What's this, a post?

Excuse me while I just wipe the cobwebs away from this blog. Yeah I know I said I wasn't continuing with the weekly blog and I don't think it has been missed by anyone but I think yesterday's events warranted a one off post.

So what was so special about yesterday? Well the ERRD all stars trained at our training venue before our training session. They're bouting against the SRDL Assassins on the 12th May. I really wanted to go to the bout but I've got my cousin's engagement party on that night and family always comes first no matter how much I love derby.

I went to training 2 hours earlier to go and watch the ERRD guys train and this time I was going as a fan of the sport. No pen and paper, no write up's (and now I've just contradicted myself with this post). I was looking forward to watching them scrimmage because it's been a while since I've been able to just watch scrimmage/bouts and be a fan cheering from the sidelines. My jaw was stuck to the floor with each skater walking through the door with skaters like Jilla, Danger, White Hawk, Manic Bullet, iKandy, Janis and the list goes on. There was Lola, Fifi, Dobie and Punky representing HARD.

I must admit I was ohh so tempted to put my gear on and hope that no one noticed I wasn't supposed to be there. The reality is though if I did do it I would have been absolutely annihilated and that's just in the warm up. I'm not going to let any secrets out in terms of what they did at training but I went from fan to eager student when they started training. They covered things I've never done at training so I managed to pick up a few new things that I'd love to try one day. It was such a great learning experience listening to these really experienced skaters.

Sharni joined me watching them train and we were both in stitches with Jilla and the stuff she comes out with. I felt for poor Dobie during one of their drills, Danger got her with a good hit coming around the bend that she caught some wicked air and landed hard on her arse. I was so impressed with Dobie she bouted in the CCRG bout the night before, trained with the ERRD guys and then did our normal Sunday training. What a machine! I've seen WIRD's Manic Bullet bout a couple of times now and I'm still amazed at how low she gets when she jams. She gets so low that she could literally kiss the floor if she wanted to while she was skating. It's amazing to watch.

I was getting ready to watch them scrimmage when one of the ref's asks Sharni and I to NSO. I must have jam timer tattooed on my forehead. I go it during our scrimmage because I'm not scrimmaging yet but this was one time when I wanted to just watch and not pay attention to timing the jams because there was a chance the jams would go for 5 minutes instead of 2 because I'd be too busy watching. I did the NSO duties and I didn't even screw up... I surprised myself. The scrimmage was frigging awesome to watch. I'll be cheering for the All Stars while I'm at the engagement party.

I figured I'd fulfil a fangirl wish of mine, both Jilla and Cherry at the same venue as me I sensed a photo op! The ERRD guys were getting ready to leave just as we started doing endurance so I quickly left the track and hijacked Cherry who was training the freshies. After a few technical difficulties (the bloody camera wouldn't work) I eventually got a snap with both of them. I was happy as larry even though my jaw was sore from the massive grin I pulled hehe. There was no tears or marriage proposals like those crazy teenage girls over One Direction. I've just got massive respect for both of them as skaters and what they do on and off the track when it comes to derby.

 

I had the piss taken out of me by a few people (not that I cared) but how many people can say they've had their pic taken with their favourite skater? I was lucky enough to get it taken with both of them so :P haha I've got the pic out of the way, I would love nothing more than to come up with or against the both of them on the derby track one day and have a beer with them afterwards.

Until I started watching more NRDL bouts last year all I really knew was Jilla but the more of their bouts I watched the more amazing skaters I discovered. One of those skaters was DangeRass so I figured I ask her a photo too with Jilla doing her monster impersonation!

So all in all it was a brilliant start to the arvo. It got better because Santina and Danger Blond were back training with us. Santina and I had a laugh during the pushing drill we were doing but then it all went to crap. With each passing drill nothing was going right for me. I was struggling with each drill, I had Apple, Cheya and Cherry drag my arse around the track for the various drills. It felt like I was doing all this stuff for the first time. The longer it went on the worse it got and the more frustrated I got so of course the self doubting thoughts kicked around in my head, fuck it I'm not quitting. I've just lost my derby mojo, I just need to work hard at getting it back again. Earlier this year I really started to improve after last year's injury affected year so I know I can do it. It's more mental than anything.

