Our last practise had the biggest turn out of SRT's history! I am not sure how many people were there, but we had 3 new faces turning up for the first time and were graced with the presence of Hilda Blizzard and Tear E Hatchet from the Birmingham Blitz Dames.
My practise didnt get off to a good start after discovering I had left my shorts behind, so had to skate with my tights and jeans on, which nearly caused serious over heating! It was typical as I had two pairs of shorts in the bag that morning and took them out to repack everything and forgot to put them back in! DOH!
As soon as I got out onto the track, I felt hot and knew I was in trouble! After a week of being laid low with the flu my energy levels were seriously depleted as well, so I knew that practise was going to be a hard one for me.
After a few warm up laps and falls, those of us with mouthguards got to play "Queen of the Ring or Rink", the idea was to try and take out any other player on the track with legal blocks, if you fell over you were out. Hilda Blitz and Tear E Hatchet were let loose with us, so we all looked a bit scared especially when Hilda was warned to be nice to us as we are newbies! The SRT members tended not to go for eachother and waited for the the BBD players to come and get us. I must admit seeing the two of them coming up behind me was mighty scary! I felt like an extra in Jaws! I could almost hear the "dur dur.. dur dur" music! When Tear E Hatchet drew level me, I must admit I kept thinking "oh sh1t, oh sh1t" so when she bumped me really gently, I was surprised.
Next time round I got Hilda, she bumped me fairly hard and I must admit I was surprised that I stayed up, I went off the track but survived! The next one she hit me harder and I crashed out big time and fell flat on my front and managed to wind myself but was one of the last survivors so was pretty happy. The next round Hilda hit me pretty hard but shock horror I stayed up but turned to look at the guys in the middle who all cheered when I stayed up and promptly fell over a marker and went splat, but was allowed to carry on as it wasnt as a result of a block. But by then I was totally shattered so was relieved when they called it off!
Another of the exercises we had to do was get into groups of 4 and three of you became blockers and one became the jammer, you then had to get through. The problem was I was put with Hilda, Tear E and Betti Bootz. I had no chance as a Jammer trying to get past them as my skating ability is a whole lot less than them! I couldnt get past and was being bounced around like a ping pong ball and also crashed into the wall a few times thanks to some big blocks by Betti, although she got told off for one of them after embedding me into the wall ;-)
The other 4 had a massive pile up resulting in poor Jude being winded and as she landed on her ass was taken off the track which enabled me to escape from my pack for a bit as I assisted and when they got going again, I stayed out as the BBD's girl and Betti were hammering it around the track and I would have been left eating dust! I was then asked to join the other group which consisted of Sulu Warrior, Shiza Rebel and Sam AssasinatHer. The pace was much better but as for an easy ride, no chance! Getting caught between Sam and Shiza when they both blocked me similtaneously nearly crushed me and I felt my bones jarr upon impact lol! I did eventually manage to get through though so was relieved it was over lol!
We also practised our blocking techniques by two people holding a rope and on either side of the rope were the willing (I think) victims - Hilda Blitz and Tear E Hatchet. The idea was to skate up to the rope, duck down under it which put you into a good blockers position and then bump them then swing back under the rope and hit the second person. This wasnt too bad but I couldnt control my turns very well to go from one to the other, so kept having to loop round! Everyone was being fairly polite until Sam decided to give them a good whack and fair play they took it well! Although one of Sam's attempts did send her flying which wasnt the plan!
We also tried playing British Bulldog, with so many people it was bedlam! I crashed into Shiza Rebel who skidded to the floor in front of me and I couldnt stop in time, so many apologies for that! Poor Shiza Rebel had a bum deal this practise, literally I mean.... I dont think I have seen one person fall on her bum so many times, each time it looked more painful than the last so a suggestion was made about padded shorts, so bless ya Shiza, I hope the bruises arent too sore!
That pretty much ended our practise, we had the obligitory circle of pain and I could have killed Sulu for suggesting tricep pressups! Biaaaattttccccchhhhh!!!
Time for stretches and then Pub!
No practise next week due to Easter Break but a possible outdoor practise in Cheltenham if I can get some outdoor wheels in time.
Adios!
