Outdoor skating, why kneehigh socks are a rollergirl's best friend and visiting the Bandits

As I’ve said before…outdoor skating terrifies me and I don’t know why! In my newbie days I was the Queen of being unsteady and falling down so you think I’d have had enough practice by now! I think it’s just a lack of faith in myself and my feet, hopefully it won’t be long until I can glide along as confidently as I do on the smooth sports hall floor!

Luckily for me though, one of our local parks has a lovely circular path that’s pretty smooth so that was where we headed today to practice crossovers and get some clockwise skating in! Our plan was to meet at 6.30pm and, as sod’s law predicted, the rain started at twenty-five past as I was about to walk out of the door with my gear. We weren’t going to let the weather beat us though, and we decided to hide in a car and chat until there was a break in the sogginess, but we’d barely got our skates on before it started again. Nevermind! We figured that as the rain wasn’t that heavy we’d carry on til it got too slippery, and it kept breaking for sunshine anyway so the path stayed pretty much dry.

It was great! It’s on a slight hill so for half of the lap you’re speeding along with ease, and for the second half you’ve got to work really hard not to lose all the speed you’ve built up. It was a really nice surface and there were only a couple of small bumps, and even they were pretty smooth! I was hesitant to do crossovers at first, but the more I skated (and the drier the path became!) the easier they got. I definitely want to get some more practice in tomorrow, so it might be a good idea to put my MP3 player to good use and get some endurance training in!

It’s nice to be able to get some clockwise skating in too, and the length and roundess of the track mean it’s much easier to get comfortable with turning right. I’d like to spend half of practice skating the wrong way, maybe even run each drill anti-clockwise and clockwise, but sometimes it’s not possible, especially if you have a practice dedicated to scrimmaging. My back feels sore all over now, which is a nice change from just being sore on one side!

We also did a time trial each, seeing how many laps we could do in a minute. I managed to do just under four in my minute, but I didn’t crossover the whole way round, and I was pretty slow overall. It’s really frustrating because I don’t have the same fear on the track…even the thought of sliding into a wall doesn’t really scare me because I know I can tuck into a ball and not hurt myself TOO much…but for some reason I can just see all types of unholy skate-death as I’m flailing my way round the paths.

But my key advice to all has to be, do NOT wear trainer liners whilst skating. Ever! Knee-high socks are a Derby Gal’s best friend for a reason people…they look fab when they’re up to your knees, and when the weather’s hot you can ruffle them down and they stop the tongue of your skates from rubbing the HELL out of where your leg and your foot meets. Keep the trainer socks for your trainers…

I’m considering upgrading my out-door setup to a pair of these Skorpion Multi-Terrain skates because they look like they’ll work fantastically on lumpy, bumpy, root-broken paths as well as meaning that I can high-tail it across fields and beaches (not that we have many beaches round here in the midlands) when the mood takes me! I’m just dreaming of taking my dog to the beach out of season (when he’s allowed to enjoy the amenities too!) and racing him in my multi-terrain skates! Ha ha…he’s terrified of me on wheels though so he’ll probably refuse to do anything except knock me to the ground.

I’m also considering upgrading my indoor setup too…it sucks skating in Wickeds that are that tiny bit too big for you. It’d be amazing to be able just to think about my skating and not what my skates are doing on the end of my leg!

As well as outdoor skating, I’ve also been part of a CCR road trip to spread the Derby love. Sunday just gone, myself, Hustle’her, Ouija Broad and Chet Wisconsin made a trip down to Bedford to help the Bandits out with their Derby coaching. Their basic skills coach, Lil’ Joker, is an amazing skater (you have to see him reffing on the ouside of the track, skating backwards faster than the pack’s skating forward to believe it) but he asked us along to share some of our Derby strategy and drills with his ladies. I jumped at the chance to go down and see Ab Salute and her hubby, Ref’in Hell and do some yelling at some skaters!

