Outdoor practice at the Crossings in Colonie

Monday night we had practice at the Crossings in Colonie.  We started with some offskates exercises lead by Bloody Knuckles Betty.  This included a team building activity which Betty described as "something from the Might Ducks".

Agility ladder drills

QUACK QUACK QUACK

After offskates we geared up for some trail skating!  A couple girls didn't have outdoor wheels so they ran along with us.  Viper Martini, our resident runner, was booking it!  At the end she raced Trixie Firecracker down the trail and kept up!

The weather held out for a very nice evening of outdoor skating.  Looking forward to hitting up the Crossings again this summer!

Viper Martini runs alongside Trixie Firecracker 

Great night for an outdoor skate session with the Hellions!

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'.

I broke my truck

Well, one of the trucks of my skate. During practice. I thought I was doomed to skate in rentals for the next couple weeks, but then Massacre happened to have an extra truck. Tossing it at me, he said, undo the bolt, take off the truck, and put the new one on the same way.

Wut?

Check out this diagram of a skate that I found at quadskating.com.  Lets just say that 24 hours ago, I did not know anything about parts 2 - 6.  Not many numbers, but really - look at all those parts!

After removing the broken truck (simply taking a skate took to bolt #2) it was actually very easy to switch it out.

Why did my truck break? I suspect because it's been over two years since I got my skates, and apparently trucks matched for this plate are notorious for breaking.  Anyway - no matter really...because I'm in the process of ordering new skates!  But that's another blog for another day.

Lesson: don't fear your skates! Don't be afraid to take them apart if something is wrong.  I even waited over a year before changing my wheels for the first time... sheesh! No worries.  As Miranda Wrights says: Roller skates, the friends beneath your feet.

Happy skating!

Short and Disharmony

Here's a picture of me and Disharmony from practice last night. I was practicing jamming a lot, which is great because that's part of my goals for 2011. Oh, and notice I am wearing my *favorite* bright green HoTRD shirt.

We got to scrimmage a bunch tonight, which is always fun and a great learning experience for our new girls who are up and coming.

Disharmony, formerly Road Kill, is rostered for our next bout - woohoo! You might recall some of her fresh meat musings from this blog: a mini series called Meat Locker Missive.

Snausage got a chuckle from our juxtaposition lined up on the jammer line together. Yeah yeah, same old story: I'm small, she's tall. But I just wanted to capture this memory to look back 6 months from now when Disharmony's a killer skater and remember the fun scrimmages we had before her first bout.

Black/White/Pink/Green

Check it out!  I crack up when people wear almost the exact same outfit to practice. Unlike a normal team that requires you to bring a both black and white scrimmage jersey to practice, we mix it up and require pink and green.  Almost everybody on the team has our standard HoTRD bright green tank.  Epic Kate-tastrophe and Deadlie Mercury also happened to wear that very similar hot pink shorts on Monday night! Thank you Epic and Deadlie for letting me snap this precious picture after practice, despite how sweaty y'all are.

Also, can we talk about how Deadlie is a towering giant?  She has her skates on in this picture, but don't let that and her slouched posture fool you.  I think she's probably 6 feet tall. One of my favorite pictures of her is in this blog post from back in the summer.

Flexi is definitely crazy about pink and green.  Read her crazy post about our colors on the Times Union Roller Derby blog.

Not too much else to say.  Here's a picture from when we debuted our bright green tanks. They definitely stand out.

Empire Skate Showdown, September 2010

Injuries and Regrets and Envy at a Tough Work Out

Guest post by Hellions freshmeat, Snausage

It's really hard to be injured when you've just discovered a sport that you love and really want to master. It's even harder to be injured when you so how much fun everyone is having during practice.

Last week the Hellions had a brutal endurance practice, and I wanted so badly to join them. It started out with the always fun, 40 in 10 (40 laps in 10 minutes). I re-injured myself a week ago during 40 in 10, so I know how hard it is. After four minutes, I spotted a certain Miss Short Temper attempting to call off this endurance work out as if she were lead jammer! Most of my fellow meat made a spectacular showing of it, getting over 40 laps in the time allotted. Good job girls!