Honor Ass xx
Thursday, 16 April 2009
Monday, 23 March 2009
A Roller Derby Jam Packed Weekend
What a fun but immensely tiring weekend we had... we went up to Birmingham on Saturday to watch the Birmingham Blitz Dames play against the Middlesborough Milk Rollers, a relatively new team in the Derby world as this was their first open bout after starting 18 months ago. So this was interesting for us to see a less experienced team cope with their first bout as we know that something we will be facing within the next 12 months.
The bout was fantastic, considering the final score of 198 – 78 to the BBD’s I thought the MMR girls did really well and should be really pleased with their performances. The BBD’s are a tough team to go up against at the best of times and have some excellent skaters on their pack. Violet Attack is a joy to watch as she whizzes through the pack with ease and makes it look easy, but believe me its not!
Quite a few of our team had not seen a proper bout before, so this was a real eye opener for them and for most of them it just whetted their appetite even more to get on and skate and to take part in our own bouts. Because Roller Derby is still a relatively unknown sport, alot of our skaters knew the very basics of what happened but to see it in all its glory is a totally different matter! Luckily everyone seemed to really enjoy the bout and didn’t cringe or run away saying “that's not for me!” so that was a bonus!
After the game we headed back to our hostel, the amazing Birmingham Backpackers Central, a fabulous hostel offering cheap but excellent accommodation for those on a budget, they are also sponsors of the BBD’s. We were lucky enough to get one of the pod rooms, something that I had been really looking forward to since seeing something on the TV about pod rooms in Japan, ok these Pods were not quite like the ones I had seen on the tv but were still exciting! The only downside to the room was the fact that one of the pods was already occupied so we had a stranger in our midst! But we decided there were enough of us to scare the bejeezus out of whoever it was should we get any trouble!
The bout was fantastic, considering the final score of 198 – 78 to the BBD’s I thought the MMR girls did really well and should be really pleased with their performances. The BBD’s are a tough team to go up against at the best of times and have some excellent skaters on their pack. Violet Attack is a joy to watch as she whizzes through the pack with ease and makes it look easy, but believe me its not!
Quite a few of our team had not seen a proper bout before, so this was a real eye opener for them and for most of them it just whetted their appetite even more to get on and skate and to take part in our own bouts. Because Roller Derby is still a relatively unknown sport, alot of our skaters knew the very basics of what happened but to see it in all its glory is a totally different matter! Luckily everyone seemed to really enjoy the bout and didn’t cringe or run away saying “that's not for me!” so that was a bonus!
After the game we headed back to our hostel, the amazing Birmingham Backpackers Central, a fabulous hostel offering cheap but excellent accommodation for those on a budget, they are also sponsors of the BBD’s. We were lucky enough to get one of the pod rooms, something that I had been really looking forward to since seeing something on the TV about pod rooms in Japan, ok these Pods were not quite like the ones I had seen on the tv but were still exciting! The only downside to the room was the fact that one of the pods was already occupied so we had a stranger in our midst! But we decided there were enough of us to scare the bejeezus out of whoever it was should we get any trouble!
After dropping our bags off and a quick tidy up we headed off into the city centre, grabbed some food on the way and eventually found the afterparty at the Stateside Rock Club. Some of our team were already there so was nice to see some friendly faces and the BBD’s welcomed us which was nice. The drinking now began in earnest, Dolly Diablo had braved the elements to come out with us which must have been a little scary as her plaster had only been removed a few days before so her ankle was feeling a little bit vulnerable, but after a few pints Dolly was up and dancing about with the rest of us. We all had an amazing time in Stateside, the booze was flowing, the music thumping and the photos were snapping! Yes we all went a little crazy with Dolly’s camera, I dread to think how many photos were taken, I see a lot were put up on facebook last night and considering I wasn’t really drinking, I look as if I had drunk the city dry! But honest guv, I didn’t have very much!
A few of us decided to take the opportunity to move on to a nightclub for some cheesy tunes as we were a little “rocked out” so off we went in search of Nightingales. Wow nightingales was fab! A huge club and I was warned it was easy to lose people in their and they weren’t wrong! Within 5 mins I had lost everyone, but thank god they found me! So we grooved to the cheesy music before venturing up to the top floor to check out the dance floor for some serious dance music. We strutted our funky stuff until we were ready to drop and went down to get some grub from the cafe on the 1st floor. Well no prizes for guessing what we went for.... Cheesy Chips!! The trouble was they took so long to get there, that we had lost the will to live let alone eat, so we just picked at them really and decided that perhaps it was time to head on back to the pods. I knew I was most certainly flagging now and needed my bed! So we headed back to the hostel and managed to get a nice taxi driver to take us as it was only a short walk, but you know what its like at 3am and being on your feet all day!
