Colleg Glan Hafren is not the warmest of places, its a large sports hall so cozy and warm its not, and when its -4 outside there is a distinct shiver in the CRoC-ettes. HA! we sound like potato yummy-ness!!
I didn't take Abadabadoo's warning for thermals seriously, and regretted it as soon as I walked into the hall. My night started off not very well, after I laid down the track with the help of a few other girls, we did our warm up. We have been doing leg raises against the wall to help strengthen our quads, calves and all the ligaments that tie your legs all together. Anyways, I had my back to the wall and had done about 5 front-raises when out of no where BAM! am down on my arse, I didn't even feel my wheels start to roll out from under me, I was concentrating on getting my raises precise and controlled. That basically is how my night progressed, one fall led to another then another and for the first time in my limited derby career I was actually falling.
Now I have had an advantage up until now in that I skated alot as a child, I remember going out and around the estate for hours on my roller-blades, I literally wore them till they fell apart. So getting back into a pair of skates 15 years later was more a case of remembering what I used to do and doing it again, yet somehow I was now worried about getting hurt, that never happened when I was 10, I distinctly remember building a ramp outside the house, flying down the hill at full speed, hitting the ramp and trying to jump about 3 or 4 of the neighbourhood kids, it went wrong and so off to Winchester A&E I went, but still, there was no fear. So back to the point, Until now as a team we have been getting the 'bambi' skaters to be more confident and to have faith that they can whizz around the track and stop when they want, we are almost there with everyone!! CRoC pat yourselves on the back, you have worked so hard!!
Now we decided a few weeks ago that it would be a good idea to hold a closed intra-league bout on 13th Dec, so we can test our teams and our Ref's, coz up until now at training we have only really spent about 45-60 mins doing scrimmage practice, so we haven't really had the chance to test out bout conditions, and if am honest we haven't been that strict with some of the rules. Things like skaters numbers on their arms, 30 secs between Jams etc. Things are getting serious now though and if we want to compete we have to do it right. So 13th December, CRoC will hold a closed door (no public invite only) bout between Raiders Of the Roath Park and New Roathmantics. It seemed ages away back in November, now its Monday coming!!! so we decided that this practice would be all about blocking and pack work. The Zebras would call fouls as and when they saw them, and rather than going to the sin-bin we have the girls do 10 press-ups. It keeps things moving and funnily enough they seem less likely to re-offend after that then having to sit and watch people skate for 2 minuets!!!
So we wrote our numbers on our arms, we chose our Jammers and Pivots for the first Jam, and waited for the whistle. 3 Jams in and things where a little scrappy, not in the fight sense, but in the fact that the pact wasn't as tight as it should have been and there where massive holes where the Jammers where just flying through. I also noticed that black seemed to all be on the inside and blue on the outside or visa-versa. Something which we will address on Saturday am sure. Jammer's Assistant, our coach extraordinaire, blew up and had us all pair up and practice blocking for a few minuets before pulling us all back together and it seemed to do the trick, we all started to actually hit each other.
Here's where the shout outs start. NiKilla is awesome both as a blocker and a jammer, but we kindda knew that already. Grazed Anatomy is improving on a weekly basis, she is now starting to throw a hit and mean it, I dunno if its something she ate for breakfast Monday morning or what but there was a few times where she had me wobble and just a little more conviction and faith in the throw and I would have gone down. (a few time I did!) Up-Ya-Jonesy gets my MVP (most valued player) for this week, she may not be the fastest, or the strongest skater, but she has the courage and determination of a warrior. In April this girl could barely stand in wheels and last night she Jam'd her heart out for the full 2 minutes. Do you know what she said after? "Am gutted I couldn't get past those blockers, I need to work harder"
Work Harder??!! Jeez girl you were kicking ass! remember in the words of the amazing Bonnie D Stroya, its about the small moments of fabulousness, and you Jonesy where fabulous for 2 minutes!!!!
We worked our little derby butts off, and thanks to Jasmina Poison mine very nearly came off! The best bit, she is on my team. The Jammer
SLAM!
Jasmina had balled up, I hit the floor and waited for the pain to kick in, nothing happened so I got back up on my skates and sped towards the rest of the pack, 24 hours later and its difficult to get up off the sofa/chair/floor etc, but its just bruising. DERBY KISSES! I hear all you seasoned gals cry, alas but no. I feel the bruise but yet again I have a magical invisible derby kiss. Which only instills in me the belief that I am either a; I am immune to bruises, or b; when I do finally get a derby kiss, its gonna come in the form of a snapped ligament or broken bone!!
Well that about it from me.
Derby Love and Keep Skating
Rhayfen xx
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