I’ve been friends with Abs for a couple of years now and met her on a tattoo forum where my infectious chatter about Roller Derby spawned not one, but TWO UK Roller Derby leagues, the Bedford Bandits and the Lincolnshire Bombers (She’za Payne was also a member!) so I feel close to both leagues. It was brilliant to get to meet some more of the Bandits properly…

Here’s my blog for the CCR Myspace blogs:

It’s a well-known fact that the Central City Rollergirls are kind, giving, and always up for a road trip, so it was no surprise that four of us jumped at the chance to head down to Bedford to share some of our favorite drills and strategy tips with the Bandits. Unfortunately, Dorothy Pale was otherwise engaged, so Team Ninja-Coaching (aka Myself, Hustle’her, Ouija Broad and Chet Wisconsin) began the journey one member down. It’s hard to believe, but our capacity to talk about Roller Derby, skating and physical punishment (otherwise known as exercise) always surprises me, but it’s got to be the best way to spend a boring trip down the motorway. Sunday’s trip was no exception, and inbetween breaking down the previous day’s practice, our own skating ability and general league matters we even managed to work out how to best torture the Bandits with our practice plan.

We arrived in plenty of time to have hugs and a chat with Ab Salute and Ref’in Hell, the head honchos of the BBRD camp, but it wasn’t long before we were all kitted up and testing out the sportshall floor. Ab’s wasn’t wrong when she told us we wouldn’t need our pusher wheels, and we all agreed that the Bandits deserve kudos for their sheer leg strength…we were stuck to the floor faster than Chet’s usually stuck to the newbies!

Lil’ Joker was suffering some stress-inducing car-death, so we lost out on his warm-up (believe me, none of the CCR were complaining about this! Members of the London Rockin’ Rollers and the Windsor Roller Girls can attest to torturous nature of his warm-ups at our mixed scrimmages) but Ab Salute was quick to step into his skates, kicking off the session with some gruelling whips and pushes drills, finishing off with sprints before it was our turn to take over.

After a brief run through of the roles of each skating position, we set the Bandits off on the track, practicing their position of choice. Pivots were skating round low and wide, hogging the middle of the track and looking over their shoulders, some blockers were hugging the inside line, others were practicing dodging around the outside and the power blockers were also taking up as much track as possible, checking over their shoulders before doing short sprints as if they were racing through the pack. Then it was onto waterfall drills, making sure each group kept a close proximity. This drill helps skaters learn to work together when they move within the pack, and by intermittantly reaching out to touch their teammates it becomes easier to stick together in a tight pack formation.

We also went through the basics of skating low and wide for the best balance, legal target and blocking zones and shoulder and hip checks before setting up a blocking line to practice the action of both types of hits. I was really impressed (and pretty sore) when Munchin Mong and Inky Mix both managed to send me flying (both times grabbing Hustle’her for support and pulling her with me. Sorry!)…

Then it was onto the important stuff…scrimmaging! In groups of four the Bandits played some two-on-two; blockers vs. assist and jammer. In this game, one skater works to get her jammer past a wall of two opposing skaters. There’s many ways she can create gaps for her partner to get through the middle or the inside, but not around the outside of the ‘pack’.

After that there was just time for one more scrimmage game, where in teams of four, each with three blockers and one jammer, the jammers take it in turns to go through the pack. This drill gives each team the chance to work on a particular strategy; attack or defence. Each team worked hard to do their part, either trying to get their jammer through, or keep the oppositions jammer trapped for as long as possible, and in the end we only had time for each jammer to have one go each before we had to start cooling down and clearing up.

It was great to skate with the Bandits on their home turf, and even more fun to get to help them hone their skills. We were sorry we didn’t get to skate with Lil’ Joker, but it was fantastic to meet some of the team and get to know them all better on a smaller scale (it’s quite hard making friends at mixed scrimmages when there’s about 60 other girls in the hall…) I hope we get to see them all again soon for some skating action!

Oh! And best wishes to Lil’ Joker’s car…we all wish it a speedy (and cheap!) recovery!

…and phew…what a long entry! I’m going to a tattoo art exhibition tonight, run by the gorgeous Mandie Barber(there’s some pictures of my lilies on that site somewhere), so I should hopefully have some intesting non-skating stuff to talk about tomorrow!!

The Lincolnshire Bombers are...A BLAST!

