Tuesday, November 8, 2011

2011 - The year of injuries. 2012 - The year of kicking arse.

It's been a month since I've been off skates and sadly there is no end in sight. I can't even flick a ball up with my left foot without it feeling as though someone is stabbing me with a knife in my heel. I've gone back to the physio that fixed my right ankle up and this week she said she noticed some improvements compared to last week while working on my ankle and calf, yay for some improvement. She did however say that this sort injury can take weeks or months to heal so I've made the decision not to get back on skates until I'm 100% confident my left ankle is fixed, even if it means not skating again this year. No matter how much I hate being off skates injured, it's not fair to my team mates not being able to go 100% at training or not being able to complete a training session because I'm carrying an injury, plus the whole stop/starting due to picking up niggling injuries because I didn't let the initial injury heal correctly does my head in so it's for the best.

It's not all doom and gloom though, I've tried to make the most of my time off skates. I picked up the WFTDA officiating manual which has absolutely everything rules, all ref info and NSO duties descriptions. Personally I like to learn as much as possible and how it all works to get a better understanding. During scrimmage practise on Sunday nights I've gotten a protege in team mate Black Jaq with jam timer duties. She's picked it up pretty quickly. I've had so many people teach me so much about the sport that it's nice to be able to pass on that knowledge.

As for writing reviews Roller Derby AU have asked me to cover the WIRD intraleague bout this weekend between the Vixens and Vipers. I've never seen a WIRD intraleague bout before so that'll be something new for me, plus it'll also be the first time I'm writing a review that doesn't involve Newcastle's league at all so I've got no idea how it'll turn out haha. If that wasn't enough RDAU have also asked me to cover the first bout at the City vs Coast bout on the 3rd December. It'll be the first bout my league will be hosting plus it'll have members from my own league bouting, so that was a nice honour to be asked to do it. Shameless plug, please come it'll be an amazing spectacle - 8 different leagues involved, 4 teams bouting, 2 bouts and all proceeds go to charity. Oh and there will be lots of kick arse people there, it's a win win situation ;)

Although I'm currently off skates, I still go to watch training or help out if needed. While sitting on the sidelines and going to bouts this past month it's only helped highlight how badly I want all 'this'. I'm over the moon that my reviews have been pretty well received, it was initially only to help out my friend's but I ended up learning more about the game and tactics by doing it. Watching my team mates prepare for the City vs Coast bout, watching the freshies improve truckloads each week and watching Corporals going for their Sargeant tests it's given me even more of a hunger to try and fulfil my goals. I really couldn't give a shite about getting attention or popularity because it wasn't why I joined in the first place, as a matter of fact I'm pretty shy. Although this year personally has had a lot of starts and stops due to injury or illness I've gone from not being able to stand up without rolling around at my first training session with WSR to passing my Corporal aka white star test. That feeling I got when I passed I can't even put into words how happy I was. I want to experience that feeling a lot more often with derby. I set myself the task of passing my Corporal test by my birthday this year and I did. My big goal for next year is to be bouting by my birthday next year. Lots of work involved before I get to that stage which is why I want to get my ankle fixed up so that I'm firing from all cylinders physically and mentally.

One thing I also need to work on is not being so fangirly especially around Cherry and Jilla. I need to believe that I'm worthy of being on the same track as them not because I'm arrogant but because I shouldn't have them on a pedestal because they would have no hesitation knocking me on my arse in a bout. I would like to join Newy in one of their training sessions but I wouldn't ask before I at least knocked Cherry down once on skates because she's not easy to knock down and Newy are at a pretty decent level. Yeah I'm probably dreaming big but fuck it if you don't set yourself some decent goals you won't end up pushing yourself and finding out what you're made of. Liverpool will always be my first love but sometimes it scares me how quickly derby has become so important to me. I know you shouldn't have tunnel vision but I'm so focussed on my goals. I've already set the wheel in motion by changing my eating habits and doing exercise that doesn't impact on my injured ankle. I've set up another blog to keep track of all the exercise and eating issues since this blog helped keep me on track.  

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