Days of Hands

You know that old saying, “if you don’t have anything nice to blog, don’t blog anything at all”?  Well, something like that anyway.  Last November, I posted a big whiny rant, and then really tried to stay positive and only talk about the good stuff that was going on.  Except then in February, I started running out of good stuff.

Believe me, I tried.  Rather than post more big whiny rants, I kept it all to myself for the most part, and stubbornly persevered.  I kept jumping through hoops, kept waiting for the coach and the league to make good on all the promises.  But I didn’t have the ability to write about derby without ranting.

My league burned me pretty bad.  It was a very one-sided relationship, and I got a definite impression that the girls like me in training were never taken seriously and were being strung along so the league had a built-in core of regular volunteers that they could bully or ignore, depending on their mood.  And always, there was this overhanging promise / threat that if we just worked a little harder, or waited a little longer, THEN maybe they would let us join the league fully.  I have been skating with them for almost a year now, passed my skills tests last spring, and they still have not voted on whether or not I can be a full member of the league.  Oh!  But they need me to work their fundraisers and sell tickets to their bouts!

So I went to a practice open to transfer skaters with the other local league last week.  There were quite a few familiar faces there, since my original league has been alienating quite a few skaters.  I can skate with them once a week as a transfer until their try-outs in October, and I have a fair chance of actually getting on their Expo Team.  In the meantime, I’m still skating once a week with my old league.

So here I am -  once bitten, twice shy.  But I’m ready to be positive again, and though I am hesitant, I am trying to be optimistic again.  And that means blogging again to keep up with my practice schedule and my improvements along the way.  Here we go again.

Just before Christmas, we got record snowfalls.  The ice and snow lasted for weeks, and almost every single road was shut down at some point.  After gorgeous spring-like weather yesterday, it’s hard to believe that almost everything is shut down today on account of ice.  We might see snow tomorrow, but we have had freezing drizzle all day long and when the temperatures dip tonight, everything will be coated in a thick case of ice.

That means that not only will there be no skating tonight, but there will probably be several days of being stuck in one place.  The best any of us can hope for is to be stuck at home! 

My son is sick and unable to keep any food down, I’m worried about driving home this evening from the office, and I’m taking a mental inventory of what food I have in the house.  I’m pretty sure I can manage for a few days as long as my supply of soda holds up and the small one’s stomach settles.  Today on my lunch break I picked up a copy of the just-released “Whip It” on DVD.  If I have to be stuck at home with a sick child, at least we can watch a fun movie!

I was hoping to skate some more on the Atom D-Rods I borrowed tonight.  I’m liking the difference…  definitely faster, lighter, and I can easily make that fun skidding noise that sounds so impressive and aggressive!  Ah well.  It looks like I’ll have to settle for getting my derby fix from a derby movie tonight.

Last night, Rococo’s Restaurant hosted a pre-season Meet & Greet sponsored by Jagermeister.  We had a good crowd of fans, friends, and of course rollergirls!  There was live music followed by our DJ, so there was plenty of dancing.  The Jager Girls were there handing out free swag and I brought home a couple shirts and a thong emblazoned with the Jager logo. 

We all had a blast…  most of the new girls were there and everyone was in fine form.  I can’t wait to see the photos!  Even the incriminating ones.  Especially the incriminating ones.  We’re a very touchy-feely group *wink*.

Last Sunday, my intermediate new girl group started blocking.  This has to have been the best practice yet as far as I’m concerned.  We paired up and worked on hitting each other in a basic bump, then we learned surging where you simply use your weight to lean on someone until they are pushed out of bounds.  Mount Crushmore took Collision Cami and I through the techniques and gave us lots of suggestions and things to work on.  I am proud to say that Mount wasn’t able to push me out of bounds the first time she tried because she wasn’t expecting em to resist!  It surprised her and she sounded impressed. 