Soon we were back in our room, trying to be quiet as we could so that we didn’t wake our unknown pod inhabitant and Betti Bootz and Jude who had left a bit before us. I think we managed to be fairly quiet, until I got a text at around 4am from Dolly to say she had lost her camera had any of us got it. Trying to muffle the sounds of “you cant touch this” whilst in a pod was quite funny! Well I heard a few sniggers anyway at my desperate attempts to shut it up! I took quite a long time to get to sleep and when I did it felt like seconds later that I was awake again and it was 7am! I led in bed for a few hours just dozing hearing various people popping out of the room to go to the loo but all the time I kept thinking I wonder when someone is going to get up and go for breakfast, I bet they are all sleeping still... WRONG! Sulu and Lightnin were already down having breakfast! How Wude!!! They even rang me to tell me to get my lazy ar5e out of bed! Doh! So once I got up everyone got up, apart from the mysterious man in the pod next to me, who seemed to be engrossed in watching football on his laptop!
We made our way down to breakfast and sat around the fire eating our toast and drinking our teas and coffees trying to decide whether we had the energy to make practise or not.... some already said they wouldn’t make it due to Mothers Day commitments and other things and for the first time in a long time a few of us really didn’t feel like we would be able to survive training! :-P
But we set off home and just about had time for a quick change before setting off to practise wondering how many people would be there, so were pleasantly surprised to see Sam Assasinator and her son Bradley, Cupid Stunt and Nats waiting to go in. Cupid warned us that those with hangovers would not get off any lighter than normal and that we would be made to skate until we puked... although I didn’t have a hangover so to speak, I was dog tired and didn’t relish the idea of that!
Rules test..... hmmmmm not a good day for any of us really, especially as I hadn’t even looked at section 6, so countless punishments of 10 press ups for me and pretty much everyone else as well. I think the only person not to get all her answers totally wrong was Sulu Warrior!! (brown nose!) So today my arms are aching from my 60 odd press-ups! DOH!!!
Jude and Betti Bootz turned up mid rules test so our numbers increased slightly which was good, but our answers still resulted in countless press-ups!
Onto skating and Sulu took a crashing fall as a peice of plastic on the floor jammed her skate, but luckily she got up ok but I suspect she’ll have a sore arm for a while. I cant really remember what we did in great detail to be honest as definitely wasn’t in great form, but we practised our snow ploughs, t-stops and skating backwards, which I still struggle with. We also did two minutes of skating while crouched down, which kills your thighs, so much so my left leg spasmed and I went flat on my face, which must have looked very funny!
We also tried a routine of the slowest skater out in front with the faster skaters in order lined up behind, the idea was for us to keep in arms length of that person going as fast as they could for a lap, they would then fall back and it was then the next persons turn. So in theory you’d be going faster and faster, the trouble with this was that as there were only 6 of us, three of them were pretty fast and the other 3 (myself included) were a lot slower so this was hard and didn’t work that well with our small numbers.
We also tried out my amended version of British Bulldog, renamed to SRT bulldog. I started off as the bulldog but found it really hard to catch people so eventually caught Sulu and finally started tagging people so managed to end the training on a high.
Time for the circle of pain and stretches.... no pub today for any of us lol! Time for bed me thinks!!
So that concludes my roller derby weekend, so a huge thanks to the BBD’s and MMR’s for an entertaing bout and a special thanks to the BBDs for their hospitality and look forward to seeing them again soon!
Adios Amigos!!
