Slowly Slowly catchy monkey...

Dinner sorted? check! Kids organised? Check! Other half settled? Check! Off to practise I go!

First things first, my darling derby wife Rhayfen giggled at my new kit bag on

Saturday asking if I could have gotten a bigger one - tis true the bigger the bag the more crap you put in it! However last night it came in very handy as I was packing spare pads and helmet for a friend of mine that was coming to have a go (so ner wifey :p )

The lovely Up Ya Jonsey picked me up with the wife and Knuckle Sandwich Nancy and the usual babble of conversation ensued.

Arriving at Coleg Glan Hafren, pads were dished out, kit on and off to warm ups. Feel much better with the new knee pads, its amazing how such a small change can make a big difference. OK so I'm not the most confident skater still but I felt much more stable last night which helps with the confidence issue. After a quick introduction as we had 3 new ladies join us last night we were split off into 2 groups, min skills and non min skills. Mrs Baxter decided we would work on stopping (plough and T) and I've kinda discovered that, OK I might not be mastering T stops yet but also I may need a slight wheel adjustment as all sticky wheels seem to not want to drag. This definitely needs more home practise via 'zombie walking' lol. From here we went on to turning, after arguing with my foot and telling it it was not to lift off the floor I found I could quite happily just about go round in circles on the spot (dizzy!) however factor in some forward momentum and I was buggered! Rhayfen swapped in with Mrs Baxter in the teaching capacity so I picked her brain on the situation and it seems I can do it after all, just in a different way - different things work for different people, its just a case of finding what works for you I guess and the was I was shown looks like it may help with my T stop situation :)

From there we were all called back into the middle and were told we were going to have a mini scrim - now I may be a bit tupped but am not mental enough to join in quite yet, maybe in a few weeks when my confidence is back where it should be. So I joined the newcomers and was scorekeeper. It was great watching the girls really go for it and Rhayfen and Jinx'em G were fab jammer refs, although poor Dotty De'Struction - its one thing to be taken down but a whole other ball game to have the other player over your back! Still it was all fun and the final score was Raiders 47 Roathmantics 37. Cool down and stretches done, kit packed away - Charlie has taken to derby like a duck to water so it will be good to see her next session :D Car ride home! Interesting conversation to say the least, but maybe not one to post up here ;)

So, things to remember from last night

1. turning, master that and your stops should follow
2. try and skate a bit longer on one foot, helps with the balance issue
3. swap out some wheels, sticky is good to a point!

TTFN

xxxxxx