So that's about it. Aren't you glad you don't have to put my whinghing on a weekly basis anymore :)

Smash you very much

So I went up to Newy to watch the opening match of the season between the Fort Smashleys and Harbour Hellcats (I'm hoping to finish the write up after this post). Here's a funny fact. I've lived in Sydney all my life BUT I've been to more Newy bouts than I've been to ALL bouts I've gone to in the Sydney area. Plus I think it's probably a sign I've been to too many of their bouts when I go line up to get my media pass while lining up in the general admission line and I haven't even opened my mouth but they already know who I am and give me a media release form :)

I sat and watched the bout with Big Kahuna and had an amazing time. It was great chatting with him about all things derby, he's a funny bugger so I had a few laughs too. It was also great hearing his insights during the bout and picked up a few new things in terms of strategy. Hopefully I'll get to watch a bout with him again in the future.

I also had two of my team mates come up to watch a Newy bout for the first time with Hayley and Keiryn making the trip up. It was funny hearing Keiryn's reaction about being slightly worried coming up against them as they play more physical than SRDL. I know I'd get slaughtered by Newy on the track but fuck it I can't wait to come up against them one day and then have a beer with them afterwards!

As for the bout itself it will go down as one of my all time favourite bouts. Neither side had a 14 player squad due to injuries so the bout got scrappy as tiredness kicked in but I was equally amazed and excited at the same time by the fitness and determination that both sides showed to got right up until the final whistle. I swear just when I thought I couldn't love them anymore they go and surprise me again. Read my write up when it gets uploaded there's heaps of other goodies I'll mention about the night. I'll give you one more nugget of info guess who jammed multiple times at the bout, yep Jilla! I haven't seen her jam since the very first bout I ever went to in October 2010 and it was an awesome sight to behold. (Pics courtesy of the Nav Man). When I grow up I want to be as good as her!

AND an amazing shot of her leaving blockers in her wake!

So I have an open invitation to train with Newy but I'll cash that in when my skating improves. I'm working on another thing. I've talked Newy up to my team mates and we've already had other leagues scrimmage and train with us so along with our head trainer Lola I'm trying to get Newy to come and scrimmage with us some time this year *cough* hopefully one of the skaters coming down would be Jilla :) *cough*

As for me after seemingly progressing the last few weeks I felt like I stagnated last week at training on both nights. I knew the progress wasn't going to last forever so I'll deal with that so that the progress can kickstart again. I'm officially ruled out of bouting in our first intraleague bout in May/June. I need to be a Corporal level 2 for at least 8 weeks before I can attempt the Sergeants test and I'm a Corporal level 1 with less than 3 weeks before the exam. Watching the scrimmage last night which had members from CCRG and SRDL in it too I *knew* that if I was in that scrimmage I wouldn't have survived so I'm not up to that level. So here's my master plan. I've had enough of talking about my derby dreams. Talk is cheap and I want to do my 'talking' on the track instead of writing about it. I flirted with it before Christmas last year but I'm officially calling it quits with this blog starting tonight. I'm putting all my focus into training to make sure I'm bouting this year. I'll stick with the RDAU write up's only because I learn more about the game by doing them. I'll update my progress as status updates on my Facebook page but that's about it.

To the people that have read this and the friend's that I've made from this blog SMASH YOU VERY MUCH and hopefully see you on the derby track sometime soon!

Sylv aka Lisbeth Slammed-her.

One and only chance

It dawned on me today that I have less time than I thought if I want to have any chance of bouting in our first intraleague bout in May/June. I've only got one shot to pass the Sergeant's test before the bout. If I flunk it the next lot of Sergeants tests will be after the bout. If that wasn't challenging enough, I'm currently a Corporal level 1 which means I can do more advanced drills and scrimmaged based exercises but I can't scrimmage yet. I'm not complaining because I don't feel as though I'm ready to step up to Corporal level 2 yet. So basically I'm asking myself to become a Corporal level 2 and pass my Sergeant test by the 13th-15th April when the tests are scheduled.

The realistic part of me is thinking this is all WAY too ambitious especially with all the injury dramas I've had since I started derby last year and most rational people would probably agree. The thing is that fighter part of me that's starting to re-emerge again for the first time in years is thinking fuck it just go for it and see what happens so I'm going to be irrational for once.

I gave everything I had to pass my Corporal the second time around but I'm going to have work harder still this time around as there's more that's required to pass this level. My trainer Suzie has become a drill Sergeant (pardon the pun). I sent her the list of things I'll be assessed on so after giving her a demo on each skill so she could see which muscles were being used for them she's gearing my training sessions towards strengthening my body for the test. Also, she's put me on a food and exercise plan (off skates) to keep me on track so that I don't stray so this shit got real folks.

I'm also planning on going up to Newcastle for some of their Saturday morning social skates in the hope that Cass can work her magic again and teach me how to do transitions this time around. So I'm leaving no stone unturned in this quest to try and pass the test next month.