Honor Ass xx
A few of us decided to take the opportunity to move on to a nightclub for some cheesy tunes as we were a little “rocked out” so off we went in search of Nightingales. Wow nightingales was fab! A huge club and I was warned it was easy to lose people in their and they weren’t wrong! Within 5 mins I had lost everyone, but thank god they found me! So we grooved to the cheesy music before venturing up to the top floor to check out the dance floor for some serious dance music. We strutted our funky stuff until we were ready to drop and went down to get some grub from the cafe on the 1st floor. Well no prizes for guessing what we went for.... Cheesy Chips!! The trouble was they took so long to get there, that we had lost the will to live let alone eat, so we just picked at them really and decided that perhaps it was time to head on back to the pods. I knew I was most certainly flagging now and needed my bed! So we headed back to the hostel and managed to get a nice taxi driver to take us as it was only a short walk, but you know what its like at 3am and being on your feet all day!
Soon we were back in our room, trying to be quiet as we could so that we didn’t wake our unknown pod inhabitant and Betti Bootz and Jude who had left a bit before us. I think we managed to be fairly quiet, until I got a text at around 4am from Dolly to say she had lost her camera had any of us got it. Trying to muffle the sounds of “you cant touch this” whilst in a pod was quite funny! Well I heard a few sniggers anyway at my desperate attempts to shut it up! I took quite a long time to get to sleep and when I did it felt like seconds later that I was awake again and it was 7am! I led in bed for a few hours just dozing hearing various people popping out of the room to go to the loo but all the time I kept thinking I wonder when someone is going to get up and go for breakfast, I bet they are all sleeping still... WRONG! Sulu and Lightnin were already down having breakfast! How Wude!!! They even rang me to tell me to get my lazy ar5e out of bed! Doh! So once I got up everyone got up, apart from the mysterious man in the pod next to me, who seemed to be engrossed in watching football on his laptop!
We made our way down to breakfast and sat around the fire eating our toast and drinking our teas and coffees trying to decide whether we had the energy to make practise or not.... some already said they wouldn’t make it due to Mothers Day commitments and other things and for the first time in a long time a few of us really didn’t feel like we would be able to survive training! :-P
But we set off home and just about had time for a quick change before setting off to practise wondering how many people would be there, so were pleasantly surprised to see Sam Assasinator and her son Bradley, Cupid Stunt and Nats waiting to go in. Cupid warned us that those with hangovers would not get off any lighter than normal and that we would be made to skate until we puked... although I didn’t have a hangover so to speak, I was dog tired and didn’t relish the idea of that!
Rules test..... hmmmmm not a good day for any of us really, especially as I hadn’t even looked at section 6, so countless punishments of 10 press ups for me and pretty much everyone else as well. I think the only person not to get all her answers totally wrong was Sulu Warrior!! (brown nose!) So today my arms are aching from my 60 odd press-ups! DOH!!!
Jude and Betti Bootz turned up mid rules test so our numbers increased slightly which was good, but our answers still resulted in countless press-ups!
Onto skating and Sulu took a crashing fall as a peice of plastic on the floor jammed her skate, but luckily she got up ok but I suspect she’ll have a sore arm for a while. I cant really remember what we did in great detail to be honest as definitely wasn’t in great form, but we practised our snow ploughs, t-stops and skating backwards, which I still struggle with. We also did two minutes of skating while crouched down, which kills your thighs, so much so my left leg spasmed and I went flat on my face, which must have looked very funny!
We also tried a routine of the slowest skater out in front with the faster skaters in order lined up behind, the idea was for us to keep in arms length of that person going as fast as they could for a lap, they would then fall back and it was then the next persons turn. So in theory you’d be going faster and faster, the trouble with this was that as there were only 6 of us, three of them were pretty fast and the other 3 (myself included) were a lot slower so this was hard and didn’t work that well with our small numbers.
We also tried out my amended version of British Bulldog, renamed to SRT bulldog. I started off as the bulldog but found it really hard to catch people so eventually caught Sulu and finally started tagging people so managed to end the training on a high.
Time for the circle of pain and stretches.... no pub today for any of us lol! Time for bed me thinks!!
So that concludes my roller derby weekend, so a huge thanks to the BBD’s and MMR’s for an entertaing bout and a special thanks to the BBDs for their hospitality and look forward to seeing them again soon!
Adios Amigos!!
Honor Ass xx
Monday, 16 March 2009
Crash... BANG... WALLOP!!!
