Friday, March 30, 2012

another Thursday, another scrimmage

so I still don't feel like I'm where I should be.  I'm still falling too much and not keeping up and whatnot.  Sigh.

In other jamming news, there were a few interesting outtakes from last night -

first time I jammed, I got lead, and went around and around until I remembered HEY I CAN STOP THIS INSANITY ANY TIME I WANT and called it off.

then, another time I was jamming, I got hit in such a way that I ended up JAMMING BACKWARDS.  The reaction was pretty much what it was the first time we ever saw a star pass - "um....okay, what the fuck do we do now?"  I skated that way for about a quarter of the track, got myself turned around by taking a hip whip off a teammate - and *then* I fell.  It was amusing, anyway.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

once again, I entitle a blog entry "so"

Jeremy said that I should come in one more time before April 14 (theoretically the next bout I'd be in, hopefully the captains will post the roster soon), as sort of an "exit interview" PT session. AND THEN I BE DONE.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

aaaaaaaaaaaaand life goes on

I have another PT session this morning.  I'm going to go in and be like "I skated in a full-contact, full-length scrimmage on Sunday with no ill effects. MY WORK HERE IS DONE"

Monday, March 26, 2012

Weekend

So!  Another weekend.  Friday I went with a bunch of friends (and my sister, who came into town) to a local high school production of Xanadu.  One of my teammates was the roller skating director, and these were the kids I was supposed to help out that one time but I felt like crap so I didn't.

Holy cow high school theater productions have changed since I was in them.  Microphones!  More than just a piano for the instrument accompaniment!  It was really awesome, and the kids did a great job with their roller skating and it was a lot of fun.

Saturday was bout night, at the college we had the bout at last year at this time (our normal venue is booked every weekend in March from now until the end of time).  It was crazy, the A team won, wahoo and yay.  I got to watch the bout this time, as the college handled tickets and therefore I didn't have to work box office.

Sunday we had are Quarry scrimmage against the B-team/fresh meat of the A team.  Guh, I hadn't scrimmaged in MONTHS and I could tell.  They had me jamming in one of the lineups, but because of penalties and whatnot I didn't jam that often.  One time I got lead jam but just as I did I got knocked down and didn't realize I was lead jam until I heard the coach yelling "QUEENIE CALL IT OFF".  Then there were a bunch of times when I broke the pack but wasn't lead jam and the lead jammer called it off before I hit the pack again.  The last time, that happened, but I got to the pack again and got 4 points before the lead jammer called it, yay.

The whole scrimmage I just felt off, though.  My timing was all wrong and I felt vaguely shaky (note: you need more to eat than two mini muffins before playing) the whole time.  All the quarry people were like "You're awesome, I've never seen you in that mode before", but I was just like "I'm not at my best".

On Thursday I'd gotten a bunch of DVDs of previous bouts and scrimmages so I scanned through them and watched 'em Sunday afternoon.  Man, I really need to work on cascading - time after time their jammer would pass me and I'd just give up.  SKATE TO THE FRONT, QUEENIE.  HIT THEM AGAIN.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanyway, last night was final Boot Camp for this session.  Our peeps look good. 

This morning, I felt like someone had put a hamburger press on my body - all I could move were my hands and feet.  GUH.  I'm wussing out of practice tonight - I need to recover.


Friday, March 23, 2012

ehhhhh

So last night was a full scrimmage, the whole nine yards.  I even jammed, at one point.  (Didn't break the pack, but I didn't give up, and I felt like I took a lot of hard hits and I didn't fall.)

I feel like I've lost a *lot* of ground during the time I was out with my knee issues.  I'm slower, I can't quite keep up as well as I should, I have a little bit of "oh crap what am I supposed to do right now" still going on.

Our league's tendency when playing now is to crowd up against the jammer line, which I just do not like at all.  It turns the beginning of the jam into a cluster fuck that is just not any fun.  Sigh.  I s'pose I'll just have to get used to it.


Tuesday, March 20, 2012

your humble narrator and Maverick, from the parade

I *love* this picture

wheeeeeeeeeeeee

Me (after a hitting drill): Did I tell you I'm back to full contact now?
The Ref Who Was Assigned to Be My Partner: I think you just did.

Ah, roller derby, I love you so.

Monday, March 19, 2012

oops

so last night I skated with the Quarriors, as I'm skating with them during next Sunday's scrimmage.  I was a little too bloodlusty, though, as I got a lot of illegal blocking calls.  IT'S JUST BEEN SO LONG SINCE I'VE GOTTEN TO KNOCK SOMEONE DOWN.