Wall squats

The next part of the work out was a core work out drill. It started out with three sets of thirty second squats. I sat this one out as my Doctor has forbidden me from doing squats. The second part was three sets of thirty second bicycles (a type of 'crunch'), 'superman' (lie on your belly with your arms and legs raised off the ground and hold), and planks. I did participate in this workout and am grateful that I have much more core strength than I used to. There was much groaning and grumbling from the assembled players and referees, but you know they loved it.

Bicyles - a type of sit up.

Afterwards there were pack formation workouts. This I also sat out, but watched with great interest and much envy. Players were split up into groups of four and given a number. They were then to skate together and change position when it was called out, for example, two in the front, two in the back. There were 'whips' being given, to help players get into position more quickly. It was great to see the cooperation between seasoned vets and fresh meat (new members of the league).

The second pack drill was to block the jammer. Teams of four went out with a jammer following behind. I must admit I got a bit nervous when I saw one of our newest members going up against Miss Flexi Wheeler, who was jamming, but she held her own against a truly great player. It made me want to go out there and try it myself! Teams went out, many people fell, and a great and educational time was had by all. Here's a video of two teams of four out on the track, with a jammer trying to sneak her way through.

And then came the hitting. Players went out in groups of two and three to throw hits at each other, shoulder hits and hip hits. And while all of this was happening, the referees were out practicing their own skills. Even at practice, they are not shy about calling illegal elbows or back blocking.  All in all, an enjoyable practice to watch, but much more enjoyable to participate in as I saw on Facebook by all of the postings about being 'sore, but happy'. Hopefully I will heal soon and be able to return to my skates, until then this is Snausage, signing off.

Skating on Outdoor Wheels (Inside)

At last Monday's practice, I realized I left my indoor wheels at home.  I had my outdoor wheels on because I was skating outside for Troy Night Out. 

From my basic understanding, outdoor wheels are typically made from a softer material which makes rolling over rougher surfaces smoother.  They also have more traction so you slide around less.  Lastly, the outdoors wheels I am using have seen better days - they're just pretty worn down in general.

As I was warming up at practice, it felt like I was skating on marshmallows.  I was slow and generally had to work harder to propel myself around the track.  Of course, this was a night where coaching started out with the 25-in-5 drill.  Nooooooooo!  But, for science, I skated my heart out during that drill and just squeaked out 25 laps.  Normally, I can skate 28-30 -- who thought it could make such a difference!

So...good workout on Monday.  I will not be forgetting my indoor wheels again!

Hey Turd! I mean, Short T! Part 2

(read Part 1 here)

The apex event of my transition from fresh meat to veteran was about a month ago. We had just finished a hitti

ng drill which focused on both giving hits and taking hits. At the end of the drill, I felt discontent with my performance, and I think this was clear to coaching due to the sour look on my face. (One of the reasons I was not rostered for the first bout was because my hitting skills were not up to par.) "You want more practice hitting, Short T?" asked Beefcake, our coach. "Ok. EVERYONE! Line up, two even parallel lines. Short T in the back. This drill is called The Gautlent."

My teammates lined up side by side. My objective was to make my way through the middle of the two lines, with the two players next to each other in line pairing up. The goal was to execute a reasonably powerful hit on one player or the other. If I tried to hit one player, but missed, I could work on her partner. Once I performed a satisfactory hit, I could move up to the next pair.

My little graphic on the left probably makes it looks too easy. Imagine me actually bouncing off of girls maybe 5 or 6 times at least before moving to the next XO pair. So maybe it looked something more like this one on the right.

I got through, but it wasn't pretty and it wasn't easy. But it did show that my teammates were happy to help me become a better skater, and it ended up being one of my most memorable practices.

Hey Turd! I mean, Short T! Part 1

Since my first bout is a few days away, I wanted to look back at my time as a new skater. For the first three months with the Hellions, you are considered "fresh meat".

New recruits will often show up with a derby name in mind (more than once, I've heard people say the name they want is Punky Bruiser.) However, you need to earn your derby name! That's why it's Hellion tradition to give our freshies an endearing nickname in the meanwhile... with the requirement that it has to do with "meat" (vegetarians need not worry, we'll call you something like Tofutti or Chik'N instead!). My fresh meat name: Turducken! I thought this was the dandiest nickname. But of course, nothing is perfect and Flexi Wheeler threw her head back in laughter when she found out my name. "Turducken, huh? Welll, sorry to say, but I am going to have to call you TURD!" I should've seen that one coming.