Well what a fab sight it was seeing so many of us turning up to practise this week in our team T shirts, it really makes you feel like part of the team and that we are achieving something, so was a great morale booster! Sadly I missed last weeks practise due to being ill, but before you get too sympathetic, I’ll be honest and say it was self inflicted! :-S
So this week, I got to meet a few new faces, some of whom had been before but just not when I was there, so we had Sam and Jude who had come to their second practise and then Cath and another lady, who’s name escapes me at this moment in time. So it was good to see some new faces, I just hope they decide to come back again as we need to grow our little band of sisters J
This was my first week of trying to skate with an arch support as I really struggle with my right foot and balance, I tend to skate as if I am on a skateboard and leave my left leg glued to the floor, so in excercises where we have to glide the length of the track on one foot, if I lift my right foot up I can glide no problems, try to lift my left foot and I am like a rabbit thumping a warning out to its friends! Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap! I can only go a couple of seconds with my foot off the ground! I could tell that the arch support made a difference, but my mistake was only wearing the one in my right boot, I should have used both! So next week should be interesting. I also have tightened up my wheels upon Helen Fury’s advice as my wheels were slightly loose, which I had to admit to noticing, but thought it was just my nerves, so am hoping that by tightening them up, I will feel more secure, as they did feel pretty slippy!
The whole buying skates process is a minefield, as its not as if you can try before you buy with roller skates, as decent roller derby skates are not readily available in the UK, only a small amount of stockists sell them but its a lot cheaper to buy them in the States, but a decent pair will cost you over £100 so its not a cheap option! I brought mine from the UK but know for competing, I will need to upgrade my wheels and bearings, but I figured I could do that when I close to competing level! (A long way off yet!)
Luckily anyone coming into the league now, there are enough of us with our own skates now, so people can try out some skates, but when I started I didn’t have that option. We are one of the few leagues to have a “loan skate” pot, so newbies can turn up and skate by hiring some of the skates, Fury and Cupid have built up over the past couple of years. There are some good skates in there, but you have to be quick to nab them or you will end up with a older pair of skates or not your correct size!
So lets see how I get on next week, with my tighter wheels and arch supports!
Onto this week, we started with the rules test, I hadn’t done my homework so I knew I was in trouble, especially as now if anyone gets a question wrong everyone has to do press ups or sit ups, not just the dunce who got it wrong, so guess what..... yup I got it wrong! 10 Sit Ups please, barks Cupid! (Sorry guys!) I have to admit this rules test is not my forte.... I find the rules hard to memorise and take in, plus I get easily distracted!
After the rules test we did a couple of endurance tests followed by the bleep test, I didn’t do very well on this as was feeling very wobbly and found stopping in time and turning quick enough a real problem, but fair play to Sam and Lee for doing so well.
We did a few practise falls and I made the newbie error of going to fall onto both knees, getting it wrong and going slap down on my buttocks... that shook me back into reality and I didn’t do that again in a hurry! We then tried getting into two teams, lining up alongside eachother and keeping inline with eachother which was fun, then we took it in turns to weave in and out of eachother. After that the bit I had been dreading for weeks, the slams! Helen Fury said she would come skate up to us and tap us, we were to fall over safely and get back up asap. She would hardly touch the newbies but would be harder on the rest of us..... Hmmmmm I went FLYING! But it wasn’t as bad as I thought, but the next time was harder again but I was more prepared and nearly stayed upright but gravity took over. After that the newbies went off to try some booty slams against the wall, where as we had to practise booty slams for real. Faith “booty slammed” us and once again I went flying lol! Then we had to do it to eachother, this was funny as we were all so gentle to eachother until Sulu Warrior had a go and she “bootied” us big time! I nearly stayed up when she hit me but then overbalanced and crashed onto my derriere and stupidly used my hand to break my fall and have a sore arm now L..... but hey... before you all get really worried and rush to my bedside...... don’t worry... I’ll live J
We ended the training with a quick game of dodgeball, I love this, but I always get hit too quickly so am thinking of planning a slightly different take to the game, to suggest to Fury J Make it more derby style!
So we finished with stretches and the lovely circle of pain, which thank god was a short circle of pain due to running out of time! Ram Paige was given to Sam for her excellent skating so we are all eager to hear about her exploits with Sam next week! I can only apologise to Christina for having a short week with Ram Paige, but I am sure she will return their shortly! I just hope it wasn’t Ram Paige charging about in her car that caused all of the car problems!