I know my original goal this year was to be bouting by my birthday in October and there's more chance of me failing than passing next month despite everything I'll be doing on and off the track this next month but this felt like too good of an opportunity to pass up. If I flunk of course there will be some disappointment, no one likes to fail but I don't want to have any regrets or leave anything in the tank. I want to know that I did everything I could to try and pass.

Stayed tuned over the next month for lots of smiles and swearing in frustration from me :)

Smiling so much your jaw hurts

I thought I'd open up with some good news, we've gotten a new member in our league. Leah has come over from WSR and I was really excited by this news because when I first started derby last year with WSR Leah was one of the first people I met. She's a lovely person and I kept in contact with her when I switched over to HARD. Leah also bouted last year so we're getting more experience come into our ranks which is always great to have. Hopefully you enjoy your time here with us Leah and welcome to HARD :D

Yesterday was my first proper training session since I injured the ligaments in my right knee over a month ago. To say I was completely knackered by the end of it would be an understatement but at least I know I gave it everything I had. We started off with a 20 minute endurance and the aim was to skate 80 laps in 20 minutes. I wanted to see how close I could get to the mark but my legs really started to tire out and the best I could do was 65 laps. That gives me a starting point so the goal is to improve on that next time. Jacqui absolutely smashed it and got 95 laps, well done mate :)

After getting our breath back it was onto manouvering a carve in between Poz and Cherry who were stationary and then quickly going into a snowplough all while making sure we didn't go out of bounds off the track. I stuffed up a few times but I was carving on my favourite side and managed to pull off a few decent ones. We then switched to have moving targets with Cheya and Cherry. It was so much easier to do when the targets were skating and I'm pretty sure I did it correctly. The funny thing was this was the first time I've carved Cherry every other time whether it be Skatel or training she's done it to me. My problem was that I was afraid I wasn't going to come in correctly and that I'd end up clipping the other person's skates and go splat on the ground. This time though I wasn't even scared and just went for it each time and would you believe it I made contact with Cherry (nothing that would knock her over) each time I carved her and the contact didn't threaten to make me stack it. Each time I did it correctly and then skated around to do the drill again I did a little fist pump and broke out a grin because I was doing the drill correctly :) After the endurance though I felt as though I was going to hurl and that feeling came back so when we had to do the drill carving from the opposite leg I went to the side and held onto the goalpost trying to stop myself from hurling and it worked. I wasn't ready for the night to end yet.

We moved onto trying to push a wall of blockers out the way to create a gap for your imaginary jammer to get through. When it came to me doing the pushing I locked myself into the right position on the first blocker in the wall and just pushed. My problem is whenever I do these kind of exercises I get too excited and keep pushing until they're well off the track which you can't do in a bout otherwise you'll get penalised. When it came to me being part of the wall that was supposed to get pushed out of the way my other problem came to surface. When it comes to me being on the receiving end of a hit I can't just be a sitting duck otherwise I'll go flying from the impact so I always put up some resistance the only problem is that it's as subtle as a sledgehammer so most times I'm usually pushing the person hitting me more than they're pushing me, oops! So basically whenever I was on the inside line I'd push back so the person in the middle would get sandwiched.

Poor Candy had to try and get passed our wall of three which consisted of Lauren, Jacqui and I and she had absolutely no luck through our wall we held strong. Hopefully we'll get the chance to replicate that in a bout situation. When I came up against Cherry I started pushing against her but I didn't get my foot in front of her (a common problem I have) so she got in front of me and was able to push me off. I did get an almighty massive complement from her she did tell me about getting my foot in front but that I had strength. Coming from someone who knocks people over like bowling pins on the derby track for fun it left me grinning like an idiot again :)

We were doing scrimmage based exercises with everyone having a go at pivot and jammer at least once. Cherry put me in the opposite team to her because she knew I'd enjoy coming against her, she knows me too well haha. My legs were gone by this stage it felt as though someone was physically holding them back so it was harder to skate. Keiryn and I were discussing strategies which I absolutely loved even though I was mostly listening. We started off minimal amount of blockers and worked our way up with more blockers as the night progressed which was good because it meant we could change tactics as required. A few things I noticed especially when I'm covering the inside line and going around the bend I often get caught out because I drift too far in and leave a gap for them to get passed me on the inside line. Next thing I noticed even when I was playing pivot some of it may have had to do with tiredness but I would drift to the back of the pack and play the sweeper role, I think that's the fullback in me from all the soccer I played coming out also. I can't really unlock a wall or be more attacking in a pack I find getting in way and being more defensive a lot easier which is another reason I enjoy playing at the back of the pack. Also when I'm at the back I find it easier to read the pack and direct my blockers or yell out where the opposing jammer is. I did have a moment where I was at the back of the pack when Cherry was jamming instead of thinking OMG OMG fangirl moment Cherry is coming towards me instead I got down even lower and thought I'm going to try and stop you getting through. One time I stepped in front of her and she went straight into the back of me, it certainly didn't tickle haha. I did love the challenge of trying to stop her.