Once we had the hang of it more or less, the six of us made a pack and the three experienced skaters acted as jammers trying to get past us.  That was amazing.  What a rush!  It was my first real taste of derby, and I’m more addicted that ever.  Mariza said the same; we couldn’t stop gushing about HOW GREAT IT WAS!  The head ref called penalties and said we all needed to watch our elbows.  I need to definitely work on skating with others close by and get comfortable with using pushes, pulls, and othe assists.  After practice, Mariza, Mo, and I went to lunch and nursed our bruises over Chipotle burritos.

Monday night, Cami and I worked with Lucy Lockjaw on turn-around toe stops and I think I finally figured out the basic motion!  I can do it half the time now at slow speeds, which is WAY more than ever before.  We ran through all the falls, stops, and starts, as well as learning a few extra things Lucy could pass along.  We’re expecting a severe ice storm tomorrow, and I’m just miserable thinking that I may not be able to get to the rink.  I think I’m going to clear the floor in my garage and see how much practice space that gives me.  Yay for a heated two-car garage!  I can at least work on those turn-around toe stops.

Our first bout is exactly one month away, and stats and scrimmage practice is getting intense.  Mo has officially been named Head NSO, and has been organinzing and teaching all of us the jobs we will be performing.  I’ve taken on the task of new girl wrangling, for lack of a better term.  Retention?  Liason?  Basically, the coach is too busy to keep everyone updated and check in with them, so I have been given the task.  I’d already been doing it, emailing and texting reminders, organizing open skate nights for extra practices, and answering any questions that the newbies had.  I hope to make this my focus, because I personally had to fight to get any help or info for the first couple months, and I believe that many of the girls that try it out and then never come back could be retained if someone would just reach out.  I can do that!

Saturday was great fun.  Owen didn’t skate very much, but he did get out on the rink floor in his brand new skates for a bit and then was content to play with the arcade games and eat cake and ice cream.  I thought it was kinda cool to go to a nine year old’s skating party since I remember my own ninth birthday skating party 20 years ago!

Practice yesterday was exciting, and we’re really moving forward now that our coach is setting up a new structure for new recruits.  We covered slicing, edging, and plowing after an extended squat drill.  A new class will start every three weeks, and will move forward together as a distinct group.  Next week, the girls on my level should be testing on everything up to blocking, and those who pass will move on.  Those who don’t will get a copy of their score sheet to see what they need to work on and will be able to test again soon.  I’m nervous but confident.  I’m spending as much time as I can on skates, and working hard to keep up.  It’s paying off, and people are noticing!  The coach even gave me the job of leading the cool-down stretches yesterday.  I’m trying not to freak out, but I have no idea how I’ll do.

After the advanced skaters took the track, most of the new girls sit down and watch and visit.  I wanted to work on my plow stop more, since we had been taught a different way that we would need to use from this point on and I was struggling to get it.  We are allowed to use the end of the rink to work on our own and I generally try to make use of this time whenever I can.  I got the hang of the new form for the plow stop and skated figure eights with a few other girls to work on my crossovers in the opposite direction.  They are really coming along!

Tonight is scrimmage practice, so Mo and I are going to get there early to get in some laps and drills before sitting down to work stats.  Our first bout is next month, and I have so much to learn!  Mo has been more or less drafted as our Head NSO, because she has some experience and can coordinate the rest of us.  I’m excited to have a job to do, and can’t wait to be out there on the track with all the fans and the music…  even if I’m not skating just yet, it will still be a great thrill.

This weekend is the Tornado Alley Rollergirls Bout Against Breast Cancer, and quite a few of us are planning to attend.  I’ve been encouraging people to come along, and our group is definitely growing!  Derby is more fun when shared :)

Last night Mo and I were back at open skate after her two week trip to the Netherlands for New Year’s.  I’ve missed her so much!   She skated one evening with the Amsterdam Derby Dames but otherwise had been off skates the whole time so she was feeling a little out of shape.  It’s amazing how fast that can happen, but luckily it seems to come back with just a little effort.

