Wobble, wobble :)

Hello all, I know it has been a while since my last regular write up. Time has not been my friend lately plus my never ending injury hasn't helped. I'm back on my skates in fact I've come from training and currently have both my right knee and right arse cheek with ice packs on them after I stacked it on my arse when my wheel got stuck on the track while attempting to do a snow plough. Derby is tough but I've long since discovered that you need to be even tougher if you want to succeed in the sport.

As for this never ending ankle injury saga, I finally had enough and booked an appointment with the physio. According to her my skating technique was causing the tendon that runs from my right foot and up 3/4 of my leg to get fatigued and causing me a shit load of pain only when I was skating. She gave me some strengthening exercises to do on the wobble board and how to strap my ankle and leg before training. I also have the problem that my ankles roll out so I'm putting extra pressure on them. I'm sure when I upgrade my skates to the 122 boot it'll support my ankles a lot better so that'll help too. On Friday Cheya pointed out that I skated with my knees pointed in and that was probably causing the problems. So when we had our freshie hour at training tonight I focussed on skating with my knees pointed out slightly and would you believe it the pain in my tendon stopped. I was so over the moon, I really hope this is the end of this long running injury drama. I hate being restricted, I just want to be able to skate and train like everyone else.

I don't know why but I'm getting good feedback about my blog. My blog tends to follow this pattern - got injured again, blah, blah, I'm pissed off about this latest injury, blah, blah, I'm pissed off I suck at derby and I'm not progressing like everyone else and repeat. It's not like I'm writing about knocking Cherry on her arse at training with an awesome can opener or killing it in scrimmage, all the fun stuff I wish I was able to do by this stage. People seem to like it and it has ended up presenting writing opportunities for me that I never expected. First up I did the review for last weeks Fort Smashley vs Harbour Hellcats bout for Roller Derby Au and for me the biggest praise was finding out that Suzy Pow linked it on the NRDL members page for people to read. Next up Cherry has asked me to do a write up on our league and to update it in the future as more things happen, she's trusted me enough to give me free reign on it which is a massive complement. Roller Derby Au have asked me to do the review for the Smashleys vs Hellcats season decider next month PLUS they're letting me do the reviews for H*A*R*D's bouts starting from next year until I'm finally good enough to be bouting myself. I still can't believe it all. After doing the review for RDAU I discovered I enjoyed doing reviews so I've decided to do bout reviews on my own blog. They won't be formal as the first one I did. I've got the Newcastle vs Adeladies bout to write up and I'll also be doing one for the ERRD finals next week for both bouts. I actually had Dicey ask me at training tonight if I had done the review yet for the Newy vs Adelaide bout, it's always nice to hear that people like your work and want to read it.  

Training wise, I'm not too worried about the things I still suck at like walking on toe stops, all my attention is focussed on next Sunday's Corporal aka white star test and giving myself the best chance of passing it once and for all. Ever since I discovered the date of the test I've been making the most of freshie hour on Sunday night training to work on the things I'm struggling with. I don't think I'll pass this time round but I think I've made some improvements from my first attempt a few months ago. Tonight I improved in my attempts at doing a crossover. Over the last couple of weeks I've finally managed to skate around the bends on my left foot which will definately help with the crossovers. Tonight during endurance Cherry was telling us to turn our bodies into the bends while attempting to do the crossovers, I tried it and I swear it helped. I'm at the stage where my technique is getting better but it's JUST not enough to make it a complete crossover. For the first time since I started derby training I'm starting to believe that I can do a crossover. These last two weeks I'm starting to notice some improvements overall in my skating but I think it may have come too late for next week's test but I'll give it my all anyway.

In my desperation to learn how to do a crossover before my test, I'm making an emergency trip up to Newcastle to skate with the NRDL social skating group next Saturday. Cass and some of her team mates are going to show me crossover drills that worked for them, apparently one of them is from Godjilla so that's pretty cool! I'm looking forward to working with them and meeting even more like minded derby folk.

Speaking about Cherry and Jilla, I remember when I read their responses from the interview I did with them that I have something in common with them. With Cherry I'm struggling with crossovers and learning new skills like she did when she started, with Jilla I have the same problem of having to pull my finger out when it comes to fitness. Why the hell couldn't I get their better traits haha Ohh and roller derby gods if you're listening could you please somehow organise a co-training session with these two awesome coaches when I'm at scrimmage level so I could learn from the both of them, it'll make up for all the tears and injuries I've endured so far :D