I am the first one to admit that I love to talk...and especially about Roller Derby! I’m really proud to be able to say that because of my incessant Roller Derby prattle - on various internet forums and with my friends – I’ve spawned (by proxy) two brand new Roller Derby Leagues in the UK; The Bedford Bandits Roller Derby, and The Lincolnshire Bombers Roller Girls. It leaves me with a warm fuzzy glow :o)

On Saturday I travelled up to Lincoln to visit with my friends Emma (aka Sheza Payne) and Abi (aka Psycho Hose Rose), and meet the rest of the girls that form the LBRG. It was a long train journey and I was slightly worried that I’d get myself lost somewhere between Redditch (where I live) and Grantham (where Payne was picking me up from the station), but I braved it out and arrived at my destination with the minimum of stress! I was so relaxed in fact that I managed to bypass Payne waiting on the platform…she had to chase me up two flights of stairs and plant a slap on my ass before I even realised she was there! I’m such a muppet.

Our normal tattoo-talk was replaced with a near-on obsessive conversation about Roller Derby that lasted the entire journey home…and the rest of the weekend!! We were celebrating the birthday of one of the LBRG’s smallest refs, Lean Mean Skating Machine #H8, but in between eating curry and watching old movies we still managed to talk up our favorite sport for hours, as well as getting handy changing some wheels that didn’t want to be changed. As soon as the movie was over and the kids were in bed we stepped it up a notch...watching Roller Derby on TV til the wee small hours of the morning.

Practice was scheduled for 11am the next day, and we awoke bright and bleary-eyed, more than ready for some skating action! I was beginning to get worried as Psycho, Buxom Bruiser and Dolly Lephard (as well as Payne herself) were all warning me how hard I’d be expected to work…and about Payne’s punishments! I made sure that I was armed with plenty of cups of tea before I let them drag me out of the house and to the sports hall.

With a fear of squat-thrusts weighing firmly on my mind, I kitted up in seconds and was on the track in no time, revelling in the wonder of the smooth, fast floor…and thanking the Roller Derby Goddess for Sure-Grip Pushers!! As soon as we were warm and stretched the serious skating started, and for the next hour my wheels never once stopped turning. There was NO WAY I was going to fall prey to a punishment drill and I managed to find some previously untapped reserve of willpower. It was a real baptism of muscle-fire, but I managed it, and I think Payne was all the prouder of me for it!

Later on we got to practice some more fun drills that didn’t require us to skate for infinity…things like stops and falls, running on our toestops, trolley cart races and the like. It turns out I’ve forgotten how to stop again, and I might have to face the fact that my body can only handle so many skating skills…if I learn something new something old gets forgotten! Either that or I’m just not getting enough practice in recently!! I need to get me some outdoor training and SOON!

When our two hours was up and we were all sufficently drenched in sweat it was time to let up and go to the pub for a good old rollergirl takeover! Fourteen of us went for food in the end and so our only option was to steal a reserved table (not ours) and cause so much noise that our food was brought out in double-quick time. It seems that the Lincolnshire men favor Roller Derby attire (even going as far as following us round the leisure centre/car park/pub)…but some of the ladies didn’t seem so impressed at the bevvy of fishnet-clad legs that were wandering around the two-for-one! I really enjoyed getting to know the rest of the LBRG without worrying that I was going to have to do squat-thrusts as a payback…they’re a fab bunch of ladies and I can’t wait to skate with them again!!

Later on, I headed back to Payne’s house with her and Psycho where we spent yet more time discussing Roller Derby, planning skate events and watching Rollergirls on DVD. It was a brilliant weekend and I really didn’t want it to end, but eventually it was time to go catch my train. Unfortunately my journey back wasn’t so great and I spent most of it hanging round on train platforms watching snow fall and wishing there was some food around. Luckily, Mr Gory and I have some kind of psychic connection (at least that’s my story…his version is that he’s Omnipotent and can read my mind wherever I am) and he met me at the station before whisking me off to the late-night wonder that is Maccy D’s! He’s a good boy :o)

Sorry that the promised pictures aren’t accompanying this blog, but I managed to stop myself from purchasing the aforementioned shiny shiny camera…HOWEVER!…on my return to Redditch my will failed and off I went to buy it. I can’t help it, it’s an early birthday present to myself and I NEED it for my holiday next week!! Mr Gory’s whisking me and the puppy away to a little pink fairy cottage for my birthday and I CAN’T WAIT (you can tell I’m getting excited when the caps-lock comes on!)!

Gory out!