BLOGGER TEMPLATES AND TWITTER BACKGROUNDS

Tuesday 15 March 2011

Hop, block and falls

Yesterday was a bit of an odd one for me, I decided I need to spend more time on my skates to make myself feel more at home on them so thought I know! I'll do the laundry on them! I can get a bit of turns practice in then too - it was, errrr......interesting. I managed to get a load of washing in the machine and get up and down the stairs (ok, I came down the stairs on my derrière but it was fun acting like I was 5 again) then, after watching a few YouTube videos thought I'd get going on the practice. WRONG! My wheels wanted to practically stick to the floor so I decided to practice my 'fast feet' instead. Now, you know when you get that little voice in your head that tells you to do something and 9/10 times its a bad idea? Well mine was telling me to jump. Its not a bad thing, its just if you know me you'd know I've been able to land about 1 jump in every 8 attempts!

"Whats the worst that can happen?" I figure so I get into the middle of my room and go for our 'fast feet' warm up drill, fast feet for 10 then squat and jump! It may only have been 1/2" off the floor but it was a jump and it was a start. 5 little hops later and I figure I can go a bit higher, so each time thats what I do but then I get over confident and try for a really good jump which sees me saying hi to my living room floor. Not to be deterred I grab a quick drink and go for it again, baby jumps getting bigger each time then "hi floor!" only on the second attempt my hands go down before my butt causing a bit of an awkward landing and a bit of a ping in my shoulder/neck. Time out! checking everything is OK I figure a quick check of my videos again to see if
I'm going wrong and off we go again, this CRoC is going to be part frog! I was rather pleased as I was now landing 6/8 jumps with each one getting a little higher and if nothing else it was stopping me being scared of jumping.

Between the school run and getting prepped for training I realize that my shoulder is getting a bit niggly and if I didn't treat it now then by the morning I wouldn't be able to turn my head - on with the deep head and down with the ibuprofen. I literally inhale my pasta, and as usual my eldest is late home (this seems to be getting to be a bit of a ritual) with Up Ya Jonsey arriving right behind. Rhayfen was busy getting a sugar boost in the back of the car and we had our usual giggles on the way.

And so to the hall, all padded and skates on and into the warm ups while yelling hello's. Jenoa Quake yells that Knuckle Sandwich Nancy is to take us for our stretches (much to her dismay) and Up Ya Jonsey shoots herself in the foot by giggling at her so guess who gets to do it next week lol. We were then split into our two groups and Rhayfen was taking ours on pace line work again. After we'd all had a run through it was decided we needed to work on our fast feet so we were set off in a line to do a lap of the hall doing just that. From there we were split into 3's to have a go at 'walling in the jammer' and my team was my awesome ladybrother Jinx'em G and Sharkbait (not Charlie's skate name but its what Rhay and I have affectionally called her til she gets one). We skated together as a mini pack and practiced moving into position. Then along came the jammer, Rhayfen herself, and I don't think we fared too badly - ok we didn't wall her in for long but we were quick at getting into position and it just needs honing. After a quick dr
ink we moved onto shoulder blocks, first of all practicing while stationary. I was paired up with the wall that is Hellcat Harri, I was literally just bouncing off her and she was giving me a good whack too! Things kinda went a bit awry when we switched sides (did you see this coming) and my should started saying 'no you can't play this time' so Harri went to bounce around with Rhayfen while I teamed up with Aoife so we could both practice both sides. We then moved on - literally, taking what we'd learned and putting it into practice while moving, harder than you imagine but for alot of us it was the first time we'd tried moving and blocking at the same time, fun nonetheless.

Speed trials to finish off and thats where my head goes "AGH! what are you doing! you'll be ok but yeah, eh whaaa?!" We were being timed for a minute and I managed 3.5 laps (if I hadn't got the nervous wobbles twice I think I may have made 4 but hey ho), I'm happy with that I just really have to stop over thinking things! After the entire group had each taken a turn we did a little backwards skating/cool down and stretching and we were done - but already talking about how awesome Saturday was going to be, Jam and JerusaSLAM - bring it on, but more on that in my next blog :) until then


TTFN and muchos derby love

xx

Sunday 13 March 2011

Inter-mediation

A lot has been going on over the last few days, but after some too-ing and fro-ing its all sorted and the CRoC intermediates have banded together to encourage and inspire each other :) I love the fact that CRoC works because as a team we can be open with each other

So, Saturdays session - after trying (and failing) to change my toe stops on the friday I asked RG if she could give me a hand, they wouldn't budge so after a little eyelash fluttering she got the man on the reception desk to do it remove them then fitted my gumball stops :D My theory was, yes I like the ones my skates came with BUT I didn't want to get too used to them before swapping them out so better to do it sooner than later. However she made the fatal mistake of telling me that I wouldn't fall on them - if you know me, you know I am best friends with the floor and 2 seconds after she says that *BAM* I'm down lol.