We worked on a little edging and some falls, and we mostly just skated laps and eased her back into skating again.  She helped me with backward skating, and I’m thrilled to say that that’s coming along!  I’ve been lucky that I’ve been able to keep up my 3-a-week practice schedule for the most part over the holidays, but it wasn’t easy.  A record setting snowstorm pretty much shut down everyone for a week, and we haven’t seen temperatures above freezing in over a week. 

The highlight of the evening was doing the Boot Scoot Boogie on skates.  Mo and I had to take a few minutes to remember how to do it, and we showed a couple other people how but they dropped off and it was just the two of us scootin’.  NOT EASY.  But tremendously fun, and I love a challenge.  I’ll be requesting it again on Saturday when we have the big open skate group.  Tonya, Kerri, Prick, and maybe Mariza will be there, and of course anyone else we can drag along.

I have been getting a lot of compliments on my form and my improvement from the staff at the rink, and from other skater friends.  It’s a good thing that skating and doing drills with the team is keeping me humble!  I’m rather proud (and still kinda shocked) to say that I can keep up with the others when we do laps during practice without having to push myself.  Yes, the team is going slow and warming up and chatting and all that, but I couldn’t even keep up at that speed a month ago!

Best compliment yet:  one person said I’d be an incredible jammer someday because of how strong and quick I am!  And before that I had absolutely no aspirations to be a jammer, but now I think it may be something I want after all…  That’s the scary position, where you are in the spotlight and everyone is watching you…  and you have to be FAST and have the endurance of a true athlete.  It always seemed out of my grasp, but I am seeing firsthand my improvement, and I am getting addicted to speed.  Jammers are the true rockstars of derby, and once you get a taste of rockstardom, it’s hard to give it up.

Yikes!  It really has been almost a month since I was able to post last.  So much has happened, on skates and off.  My life has been completely transformed in several huge ways, and I’m starting to settle into the new “normal”. 

It was really fitting as the year and the decade came to a close that I fully embraced the “out with the old, in with the new” mentality.  A relationship ended that should have been ended long ago, and in the weeks that followed, a new one began.  I had to upgrade my phone plan because suddenly I have a circle of friends calling and texting and wanting to hang out with me.  (I only used 19 minutes in November, but maxed out my 500 minute plan halfway through December!)  And it’s all thanks to derby.

I have been skating at least three times a week, and my body is shaping up quite nicely.  It’s exciting to see and feel the changes!  I’ve become much more comfortable with speed and spent New Year’s Eve literally running through the turns at Yukon’s rink.  My footwork and my edging are coming along, and my crossovers are perfect going clockwise.  I’m close to getting them correct in the opposite skating direction, but the lack of practice shows.  Just like turning and backward skating, I get better every time I work on it.

My “new girl” group has increased a bit; Mariza, Kerri, and Tonya are all excited to hang out and hit open skates with Mo and me.  I gave my son his first set of skates for Christmas, and he’s already getting the hang of them, so he’ll be out on the rink with us soon too.  I suspect that my brother will find more excuses to show up for skating sessions since I introduced him to Mo.  *wink*  And I finally got access to the team forum and can keep up with all that is going on.

February 27th is our first bout of the 2010 season against Assassination City Rollergirls.  I’ll be acting as a Non-Skating Official (NSO) and will hopefully be rocking the afterparty (if babysitters and/or paternal custody allow).   Soon I’ll be skating on the “Wreck” Team.  I don’t know how realistic it is, but my goal is to make the travel team in 2011, and at the rate I’m going, I’m feeling pretty encouraged.  The new year is so very full of promise, I can barely wait!!

There was no practice Sunday since many of the girls attended a derby boot camp in Arkansas.  Instead, Mo and I got a big group together for open skate.  Her ex and her three kids, my cousin, a ref (Justa Prick) and his son came out and we all had a blast. 

We mostly just messed around, but I can feel my endurance and stamina growing bit by bit.  I’m getting more comfortable with speed too, which is thrilling!  The best comment I overheard:  one little girl to another, as I skated by in my striped knee socks, “She’s a professional skater.  You can tell by her socks!”