A few of us made it to the pub for a drink and then it was time to go home. Next Saturday a whole load of us are going up to Birmingham to see the Birmingham Blitz Dames against the Middlesborough Milk Rollers and then on to the Afterparty and as we are staying over, I should have plenty to report on next week! So should be a fun weekend to say the least! :-D
So I will bid you adieu
Until next time.......
H.A xx
So this week, I got to meet a few new faces, some of whom had been before but just not when I was there, so we had Sam and Jude who had come to their second practise and then Cath and another lady, who’s name escapes me at this moment in time. So it was good to see some new faces, I just hope they decide to come back again as we need to grow our little band of sisters J
This was my first week of trying to skate with an arch support as I really struggle with my right foot and balance, I tend to skate as if I am on a skateboard and leave my left leg glued to the floor, so in excercises where we have to glide the length of the track on one foot, if I lift my right foot up I can glide no problems, try to lift my left foot and I am like a rabbit thumping a warning out to its friends! Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap! I can only go a couple of seconds with my foot off the ground! I could tell that the arch support made a difference, but my mistake was only wearing the one in my right boot, I should have used both! So next week should be interesting. I also have tightened up my wheels upon Helen Fury’s advice as my wheels were slightly loose, which I had to admit to noticing, but thought it was just my nerves, so am hoping that by tightening them up, I will feel more secure, as they did feel pretty slippy!
The whole buying skates process is a minefield, as its not as if you can try before you buy with roller skates, as decent roller derby skates are not readily available in the UK, only a small amount of stockists sell them but its a lot cheaper to buy them in the States, but a decent pair will cost you over £100 so its not a cheap option! I brought mine from the UK but know for competing, I will need to upgrade my wheels and bearings, but I figured I could do that when I close to competing level! (A long way off yet!)
Luckily anyone coming into the league now, there are enough of us with our own skates now, so people can try out some skates, but when I started I didn’t have that option. We are one of the few leagues to have a “loan skate” pot, so newbies can turn up and skate by hiring some of the skates, Fury and Cupid have built up over the past couple of years. There are some good skates in there, but you have to be quick to nab them or you will end up with a older pair of skates or not your correct size!
So lets see how I get on next week, with my tighter wheels and arch supports!
Onto this week, we started with the rules test, I hadn’t done my homework so I knew I was in trouble, especially as now if anyone gets a question wrong everyone has to do press ups or sit ups, not just the dunce who got it wrong, so guess what..... yup I got it wrong! 10 Sit Ups please, barks Cupid! (Sorry guys!) I have to admit this rules test is not my forte.... I find the rules hard to memorise and take in, plus I get easily distracted!
After the rules test we did a couple of endurance tests followed by the bleep test, I didn’t do very well on this as was feeling very wobbly and found stopping in time and turning quick enough a real problem, but fair play to Sam and Lee for doing so well.
We did a few practise falls and I made the newbie error of going to fall onto both knees, getting it wrong and going slap down on my buttocks... that shook me back into reality and I didn’t do that again in a hurry! We then tried getting into two teams, lining up alongside eachother and keeping inline with eachother which was fun, then we took it in turns to weave in and out of eachother. After that the bit I had been dreading for weeks, the slams! Helen Fury said she would come skate up to us and tap us, we were to fall over safely and get back up asap. She would hardly touch the newbies but would be harder on the rest of us..... Hmmmmm I went FLYING! But it wasn’t as bad as I thought, but the next time was harder again but I was more prepared and nearly stayed upright but gravity took over. After that the newbies went off to try some booty slams against the wall, where as we had to practise booty slams for real. Faith “booty slammed” us and once again I went flying lol! Then we had to do it to eachother, this was funny as we were all so gentle to eachother until Sulu Warrior had a go and she “bootied” us big time! I nearly stayed up when she hit me but then overbalanced and crashed onto my derriere and stupidly used my hand to break my fall and have a sore arm now L..... but hey... before you all get really worried and rush to my bedside...... don’t worry... I’ll live J
We ended the training with a quick game of dodgeball, I love this, but I always get hit too quickly so am thinking of planning a slightly different take to the game, to suggest to Fury J Make it more derby style!