On to the warm ups and stretches and all was going well, we always get someone slip when it comes to the leg raises, this time it was Abadabadoo swiftly followed by me. First fall in the new crash pads so at least I know they're good now I guess :) However Genoa Quake pointed out that the 2 people to fall both have the same toe stops so it must have been them - suspicious or coincidence, I'll let you decide. For our last training session in Channel View it had been decided we would do fitness for the first hour, including what I think were called suicides (I may need correcting), push ups, kinda sit up things and other stuff - all I know is I'm aching today! From there we were split into the advanced and intermediate/beginner groups and set to work on pace lines. It was good to work on the same stuff the advanced skaters were doing just at a more toned down pace as it meant we could get used to skating in close proximity to each other and not worry so much about keeping up. From this we went on to weaving down the skating line - admittedly I had to pull out for 2 mins to stretch out my lower back which was really aching but I got back in as quickly as I could and had a go. To finish we had to sticky skate as a pack down low for 2 mins, not a huge amount of time but it gets you used to it and its good to get shouted at if you're popping up too high :)

After watching the advanced group finish their drills and grabbing some water we were told to pick a a mentor for the last part of the session - I was teamed off with my wife Rhayfen :D We then told the mentor what we wanted to work on or get checked and they helped us while practising what they wanted to do too. Personally I wanted my cross overs checked so we started with that, I knew I had the basics down in my head I just needed to hone them. Rhay pointed out (as Genoa has done in the past) that my stride was very small, the cross over itself was good but it was taking me 5 - 7 to complete a turn where I could be doing it in 3 or 4. We tried the skating in a circle following your outstretched hand but that just set me off balance so I decided laps may be better while Rhay perfected her tomahawk stops. A slight adjustment to my stance and putting my hand out to where I was comfortable and my stride got wider as well as getting my speed up. After that I brought up the balance issues I'd been having and was given a few tips and exercises to concentrate on. 15 mins before the end of the session we came together with each intermediate showing the group what we'd learned and, for a change I didn't spazz out when it came to my turn. All in all I came away from the session a lot more confident and in turn happier!

After gabbing in the car park with R G's carpool for a bit it was decided food was needed and once we'd been dropped back at the city centre (thanks RG) the ladybrothers went via Crumbs (food looked good but we wont put up with being looked down our noses at by staff who look like they're just out of school) to New York Deli where we introduced Jinx to bagel goodness. I had my usual bagel of death (wholegrain mustard, bacon, turkey, cheese, ham, cranberry and gherkins) and once we'd finished nomming there we headed to YooMoo - the BEST frozen yoghurt. After nomming and people watching we decended into our usual madness and tbh I don't think any of us have laughed so hard in a while! From there it was time to head home and back to 'real life'.......well at least until Monday ;)


Moo!!

xx

Go Roathmantics!

Long time no blog so this is a bit of a catch up. Monday saw our second intraleague bout - New Roathmantics vs Raiders of the Roath Park. New Roathmantics won the last bout and were determined to take this one too, Bridgend Bombshells were making up our numbers as the Roathmantics were down a few players and I'd offered to be scorekeeper and take the opportunity to learn by observing the game as well as honing my NSO skills.

We were a little late starting, Tiger Bay Brawlers NSOs and refs had kindly come along to help out and their head NSO Sarah may have just helped turn me into a stats geek! We were all given our forms etc, mysef and Jodie were introduced to the jammer refs and the teams were fired up ready to go. TBH I can't give you a blow by blow account of the game as I was concentrating on my job but both teams put up a good fight and the ref team called it as they saw it even if the skate
rs didn't like it lol. A few special mentions

R G Bar G (skater formerly known as T Licious) hell woman! You're an awesome blocker and jammer, isn't derby better than being a princess? :p

Rhayfen - Awesome skillz! You were barking orders left right and centre, even from the sin bin (surprise, Rhayfen in the sin bin lol) and as you said yourself you discovered you could make an awesome jammer - my score sheet proves it!

Dave This - should I make you your own cushi
on for the sin bin, you seem to like your seat there :p

Jinx'em G - crisis of confidence can get the better of anyone, you are awesome, you gave it a shot and will be back up there next time

Up Ya Jonsey - good on ya gal! For someone who's
had her confidence knocked you got in there and skated, as frustrated as you may be with yourself - keep it going! You'll be back at the level you were at in no time

I'm sure there are more people I could mention but the old memory aint what it used to be ;) Now for the important bit - nice try Raiders
but maybe next time eh

NEW ROATHMANTICS WIN! 136 - 62

Am looking forward to participating in the next game - PMA I WILL BE READY! Also looking forward to NSOing with Tiger Bay, nothing like unleashing your inner nerd eh!

TTFN

xx
Picture Copyright Dave Lewis Photography