Monday would have been scrimmage practice, but the coach wanted to share some of the things that had been covered at the boot camp.  I was expecting an hour or so of drills and then keeping score for the rest of the time.  Instead, we had a full-out high intensity practice, and Mo and I got to participate with the seasoned skaters.  That was thrilling and humbling at the same time.  We worked on whips, pulls, pushes, edging and crossovers, and then got a little new-girl session on different starts.

I fell pretty hard several times in the same way, and I’m a little stiff and sore today.  It’s not nearly as bad as I had feared it would be, and I take that as a sign that I’m being whipped into shape and should continue to push myself.  There’s another boot camp this weekend, this time with the famous Texecutioners, and I look forward to seeing what our team mates bring back from this one!

I’ve been trying to incorporate derby-related exercises in my every day activities.  When watching TV, I hold a deep squat for the length of the commercial break.  I do the same thing when post marking the outgoing mail at work.  I do lunges when I walk around the office and at home I use my 25 pound critter as a weight.  We also play a stretching game that he thinks is hilarious.

I picked up some of those resistance bands, and love how you can use them for every kind of exercise imaginable.  I love that they were inexpensive and take up almost no space, and I can tell they are doing some good.  I’m still working on strengthening my ankles, so I use those bands for awhile every day or two.

Tonight Mo and I are meeting up for dinner and Open Skate, and have a list of derby skills we’re going to work on.  I’m looking forward to the whole evening!

(And yes, I was actually able to find some thigh-high stockings that are striped like a barber’s pole…  what luck!)

I’m still all nervous that at the last minute I will not be able to use the name I have chosen, but I’ve shared it with some of the girls and it’s catching on.  My family loves it, and there’s a lot of room to play with a theme in my boutfits. 

So without further ado, allow me to introduce myself.  I’m Sweeney Quad: The Demon Skater with Fleet Feet.  I’ll be the one sporting the number 186, which is the address of the barber shop on Fleet Street.  Also, my little boy is now affectionately known as “Meatpie”.

Now please excuse me…  I’m off to search for barber pole striped socks.

Verdict on the new skates:  perfect!  I really promise that I’ll get photos soon to share.  And new skate goodness is best when shared…  Mo got her new skates two days ago and Mary is shopping right now.  I think I’m going to order a huge bunch of skate laces for all my friends for the holidays.

I took my cousin Sarah to the open skate last Wednesday and I think I hooked her on skating, if not derby.  I wasn’t trying to recruit a future roller girl, but I’m enthusiastic about it.  She’s wanting to go skating with me as often as possible, and I’m trying to figure out a regular schedule for skate dates.  It’s awesome having her along, and I love her excitement.  And she’s pretty good too! *wink*

Practice last Sunday was the same stuff again for the most part.  The same falls and stops with a different roller girl leading us.  Lucy Deuce had said she would test me on my stuff while the other girls practiced, but she either decided I wasn’t ready or she forgot.  Mo is of the opinion that she just forgot, and in order boost my confidence I’m going to go with that.  Maybe next week I’ll get to learn something new, or test on something old.

Monday night was tons of fun!  I met Mo before practice for some pizza and chit chat.  We got set up and watched the girls warm up and drill, then did our best to take stats during the scrimmage.  Mary joined us and we all sat together helping each other fill out the score sheets.  We also discussed everything from new skates to new names, and there was much hilarity.

I was on the phone with Mo through my whole lunch break today and we’re planning to meet up for open skate on Thursday since she’s busy on my usual Wednesday skate night.  It’s going to be rough waiting an additional day until I can skate again, but I’ll have a derby friend with me and we’re already planning what we’re going to work on.  I’m pretty sure we’re going to be partners in crime from here on out…  we just seem to complement each other so well.

I can’t wait to get home tonight.  I’m going to put my skates on and just roll around the house to get my fix.