So we finished with stretches and the lovely circle of pain, which thank god was a short circle of pain due to running out of time! Ram Paige was given to Sam for her excellent skating so we are all eager to hear about her exploits with Sam next week! I can only apologise to Christina for having a short week with Ram Paige, but I am sure she will return their shortly! I just hope it wasn’t Ram Paige charging about in her car that caused all of the car problems!
A few of us made it to the pub for a drink and then it was time to go home. Next Saturday a whole load of us are going up to Birmingham to see the Birmingham Blitz Dames against the Middlesborough Milk Rollers and then on to the Afterparty and as we are staying over, I should have plenty to report on next week! So should be a fun weekend to say the least! :-D
So I will bid you adieu
Until next time.......
H.A xx
Monday, 2 March 2009
No Pain - No Gain!
My second week of practise after a month off and yesterday we got beasted! Lots of speed skating and press ups, sits ups, stops, falls all which drain you especially after spending several hours skating the day before at the Gloucester Skate Disco!
But having said that, I do understand that we need to get our stamina up and the only way of doing that is to push ourselves or get pushed by the mighty whip lashing Cupid Stunt! (OK she didn’t actually have a whip, but at one point she was waving a rope around in a menacing manner which made me think of her as Miss Whiplash, but maybe that’s just my perverted mind!)
We had a couple of new faces today, although one of the skaters Jess had been to practise a couple of weeks ago, when I couldn’t make it, she seemed to have picked up the skating skills nicely and won’t be long before she is up to full speed as she seemed pretty confident on her skates. Another new face was a good friend of mine, Hannah who ventured onto skates for the first time in years and did really well for her first time, so we hope both Hannah and Jess come back for more. Although Hannah was cussing fairish at the amount of press-ups etc we had to do..... (she loved it reallyl!!!)
A lot of us still struggle with our stops, especially the dreaded T Stops, but we were asked to slow right down and try them and a lot of us started to get the hang of them, we just need to keep doing this and slowly build up our speeds. Snow plough stops also required some work, most of us don’t bend our knees enough and for all skating manoeuvres bending the knees is vital, so that's something we have to work on still.
One new technique we tried was practising crossovers holding onto a rope that was held by Cupid Stunt or Helen Fury, the idea being that you had some resistance to pull against for balance while we practised lifting our leg-overs for the crossover moves. Crossovers are hard to get to grips with, especially if you are not entirely comfortable with lifting one foot up for a period of time. My affliction of the “rooted” left foot has returned and although my speed and skating has generally improved slightly and my speed has increased, I need to start using my left foot more.
I have been advised to get some arch support insoles as we think I have a slight problem with my right foot tilting, so I have ordered some arch supports so will see what I am like next week.
Sulu Warrior and Lightning Bolts had been busy little beavers and had got some SRT badges made for us to buy, they were awesome so I am now the proud owner of 3 SRT badges and I love them! So thank you Sulu and Lightning!!!
The highlight of the practise had to be seeing our injured soldier coming to watch us, it was hard not to spot her with a bright pink cast, but Marianna (Dolly Diablo) was back to keep an eye on us and lend us her support and take some snap shots, which I haven’t had the pleasure of seeing yet! But it was lovely to see her smiling face and for everyone to give her their support as its frustrating not being able to skate but she was very chipper and we can’t wait to see her return to action in a few months time.
Ram Paige had been spending the fortnight with Dolly but it was now time for Ram Paige to go to another skater this week and that pleasure went to......... ME! So now I have the pleasure of Ram Paige and she will be writing up her exploits shortly on her blog: http://ram-paige.blogspot.com/
Adios Mon Amigos!
Honor xx
But having said that, I do understand that we need to get our stamina up and the only way of doing that is to push ourselves or get pushed by the mighty whip lashing Cupid Stunt! (OK she didn’t actually have a whip, but at one point she was waving a rope around in a menacing manner which made me think of her as Miss Whiplash, but maybe that’s just my perverted mind!)
We had a couple of new faces today, although one of the skaters Jess had been to practise a couple of weeks ago, when I couldn’t make it, she seemed to have picked up the skating skills nicely and won’t be long before she is up to full speed as she seemed pretty confident on her skates. Another new face was a good friend of mine, Hannah who ventured onto skates for the first time in years and did really well for her first time, so we hope both Hannah and Jess come back for more. Although Hannah was cussing fairish at the amount of press-ups etc we had to do..... (she loved it reallyl!!!)