So here I am, back in September 2009. 

This picture was taken on the first day I got my skates.  (My set up is Riedell 122 boots with Atom Queen B wheels for any EQ nerds out there.)

As I said in my first post, I didn't have much skating experience before joining roller derby (so don't try using that as an excuse when someone tries to recruit you!) Back in September, we did not have the excellent fresh meat training program we have today, but I was taught my skills none-the-less. Fellow class recruits include Asa Diamonds and Ref Foxworthy. Bear Lee Giveash*t was still pretty new at that time, too. So while the big kids (aka, the vets) worked on pack drills, we were taught the basics of skating, falling (without hurting ourselves), and stopping. The veterans that worked with us rotated, but I can say that I learned how to T-stop (a stop in which you put one foot behind the other, perpendicularly, dragging it on the floor) from Flexi Wheeler and how to execute a "baseball slide" fall (pretty much what it sounds like) from Dr. Bi O'Hazard.

Weeks passed and coaching began to integrate me in with the experienced players. For some reason, when I bought the rest of my gear, I forgot to buy a mouthguard. Of course when the refs saw that that I was skating without one, I was forbidden to participate in any contact (hitting drills) until I rectified the situation. This may or may not have had an influence in how long I ended up waiting to buy a mouth guard... but my fear of getting hit was something I had to get over. Plus, I was told that for the first few times, people would take it easy on me.

I remember the first time someone didn't take it easy on me, though. It had been a few weeks since I had been fully integrated in with the other skaters. I had a mouth guard. I had a few done a few hitting and whipping drills with the team. I should mention that during this time, the winter, we were in our off season, so practices were focused less on scrimmaging and more on basic skills derby. Anyway, we were doing a drill where we all skate around the track in a straight line, and the person in the back has to take a whip from each person in front of her. A whip is when one skater holds out their arm and the person coming up from behind grabs it and the first player flings her forward in order to give her a boost of speed. I was halfway up the line, most teammates just giving me pretty mild whips. Then I got to Julietta Vendetta. We were coming up on a turn as she held out her arm and I grabbed it. Long story short, I was sent flying. Obviously V didn't give me the whip with malice, but when I learned the importance of balance in roller derby ... also, from that point on I knew I could no longer expect everyone to take it easy on me.

Two thumbs and rostered for the next bout.

Monday night at practice our roster for our next bout was announced. Our second game of the season is coming up, and I was not on the roster for the first bout. Not being picked was a learning experience: derby is competitive and it's important to prove you're solid with your skills or coaching is just not going to put you out there. People had been encouraging me to get aggressive -- play like I was mad at someone -- play like derby was where I could let all my frustration out. But it was wasn't quite clicking. After I didn't get picked for the first bout, it was time to play like my spot on the roster depended on it. With that in mind, let me tell you - the aggression and determination follows.

I've been skating with the Hellions since mid-September 2009. The Hellions' next bout is May 8, 2010 -- 8 months since I first strapped on skates. We'll be playing the Utica Roller Girls (URG) at the New Hartford Recreation Center in New Hartford, NY at 7pm. This will be a special game for me because my dad is from the Utica area and I've visited out there my entire life. My grandma and great aunt still live out there -- a while back I attended a skills testing event hosted by URG and I invited my aunt and grandma to come and watch. Needless to say, they told my whole family that I was now a "professional roller skater". They're actually the only two in family who have seen me skate. I can't wait for everyone else to come see me in action. I'll let them be the judge...and more importantly, my teammates and coaches. After 8 months of skating, I've learned a lot. My teammates have told me I'll learn more about the game from my first bout than that whole time period combined. Have you ever prepared and prepared and prepared for something, only to have the best learning experience be the first time you actually put your new skills into actual use?

Edit: I also want to mention that when Beefcake was reading down the list of rostered skaters on Monday, my name was called second to last. Talk about building up the suspense! Why second to last? Well, actually, people thought I was the last name to be called, until Beefcake pointed out he only read 13 names (a full roster is 14 skaters). Who would be taking the 14th spot? Surprise! We are also welcoming back Sonic Euthanizer, who is now back on the track after the birth of her daughter. Very excited to share the track with all our great veterans, especially Sonic.