(Picture taken by Brandie Neely!) Roller derby, who would of thought I would ever get involved with such a physical sport! I have been going for the past 5 weeks and I love it! I am having so much fun already. I will catch you up on my experience thus far...
Day 1- Observation
Mandy and I went to watch what this "derby" stuff was all about. The girls stretched and it wasn't two minutes someone got hurt. (not mentioning names) haha. They preceeded to explain the importance of learning to fall correctly. I then thought to myself "what the mess, learning to fall? what sport must you learn to fall?" I watched as Coach Betty yelled out different falls such as "rockstar", "baseball slide", and "four point". Each time she yelled and blew her whistle the girls would do the specific fall. We didn't watch much more of the practice before we left. I thought about it a little bit and decided I would at least come back the next week and put on skates. I honestly thought I would go skate and that be it, and say I tried. Well, that wasn't the case.
Day 2- Getting on skates the first time since childhood
I must say skates feel really weird when you first put them on. I was a little wobbly at first, but I think I caught on pretty quickly. I thought I was skating well for my first time. We did a few different drills that day I do not remember them all but I do remember doing the engine and SUICIDES! Yes, suicides on skates! I thought, "omgoodness, when are suicides ever good in any sport?" I lucked out with these though. Cones were set out the length of the rink and one had to skate fast to a cone, do a certain fall, jump up, and skate to the next cone and do another fall and so on. I just had to skate as fast I could down and back, my only problem that night was I couldn't stop. (kinda like the guy on Mighty Ducks!) haha! At the end of this practice we did a speed drill. I learned that in order to compete in derby you must be able to complete 25 laps in 5 minutes, so we practice 5 laps in a minute. Ok, so everyone goes and they all did great! Kel got one minute exactly! Then it was my turn, I was a little nervous but I just thought "skate fast". I started skating, I felt like I was doing well, then on my 5th lap I fell! I was slightly embarrased but I jumped right back up and finished the lap, I ended up getting a 1:17. After that night I was leaning more towards doing the whole derby thing.
Day 3, 4, and 5! Recruiting and Getting Skates and Pads
The past few weeks have been awesome! I look forward to Wednesdays! I have recruited a few friends to do the derby thing with me and as far as I know they love it too! I bought me some skates with the help of Kari (who also does derby). I am glad she helped me because I had no idea what I was looking for. I recently bought my knee and elbow pads and my wrist guards, now all I need is my helmet and mouth guard and I will be set! Tonight (day 5) was awesome! I had so much fun, we worked on a couple stops (t stop and the plow). We did the speed drill again this time I skated the 5 laps in 1:05, I am getting better!! Soon I will be able to skate it in under a minute!
I know I have left out the most important part of derby, the part that I am most scared of, hitting and being hit. We have not started that yet, I am sure that is to come soon, so I will keep you updated.
OH BY THE WAY! I need a derby name any suggestions????
