Saturday saw the CRoC gang at our usual location for the skills training. As am sure all of you are aware Roller Derby isn't just about being able to skate fast and hard. There is an enormous amount of 'prancing' about you need to be able to do, and with at least a small level of skill, so it is second nature. A few months ago skills training was all about falling down safely until we had done it so much it is now deeply ingrained in our psyche. Well almost.
This session was focused on running toe starts, well eventually we where running. The first hurdle with this is getting people to trust that they can stay balanced on their toe-stops. Personally I can flip up onto them and bounce about quite happily, usually, without losing my balance and face-planting into the gym floor. T-Licious can fly around on hers like, well its hard to describe. She's a figure skater so am sure that gives you an idea. Then we go all the way down the scale to girls who can barely stand up on them. So to start with we practiced standing, I was looking to make sure everyone had nice soft knees, and where still nice and low, in something that just about resembled a derby-stance. We then started to walk forwards just a few tentative steps. I encouraged people to NOT look directly in front of them. If your focused on that small piece of floor 6inches in front of you then, its really difficult to a: stay balanced, b: get any real speed and most importantly in my book c: see whats ahead. Think of it like driving, you need to look at the road ahead not right at the end of your car. Grazed Anatomy really found looking forwards a struggle to start with but once she gained some confidence to face ahead she really started to fly! we've a Jammer in our midst with that one!!
At this point I would like to mention to all new or 'green' roller girls and guys, please ensure your skates are safe every time you put them on your feet. By this I mean check your wheels are tight enough, your laces are not worn and about to snap at any moment and that your toe-stops are in nice and tight. NiKilla had a close call when her toe-stop lept out of her skate and took off across the hall, NiKilla hit the floor. Luckily she wasn't hurt (falls drills are now second nature remember) and the run away toe-stop didn't manage to jam up someone else's skates in an attempt to test their fall drills. If you are unsure how to do any of this, don't be scared to ask a member of your league, we all have to learn these things and if you never ask, then how will you ever learn? or hunt down a 'how to' on youtube!!
We then split down into our teams, Raiders one side of the hall and Roathmantics the other. This was so we could talk tactics and practice team work in preparation for Mondays intraleague, first one of 2011!! am just a tad excited about it. Hopefully the New Roathmantics will kick Raider butt again, but you never know whats going to happen. One Jam can change the whole dynamic of the game and you can go from having a nice lead to playing catch-up.
Stay Skating, Derby Love
Rhayfen
xx
This session was focused on running toe starts, well eventually we where running. The first hurdle with this is getting people to trust that they can stay balanced on their toe-stops. Personally I can flip up onto them and bounce about quite happily, usually, without losing my balance and face-planting into the gym floor. T-Licious can fly around on hers like, well its hard to describe. She's a figure skater so am sure that gives you an idea. Then we go all the way down the scale to girls who can barely stand up on them. So to start with we practiced standing, I was looking to make sure everyone had nice soft knees, and where still nice and low, in something that just about resembled a derby-stance. We then started to walk forwards just a few tentative steps. I encouraged people to NOT look directly in front of them. If your focused on that small piece of floor 6inches in front of you then, its really difficult to a: stay balanced, b: get any real speed and most importantly in my book c: see whats ahead. Think of it like driving, you need to look at the road ahead not right at the end of your car. Grazed Anatomy really found looking forwards a struggle to start with but once she gained some confidence to face ahead she really started to fly! we've a Jammer in our midst with that one!!
At this point I would like to mention to all new or 'green' roller girls and guys, please ensure your skates are safe every time you put them on your feet. By this I mean check your wheels are tight enough, your laces are not worn and about to snap at any moment and that your toe-stops are in nice and tight. NiKilla had a close call when her toe-stop lept out of her skate and took off across the hall, NiKilla hit the floor. Luckily she wasn't hurt (falls drills are now second nature remember) and the run away toe-stop didn't manage to jam up someone else's skates in an attempt to test their fall drills. If you are unsure how to do any of this, don't be scared to ask a member of your league, we all have to learn these things and if you never ask, then how will you ever learn? or hunt down a 'how to' on youtube!!
We then split down into our teams, Raiders one side of the hall and Roathmantics the other. This was so we could talk tactics and practice team work in preparation for Mondays intraleague, first one of 2011!! am just a tad excited about it. Hopefully the New Roathmantics will kick Raider butt again, but you never know whats going to happen. One Jam can change the whole dynamic of the game and you can go from having a nice lead to playing catch-up.
Stay Skating, Derby Love
Rhayfen
xx
No comments:
Post a Comment