First time scrimmaging

During practice last week we had the opportunity to introduce some of our new girls to the basics of scrimmaging. They've been working on stops, falls, and basic hits .... so we thought it might be fun to throw them into some real action! Their WFTDA minimum skills test is also coming up soon!

Freshmeat girls Cricket* and June Bug* were eached "drafted" to a team, black and pink respectively. I wore pink that night, so I got to work with June Bug. There's a couple things you try to remember to tell people the first time they scrimmage:
+ If you get knocked out, come in behind the person who hit you out so you don't get a cut.
+ Work with a partner.
+ Stay on the line.
+ Watch for the jammers!

Cricket and June Bug lined up to jam - first time ever!

On our team we also moved June Bug from the inside line to working in the middle. At one point, we had them both jam! Here they are lined up on the jammer line. They actually both jammed a couple times and each got lead jammer at least once. I saw Cricket jump right over a downed skater and it was awesome!

June Bug - Lead Jammer!!

Cricket looks to take the inside line to race ahead of the pack!

When you practice jumping as a freshmeat, it can be awkward because you're not really jumping out of necessity, you're just jumping over 3 inch orange cones to prove you can do it. We don't always practice jumping at the same speeds we actually play at. So I was very impressed when the time came to jump over a whole person (a lot bigger than a little 3 inch cone), she did it without a doubt. We were all like "YAYYYYYYYYYY that was awesome" and she just looked at us with a "what did I even just do?" This actually happened to me during my first bout.

That's one of the best parts of your first scrimmage. You don't even know how good you are and we can barely express how proud and impressed we are by all your hard work.

*the theme of this quarter's fresh meat class is "edible insects" and includes other names such as 'Centipede' and 'Locust'.