I know I'm never going to be a derby superstar and I never joined the sport under those pretences. My goal instead is to be the Dirk Kuyt of HARD (he's a Liverpool player read and watch up on him) not the most technically gifted player, but a dependable workhorse type of player who pops up for the important moments when required. I feel as though I'm progressing. I still have a LONG way to go to see whether or not I'll make the grade in time for our first intraleague bout in May/June. One thing I do know is I'm going to give it my all and not be left wondering whether I could have done more.

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.

A picture is worth a thousand words

The ligaments in my right knee still haven't recovered so I went to watch my team mates train last Friday. It really is great watching my team mates give it their all and see them improve with each session, I find it inspires me to continue to work harder. As I watching them train a group of girls went on the other court and started playing indoor soccer and I was itching to go and play with them but then it all hit me like a tonne of bricks. I wanted to get back into playing football and the training and games wouldn't have clashed with derby but my knees are too wrecked to withstand playing competitive again and it hurts to admit that I can't play anymore although I suppose some people probably think I shouldn't do derby either because of what they do to my ankles and knees but I'm not ready to say goodbye to my derby dream yet.

I'm all about trying to improve my game on the track so when my team mate Sharni took pics at training the session I ended up getting injured I did look back on them to analyse the ones of me to see what I'm doing wrong so that I can fix it. Spot the errors (I'm the one in the white shirt)

The ones I picked up were: I STILL bloody skate with my knees pointed in, I don't squat down enough instead I just bend my upper body over, I go in for a hit with my shoulder instead of leading in with my hip. So basically I can't hit for shit on skates yet lol! If anyone sees anything else wrong let me know I'm always looking to improve.

Last Sunday I went up to Newcastle to cover their fresh meat info day for RDAU and to catch up with some of my friend's. I had a great time up there and met some more people, there was just one tiny little detail that stopped it from being a perfect day out. When I got in touch with NRDL a few weeks ago (before I injured my knee) about doing a write up on the day they said I could stay and train with them once the info session was over. Holy, freaking hell talk about a derby dream come true for me. Only problem was my knee hadn't recovered in time so that killed that dream BUT the offer is still open so I can go and train with them one day when I'm back on my skates so that's really cool! I know I may have mentioned Jilla possibly one or two hundred times on this blog already but there's other amazing skaters up there like Booga, Dino La Rogue, Brigand Strong, Belt'er Goodrem just to name a few so to learn from them would an amazing learning experience for me.

As for the write up here it is. I joked on my Facebook profile that considering most of the write up's I've done to date involve NRDL that I wondered whether I became their unofficial writer then Big Kahuna from VLD and South Side Derby Dolls completely surprised me when he said he hoped I'd be their unofficial writer when they start bouting so that was a huge honour considering I skate with another league.

Just like real life I've come across some dickheads in roller derby but thankfully they're in the minority. I've met lots of amazing and inspiring people, one in particular is Cahlee aka Beth LeHell from NRDL. She's got a blog which I'm recommending everyone on here read it too. The courage she shows in being able to not just write about it but put it out there on the internet is just amazing. I'm so happy for her and the progress she's making. It's all here. 

Lastly at HARD we're having a fresh meat info session. If you're curious about the sport, want to join etc then come, it'll be fun! Here's the details.

WARNING: Favourite skaters are bad for your health!

This week at derby has certainly been an interesting one, thrills, spills and strapping. Have I got your attention yet :P Throughout the week my right knee was feeling sore through a combination of the cooler weather and the fact that I've started exercising more throughout the week to get myself fit again so it was protesting. Roll on Friday and I went to training and while I was going through the warm up the pain in my knee got to the point that I couldn't ignore it. After last year and all my injuries I'm now paranoid when I feel a twinge but I'm still forever trying to work out whether I'm being a chicken shit for pulling out of training or doing the right thing by listening to my body. This time I decided to just skate on the other court because they were practising falls and other various skills so I probably risked screwing my knee up further if I did the training.

