I hit a brick wall, nope my bad it was Cherry.

I'd like to say that I was productive during the week and did a lot of off skate training but the reality was I did none, absolutely zip. I could sprout off a load of excuses but it doesn't change the fact I didn't do any off skate training which has continued on into this week. I was doing off skate exercising before I got the flu but I'm yet to get back on track. If laziness was a talent I'd be extremely talented in that department. I really need to get my arse back into gear.

I don't hate training but there's a part of me that dreads it somewhat due to my lack of self confidence of trying new things on skates. Driving to training I'm fighting myself, there's that part of me that wants to bail but once I get my skates on I'm fine. I swear I'm doing my head in. Friday night was somewhat frustrating as my ankle injury from the previous Sunday night flared up while I was training. I was getting angry because I had to keep going off because of the pain in my ankle. Mon picked up I was angry because I couldn't skate freely and being the kick arse derby wife she is she got me back on my feet and then the most amazing thing happened. I headed over to the drill that Cheya and Scott were doing which involved doing jumps. The only time I jumped in skates was when I was holding on to the rail at Skatel so of course I was crapping myself. I told Cheya I couldn't jump and she stuck with me trying to teach me how to do it on the spot. She tried to get me to do one while she jumped but I would remain frozen on the spot because all I could picture was me jumping and the wheels rolling out from under me and me landing smack bang on my arse. Cheya was really patient and helpful and guess what I ended up jumping and landing properly :D Massive relief. I practised a few more times on the spot until I worked up the courage to jump while skating. When I say I jumped they were so small I doubt I would have cleared an ant but I managed to get all eight wheels off the floor and land without breaking anything or injuring anyone! One day I'll work up the courage to jump like FiFi

It was off to Skatel for the usual social skate with the regulars. I tried to carve and almost landed on my arse. I'm not turning my left leg enough to do it effectively yet so I still can't hit Cherry :D Cherry on the other hand had no problems carving in front of me multiple times. I'm still elbowing her which annoyed me because I can't counteract her carves properly. She gave me a shoulder hit which she claims was a light touch so light that I almost stacked it :) Cherry mentioned in her blog that us Privates aka freshies will get to experience carving and one on one action at training this Friday, something tells me that there will be lots of stacks! I also attempted walking on my toe stops which I still can't do effectively and after Saturday that hasn't changed. Cheya and Mon were both trying to teach me with Cheya also doing a Riverdance impersonation on her toe stops :)

On Sunday morning I headed out to Skatel again with Liz and Sarah our future Privates. They're both pretty cool to hang out with. My legs were feeling the effects so I didn't go hard out but I tried working on my skating technique. I also showed Liz and Sarah how to do single and double knee falls. It's pretty cool when you can pass on your knowledge to others like the other guys in H.A.R.D have passed onto me.

Sunday night was bit of a disaster. I didn't even last the warm up because of my ankle injury. Cheya got the Privates to do knee taps and four point falls both of which I haven't done yet amongst other things while I was stuck icing my ankle on the sideline so that sucked.

Like I mentioned in my last post and on my Facebook page, H.A.R.D is having its next fresh meat intake soon. Poz managed to get us in the Hawkesbury Courier, here's the article with yours truely in the picture

Of course I analysed my stance in the pic and it was incorrect just as I expected. I'm not squatting down far enough so I'm bending my torso forward to compensate. I'd be more likely to land on my arse than to stay on my feet if I got hit.

The more I skate and train the more I realise that in order to gain more confidence and improvement the skates will need to be become an extension of my feet so to speak so that it feels natural doing things on skates almost like walking. Another thing is overthinking when doing things like jumps, stops etc. Unless I do all these things like it comes naturally to me I won't be passing my Corporal test. It's not all doom and gloom my team mates love correcting me on the way I pronounce derby. Growing up on English football I pronounce it darby due to a football team being called Derby County. Everyone else says it the American way, the funny thing is they think they'll change me :) Another cool thing is that the more experienced skaters are helping us Privates out instead of just relying on Cherry and Cheya. We've become a close knit bunch with everyone sharing their knowledge so it'll help us out in the long run. Cherry has joined the world of blogging. She's got some good stuff on there, here's the link.

Lastly, here are some clips from the Carolina based roller derby league with their hits of the year. I know a lot of people love watching the big hits and they are cool to watch. My geeky side loves watching these clips to see the techniques they use to hit and absorb a hit and which ones are legal and illegal hits. You'll find plenty of examples in these clips, enjoy :)