Saturday, March 17, 2012

wow

they estimated between 100,000 and 150,000 people came to the parade this year.  they think it was the largest parade in the city EVER.


Tuesday, March 13, 2012

I love to skate, and practice, and scrimmage

So last night I helped with the newer skaters who are scrimmaging on the 25th.  I was sort of the "perma-jammer", and one of the referees and I would practice going through their packs at different times, together, alternate sitting in the box, etc., so they could formulate their strategy as to what they should do and do it.

My knee felt perfectly fine the whole evening.  Granted, they're new so they weren't really hitting too hard, but there were one or two skaters who really knocked me for a loop.

Plus I got a new fresh spot of rink rash, about the size of my fist, on my upper leg.  Yay! (not really)

Monday, March 12, 2012

the beat, as they say, goes on

Last night was more Boot Camp.  T stops and plow stops and positional blocking and weaving and jumping, oh my!  There are a few skaters who need a little help, but for the most part everyone's really got the hang of the skating basics, which is nice.

Our team practice was cancelled tonight but the practice time is going to the Quarriors, so I'll go help out with them.  Maybe I can even scrimmage with them! 

St. Patrick's Day parade is this Saturday and so far, knock on wood, the weather looks PHENOMENAL.  Sunny and mid 60's? YES PLEASE


Friday, March 9, 2012

yay!

so I went to practice last night figuring I would do just random skating around the outside edges. 

But then I actually tried putting my kneepad on over my brace (as opposed to when I did it before, which was in the back seat of my car in a rush and whatnot) and.....

It wasn't bad at all.  The back initial straps were a little strained, but I could crank the second level of straps down and they held.

So that meant, in the last part of the evening, I GOT TO SCRIMMAGE WAHOO!  For the first time in, like, a real long time (since I didn't even get to the scrimmage part of the first practice where I initially hurt myself).

I did feel very OH CRAP I'M OUT HERE NOW REMIND ME WHAT I NEED TO DO, but I did get some good positional blocking on the other team's jammer and heard some "Go, Queenie!" cheers from the bench, which made me feel good.  I also realized that if you're positionally blocking the other team's jammer, you don't necessarily need to go for the big knock-out hit.  Someone else can do that for you.

So yeah, I got to scrimmage, wahoo, and I think I should be ok in time to be rostered for the April 14th bout (depending, of course, on what my captains say).

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

upd8

so Monday I went to practice.  Did the full warmup, did one-on-one drills with no problem (except that my partner in the drills was one of my really good friends so we were giggling and otherwise cracking up the whole time). 

We were in the middle of a demonstration that kinda turned into a scrimmage when I fell really awkwardly and was like OH NO MY KNEE.  I immediately got off the track and iced it and sat out the rest of practice, but was fine yesterday.

This morning I had PT and told Jeremy how things went.  THEN I told him as sort of a "hey, I never mentioned this before but probably should have" thing that I haven't been wearing my brace while skating.  He was like "thaaaaaaaaaaaaat's......really when you should be wearing your brace without a doubt.  Like, it's more important than your knee pad."  Whoops!  I tried putting my kneepad on over my brace but it was really awkward and didn't really fit, so I will probably have to call the ortho guy and ask for a prescription for a slimmer profiled knee brace WHEE.

Monday, March 5, 2012

moving forward and all that

So last night we started a new batch o'Fresh Meat (we're calling them "312 Quarry", since they started in March 2012).  There's about fifteen or so, which is pretty kewl.  I feel privileged to be part of their learning process, even though most of the time I can't explain exactly what it is I'm doing ("okay....just kinda push out with your inner wheels?  or push in with your outer wheels.  One or the other.")

With our 911 Quarry (September 2011), we were doing some pack work.  I ended up being a jammer, which was cool because I got knocked around quite a bit and my knee was fine.  It was a little achy afterwards, but whatever.  I'm going to try one-on-one drills at practice tonight and will probably just end up saying SCREW IT I'M FINE and be scrimmaging by the end of practice.

Our neighbors to the east, Central New York Roller Derby, lost their practice space and a lot of their equipment in a fire, so I am making them new helmet covers.  Four sets of four, sixteen total.  I've finished both pivots for three of the sets and need to sew the stars on the jammers for the three sets.  (I also need to get some matching thread for the stars.) 

My boots are irritatingly switching between "fantastic" and "HAMMER TO THE TOES OW GODDAMMIT". Last night after doing an hour of T stops and plow stops my feet were killing me.  I've been getting a lot of "those plates look AWESOME" compliments lately, which is cool.