It wasn't all that bad though because I was joined by Santina on the other court. I can't say it enough but it's a brilliant sight seeing her back on skates :) We talked about various things while we were skating around, we got onto food and I was left with my stomach grumbling and having a craving for Mexican food and beer, thanks for that Santina ;) While I was sitting down resting my knee and ankle Bede came over and asked how I was and I told my knee and ankle were sore so he proceeded to playfully punch both of them and told them to stop to start behaving so that I could bout which made me laugh hehe.

I went for a run on Saturday morning and by night both my knees were sore so I was icing them in the hope they'd be ok so that I could train on Sunday arvo. My knees weren't feeling much better by the time I arrived at training but I figured they wouldn't be as bad when I warmed up. During warm up we had to weave when Matron blew the whistle and as I was coming around the bend I went to weave as Cherry was doing the same thing while coming from the other side and we almost collided. Thinking back on it now it was pretty much the same spot where the drama happened later on.

I really loved the stuff we went through at training on Sunday arvo, they were all focussed on pack/scrimmage work. Practising wall formations while skating on the straight and then adjusting while going around the bend was a good drill and an eye opener. When it came to hits I find I'm still going in with my shoulder instead of my hip and I'm still struggling with getting my foot in front of the jammer to be able to hit or block them. Although I'm guilty of feeling frustrated because I'm not picking it up that quick, I am enjoying doing the more advanced training drills. Team Zebra had a surprise for us, Hayley found a Team Zebra song that goes through all the hand signals so we had to do the correct hand signals while skating around to the song which was actually quite fun!

I got to do the scrimmage based exercises again this week, yay! They broke it up a bit and different drills which I enjoyed because it was new ways of learning new scrimmage related skills. To make it more interesting Team Zebra would randomly call out a skater and show them a hand signal which we had to identify, if we gave the wrong answer we would have to go off and do 10 push up's. In one of the drills the jammer would have to get past the opposing pack solo without any of their own team on the track.  It meant that I got to be a jammer for the first time in my life, I don't have the grace or body to be a conventional jammer PLUS to make matters worse I was lining up against a side that had Cherry in it. She was playing the sweeper role so I had to get past her first. Cherry the smartarse skated backwards so that she was facing me so I gave her the I'm watching you gesture which she gave back to me but try as I might I couldn't get past her. It's one thing knowing how she plays but it's another thing being able to execute it to get around her. If anything I'm noticing my footwork is improving when I come up against her because she's making me work so hard to try and get past her. I actually enjoyed the jammer role, I'll never be like Winnie Bruise but I like learning more about the game from another perspective. Sharni took some photos at training so here's the proof that I got to play jammer and tried to get past Cherry, the last pic makes me laugh talk about us two having a mirror image hehe (thanks for taking the pics Sharni!)

When it came to me doing pack work I kept getting caught out with the jammer getting past me on the inside line so that's something I'm definately going to have to work on. I did enjoy the drill where we couldn't look behind us to see where the opposing jammer was, only our pivot could and she'd have to tell us where to go. That was excellent for communication and trusting your pivot.

We finished the training session by playing queen of the rink with the added twist that Team Zebra were throwing cones onto the track that we had to avoid so we had to be really alert which was cool. I was going around without too much drama when I came to the corner where I had the near collision with Cherry earlier on in the night. I could see Cherry lining up Keiryn out of the corner of my eye but then Keiryn moved so Cherry came straight towards me and took me out before I had a chance to react. It all happened so fast that I can't even remember how I landed but I do remember the pain in my knee, that was the cherry on top (pardon the pun) I couldn't get up from the pain. Bede and Mick were playing doctor or should I say murses. Trying to move my knee was agony, I could feel the pain on the inside of my knee, the same spot where I damaged ligaments a few years ago. Bede and Mick were really helpful and the pain went down a bit that it wasn't consuming all my thoughts but then the feelings of frustration kicked in. I worked so hard to get to the level that I could participate in the scrimmage based exercises and here I was bloody injured again.

So this is the end result after being hit by Cherry (and it was the first time she's actually knocked me down). Sod having favourite skaters if this is what happens to you. God knows what's going to happen when I come up against GodJilla hehe.

I have being using humour to try and distract myself but the truth is I'm absolutely gutted right now. In no way am I blaming Cherry I know the risks that go with doing derby I'm just gutted that after last year I thought my injury dramas were behind me and here are they are fucking me up again. My knee isn't any better today so who knows how long I'm out for. What kills me is that I was starting to make some progress on the track. I'm just gutted :(