Let the games begin

Hello! It's been a few weeks since I last posted. Have you missed me :P It has certainly been an eventful few weeks.

A couple of weeks ago we had our first annual awards night/birthday bash at the Hawkesbury Hotel. It was a nice chance to socalise with fellow team mates away from the derby track. We had a good turnout and a good time was had by all. There were some funny awards amongst the more serious ones . Instead of a trophy the winners for each category received a set of customised dog tags with their derby name and what category they won. I got surprised not once but twice! I got runner up in Hero of the year and won NSO of the year. The NSO award wouldn't have been possible if I hadn't of been injured so much last year haha but seriously I learnt so much about rules and the game in general from doing all the NSO duties. Being runner up in the hero award meant a lot to me that my team mates thought so highly of me. I was made up that Santina won it not only did she come back from a serious knee injury, she also came back from a broken ankle that's just freaking amazing. I've worn my dog tags every day since I won it. I'm proud as punch to have won it and it just reminds to keep working harder because it'll eventually pay off in the end, I can feel it.

I've been testing my injured knee out the last few weeks at training. On my first attempt I managed to get through a 30 minutes endurance skate (with a lot of help from Lauren who skated in front of me towards the end when my knee was hurting like hell so all I focussed on was following her and it worked) but my knee couldn't handle any more skating for the night so I called it quits for the night and iced it on the sidelines. My second attempt last Friday was not so great, I was skating by myself on the court taking it easy when all of a sudden I got tripped by something and hit the floor on my injured knee. The culprit was a piece of cable tie that some dickhead left on the floor and I tried skating it out but the sharp stabbing pain in my knee kept getting worse and I had to stop.

Last night I had one of my best ever derby moments to date. I was skating on the other court testing my knee out while the rest of my team mates trained on the other court. I was also testing out new wheels the Radar Zodiacs which are narrower than any other wheel I've skated on so I was trying to get the hang of that. Later on I joined the rest of my team mates to train with them and test my knee out. Thanks to Cheya I finally learnt how to carve properly, thanks Cheya!!! We then had to go in pairs with one person attempting to carve the other. I paired up with Jacqui and it didn't take long to work out that neither of us know the meaning of going easy we both went for it when it was our turn haha.

We also did a drill where there was a wall of 2 blockers at the front with an opposing jammer and blocker to help try and assist them past the wall. Everyone had a turn at all the roles. I found it easier being a defensive blocker trying to stop them getting through although I still got caught out by the jammer getting passed me on the inside grrr. I've hardly done any work trying to get through a wall so I wasn't much help for my jammer in those occassions. I got to jam for the second time in my life and this time Cherrry wasn't there to stop me so maybe I had a chance of getting through. Jodie was frigging amazing as she made space for me and tried distracting the blockers and it worked I managed to find spots and went past them about three times. It was only a training drill and I may have gotten a little excited and maybe pumped my fist a couple of times in the air but stuff it, I finally played jammer and got through a pack for the first time, that's progress for me so I was happy. If I get that happy doing a training drill I dread to think how I'll be when I finally bout haha.

If that wasn't amazing enough we did the drill one final time with Jacqui and I as the blockers at the front, Jodie was the jammer with Gina assisting her. For those that don't know Jodie is a tricky customer she has speed and excellent agility so she's hard to contain. One time Jacqui and I left a gap in the wall straight up the middle as we were coming around the bend. I was trying to stop from getting passed me on the inside line but she ended up charging through the gap in the middle. You know that instant when you just know that if you go to do a hit on someone but you'll end up being taken out if you do it? In that split second you need to decide whether to go through with it or pull out of the hit at the last second. I thought fuck it and just threw my body in front of her to try and stop her. At the same time I was coming in from the left, Jacqui was coming in with a hit from the right so poor Jodie got absolutely squashed by the two of us at the same time. Not only was that the first time I've hit someone on skates it was a legal hit too. I gave Jacqui a hug for the nice bit of team work. Jacqui said we should name the hit so I thought about combining our derby names Fear my Phat and Lisbeth Slammed-her and call it the Phat Slam, and with that a new signature move was born!

I don't know what it is about this sport for one it has turned me into a massive cry baby. I've lost count of how many times I've cried from either frustration or anger from another injury. This sport has given me some amazing highs but also its fair share of crushing lows. It's taken me a lot longer than most people to try and progress due to the injuries so most days it feels like groundhog day. I can't remember the last time I've wanted or fought for something so bad as I do with roller derby so at this stage I have no 'plan b'. I'm putting everything I have into progressing through the ranks so that I can bout not just in my own league but against my other fav league too.

I'm happy to say we have a skater from the UK training with us for 6 months while she studies over here. A big welcome to Ellen, hopefully you enjoy your time with us :) The added bonus is that she pronounces derby the same way I do so now none of my team mates can give me any stick about it nah-nah!

Lastly there's talk about us having an intraleague bout around May/June if we have another skaters at the correct level to bout. I know at this stage my chance is about 10000000000000000000 to 1 and it's probably unlikely I'll be ready by then but fuck it, I'm going to give it my all and give myself the best chance of making that happen. I've already gone into lockdown mode so all I'm thinking is May/June. I've had some family and friend's tell me that want to see me bout plus I've also had a monster of a skater tell me she wants to come watch me bout so whether it happens sooner or later, it'll happen and I want to make sure I'm ready when the chance arises.