Barrelhouse Bessy and Rolla Junky ran us thru a pyramid drill, falling drills, whips and a warm down of pack skating. But first up a safety check, including making sure everyone's toe stops were nice and tight.
Pyramid drills as you will soon learn are every derby girls "favourite" *insert sarcasm here*.
For those of you that don't know it involves 2 people pairing up and taking turns skating laps of the track, starting at one and working their way up to a designated number ( last night was 5) and then back down to one. The aim is to do it as fast and as cleanly as possible - no inside track cutting, no out of bounds skating, and no interference with other skaters.
Bessy and Pixie Pincher took us for stretching and then it was onto falls in smaller groups.
Single knee slides, double knee slides and my personal favourite .... baseball slides,
- a combination of knee slide finishing with a sex kitten a-top a grand piano pose ;) Once that was mastered it was time to test them on the track. We split into 2 groups, Great Whites & Fighting Kangaroo's with the oldies included for good measure. Whenever the name of your group was called out you had to do a fall, stay down on the track till the next groups name is called, then get up quickly, safely and continue skating.
I don't know what hurts more today, my ass from a recent coccyx fall or my thighs from all those knee slide lunges!?
Next up- whips, again in smaller groups learnt the basics of a hip whip (which will be in the testing) and the importance of communicating what you are doing to your whipee. Remember if you are taking a whip to execute it effectively you need a good grip, adequate pull, but also a stable whipee, don't forget how important that derby stance is for balance. Some of you may have missed out on doing arm whips, don't stress there will be time for this later on.
Finally some pack skating, practicing nice tight groups and "sticky wheels" getting used to not lifting your feet as you skate, moving around in a pack, and again that all important COMMUNICATION. Then planks,
sit ups and squats to end the night.
Vaderella says: "It was fantastic having a competent skate skill group of around 60 to manage and they took up the instruction and drills like hungry hungry hippos. Great session tonight everyone - I'm so happy we haven't broken anyone...yet (fingers crossed for a fresh meat intake that's intact!)"
Just a reminder to remain intact No protective gear = No skating
That means you MUST bring and WEAR your mouth guards... in your mouth not as a helmet decoration ;)
I don't want to see any of you ending up like this!!!
This was taken at my workplace recently, the person was only walking down the street! So can you imagine what could happen on skates, at speed on cement!??? Not only is this a safety issue, but during bouts you are required to wear all your safety gear correctly, so it's really important to get used to how it feels when your skating flat out gasping for air, how tight you like your laces done up, or which way round your knee pads go... right Vader ;) ???
Posts
Owwww!!!
ReplyDeleteI also think it is important to learn how to talk with a mouth guard in, particularly if you want to be a jammer or a pivot - so start wearing it around the house! BuB xx
I was just wondering, how many people made it through the first round of testing??
ReplyDeleteThe answer is in the quote from Vader, 'It was fantastic having a competent skate skill group of around 60'. There are also a few who are already in the league that are going through fresh meat due to injury, long-term absence etc.
ReplyDeleteThat guy really should have flossed more. Maybe floss should be required safety equipment?
ReplyDeleteWe now have 49 new skaters and 9 new refs,
ReplyDeleteVaders comment was talking about the total number of people at this past training session (including oldies).
flossing?? who cares about flossing when 3 of yr front teeth ar snapped in half?!
ReplyDelete