first practice

Today was my first actual practice with the rollergirls. I was so nervous that I had a hard time getting to sleep, so I took half of an ambien at 3am.

In case you're wondering, 3am ambien is not a tactic entirely conducive to getting out of bed when your alarm goes off 5 hours later. Getting ready to go felt like trudging through molasses, but by the time I hopped on the motorcycle I was fresh as a daisy (that has been in the garbage can for sixteen days underneath a pile of filet-o-fish.)

Got to skateland with time to spare. Seeing the rink all empty was a bit shocking. And....QUIET! No sean kingston tellin me that if i want to go to the chicken-box carry out, it's cool, baby he can take me there. No T-Pain wanting to buy me a drank. I'll probably post my current skateland top 10 jams after sunday's open skate so wait for it, dudes.

Mibbs Breakin Ribs and Holly Go Hardly were the main coaches today. There were a bunch of other veteran rollergirls there today too, like Harlotte's Web, Siouxie Slaughter, Minnie Piledriver and Cindy Lop-Her. (There were more, I just have a shite memory for names.) The rest of the girls were skatertots (like me) and some fresh meats (girls who have passed tryouts but may not be on a team yet.) There were ~25 girls there, I'd say.

Here's what we did at practice today:
1. Skate around the track. When Mibbs blows the whistle, do a squat and keep skating. When she blows the whistle twice, turn around and start skating in the other direction.

WHAT? YOU CAN SKATE IN THE OTHER DIRECTION? as soon as Mibbs blew the whistle twice, half of the skatertots (myself included) turned into wobbly noobs. Roller derby normally involves skating around a track counterclockwise, and at open skates everyone moves around the rink counterclockwise. Fantastic, but god help you when you have to re-calibrate your balance/lean/crossovers to work on the other side. It was pretty shocking how unstable I felt skating in the other direction. Something to work on, for sure.

2. CROSS OVERS.
Cross-overs are a method of taking the turns on the track. Here's what the Charm City Rollergirls "Drills and Skills" document says about crossovers:

• Regular Cross-Over: Used while you are skating around the track in a counter-clockwise motion. Bend your knees as you are rounding the end curve of the track. Pick the right leg up, bring it down in front of you and down to the left of your left leg. Now pick up the left leg, bring it behind and back towards the beginning position. You will essentially be stepping over yourself and it will feel more natural as you get some speed up and confidence.

You pick up your outside foot, step over your inside leg. Then pick up your inside foot and bring it forward. It is a way of gaining speed when you are going around the turns. It's a very important skill to learn but it's something that a lot of people have trouble with. Including...ME!!

I am not sure if I'm doing them with the correct form. However, I'm sure that I'm accomplishing what crossovers are supposed to be good for -- gaining speed around turns. When i first started doing crossovers, I was basically just stepping over myself, not pushing off or gaining any power. Now I am sure that I am pushing off with my right (outside) leg because I can get like scary-fast around those turns. I'm not sure if I'm using my inside leg correctly though. I don't see how you're supposed to push off with it. I'm going to work on this tomorrow at open skate, so if i figure it out i'll post it here.

3. How to fall! We worked on 3 different falls today...

• the one-knee slide and hop back up (I am much better at sliding on my right knee than my left knee)
• the two knee slide (also known as the Rock Star). Slide on yer knees and do a pelvic thrust. fun as hell.
• The four point fall...like the Rock Star but then continue the fall onto your elbows and wrists. Tuck yourself into the smallest package possible so you are not a danger to other skaters -- you don't want to fall with one of your legs all splayed out and trip people and get a penalty and then have your team be mad at'cha.

4. Stops. 3 kinds of stops.

• Plow stop -- to do a plow stop you spread your legs wide, point your toes inward, and really lean on the inside wheels of your skates. This stop is really important because it allows you you control your speed without coming to a complete stop.
  
• Turn around toe stop -- spin around, skate backwards for a second, then hop up on your toe stops. I can do this except for the skating backwards part. As soon as i turn around backwards, I basically stop on my own. More on this later. I can do this well enough to...do it....but i know i should be doing it with better form.

• T-stops -- drag the outer wheels of your back foot behind you. It's weird to drag your outer wheels, you want to drag your inner wheels, but I hear that can lead to broken ankles. I shall try to remember not to drag my inner wheels.

5. SKATING BACKWARDS.
Okay, I cannot skate backwards. At all. I just can't do it. My 2 main problems with skating backwards are these.
1. can't start. if i turn around from skating forwards, i pretty much stop within 2 seconds. usually i pick up my right foot and place it down with the heel facing my left heel. that starts me spinnin around. i know that the next step is to pick up my left foot and place it parallel to the right foot but i can't seem to do that correctly. also i'm scared to do the turn around with any amount of speed so any momentum i have is basically shot.
2. can't propel myself! when i skate backwards here is what happens:
my legs get re a l l ll y f a r a p a r t and then i can't pull them back in and i like, stop. rats!!!

i really need to work on skating backwards. It's just so hard to work on at open-skate at skateland!! Also, when Mibbs was demonstrating how to skate backwards I was trying to get a drink at the water fountain. B-more's finest agua made me miss the elusive secret. Figures.

6. The Twenty Laps In Five Minutes.
Pretty self explanatory. Do 20 laps around a regulation track in 5 minutes. I've been practicing this at open-skate and can do it with no problem even while dodging kids and jam-skaters. Today I did 24 laps in 5 min! Give me a present.

SO THAT WAS PRACTICE. afterwards, i let melanie's 2 adorable kids (boys around ages 5 and 7 i think) sit on my motorcycle and honk the horn and all that. Then i zoomed home, woke jes up, and went to paper moon for breakfast. i had Eggs Lucy Fur.

I'm so glad that I've gotten my first practice under my belt. last night felt like the night before the first day of school, where you're so excited and worried that you have no chance of sleeping. since i am a big fat worry wart, the mental anguish of not knowing what the fuck to expect is usually several orders of magnitude worse than the actual thing that was making me worried. i'm glad the first practice is done, cuz there's no way i'm gonna be so scared again.

except for tryouts. oh shit.