok Charles...I hear you.

I do wish I had the words to explain the feeling while I'm roller skating...

*whooooooooooooooooooooooooooooshhhhhhhhhhh*

It's like that...

1935
Sports promoter, LEO SELTZER, looking for attractions to fill the Chicago Coliseum, created the TRANSCONTINENTAL ROLLER DERBY, an endurance race featuring a team of one man and one woman, roller skating on a banked track in a mythical race from one coast to the other. The game was modeled after dance marathons and bike races, popular in the 30s. Seltzer's sport debuted at the Coliseum on August 13, 1935. Using women in his game was a double-edged sword for Seltzer since he knew the presence of women athletes would sell tickets, although the mainstream press would not consider his sport legitimate or worthy of their coverage.

http://rollerderbyhalloffame.com

by Candy @deviant art

Tonight's practice began with a meeting to vote on the logo for our league and votes for people who have extra time to be on an organizational committee...therefore postponing the warm up skating time by 15 minutes...At that point I did 20 straight minutes of hard skating.

At 9:05 we began our exercises and drills and that included t stops, stoppers and a turn stops and then a drop down on to one knee. With my thigh muscles all wrenched from intentional falling the other night, it was sort of a challenge to get up from that position, but hella fun to skid out on one knee! We ended drills about 10:15 and all I wanted to do was skate more so I did another solid 15 minutes....bounced outta there at exactly 10:30 and took the 1/2 hour drive home singing and sweaty...windows and moon roof open wide...so nice.

:)

Oh..we had to add a number to our skater name so it came to me right away - 3.14 - Sweet Alyce 3.14 - (Sweet Alyce Pi)

Flat Track Roller Derby Explained

$%$#!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*Sigh*

As if it wasn't bad enough to be snowed/iced in for Thursday night practice, get this...P. drove me to practice tonight so he could go grocery shopping while I did my thing. I grabbed my bag of new protective gear, was SO raring to go..I mean jumping out of my skin.. I walked in the front door of the arena and LO AND FUCKING BEHOLD...where are my skates?

IN THE BACK OF THE CAR DRIVING AWAY WITH P.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I felt like crying....

Instead, I did the floor exercises I could without skates, was also able to practice intentional falling without skates, and I proceed to jump around like that spazz Stuart on MadTV

Seriously I was jumping out of my skin!! My only hope was that my new skates were there and they were not....or I could try a pair of public skates. I put them on and they felt very wrong, all rickety and loose wheels and plates..wasn't worth learning to walk again on a foreign pair of skates...(grody too)....

In the end I made myself useful by vacuuming the carpeted area of the arena. The coach had asked us if we could contribute to the maintenance of the building since it is really run like a coop. I'm glad I had a chance to help, but lordie...it's been absolute horror being off my skates for so many days...

Tomorrow me and P. are going to go to the college and skate around the campus parking lots...before I go insane from not wheelin... :)

At this rate I will never have my first unintentional fall...

Curses!

Very unfortunately, I didn't go to practice tonight because of the snow and ice...oh. and the baldish tires... I'm feeling kind of blue now, it's blissful out there on my wheels...Speaking of wheels, the new skates aren't here yet...but I did receive my knee, wrist and elbow pads...so now I can learn to fall properly on Sunday. I'll go to Sunday's practice two hours early.

Yay for me! ...40 minutes...

Today I went to practice at 3:30 instead of 4:00 since I heard from the coach that I would have to sit through an airing of the grievances at 5:30....

So from 3:36 to 4:16 I went round and round...awesome..god I love to skate!

Once everyone arrived we did more cones, and scissors, and cannonballs....I really can't wait for the new skates..I adore my current skates...but with so few good bearings in the wheels I am doing all the work...We finished at 5:30.....AND THEN....the meeting...

I guess I haven't been on the team long enough to sense any tension - but boy I guess there has been some between certain girls...The grievances seem to have been about one girls wants others to help the other skaters and to act more like a team. Another grievance had to to with the team's myspace page...I guess some girls who are friends who joined had some issue with the graphic used on the myspace page...As it turns out the team voted on some sort of female skater logo which is going to be a logger...yes..a logger...I can't think of anything less related to roller derby and not sure why some girls jobs get to determine the logo..but hey like in America it was voted on and lame or not, it passed....Frankly this area was founded in gold mining and not logging...but whatever..I don't identify with that logo and I hope it doesn't impede my team spirit....

All in all I love skating so much that I just want to have fun and this 'clucking' as the coach called it is of little interest to me...

Roll.The. Fuck. On... :)

Up by four minutes this week...

Excellent hour and a half practice. For some reason my skates rolled better during the 'cannonballing' this time. My new skates were being made and not ready to be sent yet...Should get them by next Thursday...I was told that Reidell doesn't make half sizes so I ordered size 8...Reidell's website says they make half sizes so we'll see how they fit....

I'm getting back into a proper T-stop this practice so that is cool...I'm never sure what I can still do or not...After seeing a few people fall last time, I am hesitant to do any of the intentional falling, or even the two skate jump or the one skate hop-over with protection...Those have been shipped already so I should have them soon...

It FEELS SO GREAT to skate hard and fast...I'm working more on HOW I skate...the technique of movement.... Movement...what a concept... ;) I should clarify that the time I am tracking is just the time it takes for me to 'feel' like I'm skating hard...20 minutes is the point that I start to breath heavier and sweat...but in practice we actually skate fast for one hour...

My friend...I call her Magic Elbow...or Mag for short said she lost 5lbs already!

So fun....*rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrroll on!"

First full two hour practice

I'm not in love with the team name...Mountain Derby Girls...? I wish I were there for the decision making process, but I didn't join until January 29th....it started at the beginning of January. Here's the advert.

I might have gone with a Motherlode-ish name...(if I had to choose between Mountain and Motherlode)...but it's done now..we're officially registered....

I skated for 16 minutes, at nearly my full-speed , before I felt it...this is what I will build from...this statistic...

When I bought my roller skates at age 18, for working at Corrozzi's Drive In as a car-hop, I screwed up curing the tongue and so it crinkles up on the toes of my left foot. I had to untie and adjust my skates about three times in the two hours...So I splurged and purchased some BRAND NEW SKATES....the Reidell Wicked model:

Then it was on to creating a personal skater name to be registered under...(even MORE fun!)....It had to be Alice...and it had to be not dark.....well...there was Alice in Anarchistland...plain Alice (not allowed by the official rules. Whatever I chose, it had to have Alice in it, and it had to be an open blogspot.com so I could blog this new chapter of getting back on my wheels.....(SWEET JESUS IT FELT SOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOD)....! Here is the offical list of registered skater names in the U.S.

http://www.twoevils.org/rollergirls

The official name of Sweet Alyce fit both my criteria....and as my adoption papers said....I "Henceforth shall be known as".... Sweet Alyce - (unofficially) in Anarchyland...and of the Mountain Derby Girls...

Tonight we practiced stopping with stoppers and with the T-stop...going through cones...figure eight crossovers...pushing our
legs out and in as we skate..the cannonball...(my old skates can't hang with the cannonball...they don't roll too well with no me propelling them...)....and hopping up and down on one foot (as if to jump over fallen players)....

Kicked ass....had a great time....loving this...hope I won't be too sore in the morning... I took an asperin and a hot shower when I got home....another team member told me that advice...and to take an EmergenC before I come to help my lungs....definite WILL DO...

Not to end this on a bummer..but a fact of roller derby is the falling...and here I will post a photo of my friend, "The Magic Elbow", (or Mag for short) and her first injury....two falls directly on her elbow...OUCH!