A lot of us still struggle with our stops, especially the dreaded T Stops, but we were asked to slow right down and try them and a lot of us started to get the hang of them, we just need to keep doing this and slowly build up our speeds. Snow plough stops also required some work, most of us don’t bend our knees enough and for all skating manoeuvres bending the knees is vital, so that's something we have to work on still.
One new technique we tried was practising crossovers holding onto a rope that was held by Cupid Stunt or Helen Fury, the idea being that you had some resistance to pull against for balance while we practised lifting our leg-overs for the crossover moves. Crossovers are hard to get to grips with, especially if you are not entirely comfortable with lifting one foot up for a period of time. My affliction of the “rooted” left foot has returned and although my speed and skating has generally improved slightly and my speed has increased, I need to start using my left foot more.
I have been advised to get some arch support insoles as we think I have a slight problem with my right foot tilting, so I have ordered some arch supports so will see what I am like next week.
Sulu Warrior and Lightning Bolts had been busy little beavers and had got some SRT badges made for us to buy, they were awesome so I am now the proud owner of 3 SRT badges and I love them! So thank you Sulu and Lightning!!!
The highlight of the practise had to be seeing our injured soldier coming to watch us, it was hard not to spot her with a bright pink cast, but Marianna (Dolly Diablo) was back to keep an eye on us and lend us her support and take some snap shots, which I haven’t had the pleasure of seeing yet! But it was lovely to see her smiling face and for everyone to give her their support as its frustrating not being able to skate but she was very chipper and we can’t wait to see her return to action in a few months time.
Ram Paige had been spending the fortnight with Dolly but it was now time for Ram Paige to go to another skater this week and that pleasure went to......... ME! So now I have the pleasure of Ram Paige and she will be writing up her exploits shortly on her blog: http://ram-paige.blogspot.com/
Adios Mon Amigos!
Honor xx
Monday, 23 February 2009
Return of the Jedi
Ok, Jedi is taking it a bit far, it was more like return of the mogwai as my little squeaks and cries as I slipped and skidded round the track for the first 20 mins, and during the warm up stretches my language was rather blue as having a month off meant my muscles were back to being tight and not liking the stretches.
I have to admit that I surprised myself let alone the others, by skating better than I thought I would, I tried concentrating on my posture and skating position more, I don’t know if it looked right but I felt more comfortable getting down lower and bending my knees more. I suspect I was still tilted too far forward but seemed to hold it better. My left leg glued itself to the floor again but did manage to get it off a few times and think I was starting to use cross overs going into the corners, I certainly seemed to get a lot faster so hopefully am starting to get the hang of things. Balance is still my big problem, so need to work on my core stability.
We started by doing the usual skate as fast as you can for 5 mins and then go the other way for 5 mins, I didn’t try to push it too fast during this practise, as wanted to regain the feeling of control and getting used to being back on my skates again. Then we did some stretches (which I love.... NOT!) then back on to practise some falls, then stops etc. We then did a couple of laps to work out who was the fastest and I think I did one lap too many as came last and I know I was faster than the 3 newbies lol! I should really learn to count my laps!
We were then broken into 3 groups, the fast group, the middle group and the slow group. The fast group consisted of Helen Fury, Sulu Warrior, Brit Knees and Hilary. The middle group consisted of Shiza Rebel, Christina Aggrolairry, Private Rhodes and myself. The slow group was made up of the newbies, Carla, Natalie and Amy.
First of all the fast group had to do a lap and then come into the middle, as soon as they had crossed the line, the middle group had to set off and do a lap, as soon as we had all crossed the line, then the slow group set off, once they had done their lap then the fast group would set off for 2 laps and so on. So in total we ended up doing 15 laps as fast as you could, I ended up going a lot faster than I had before and kept trying to undertake Christina Aggrolairry which I did a few times, but it was a bit hit and miss and the one time I got it wrong and went too fast into the corner and did a spectacular splat but luckily didn’t bring Christina down with me! I slowed down after that lol!
Had to use my first aid skills for Shiza Rebel who ripped off part of her nail, and while I was using my expert (cough) first aid skills on her (I actually remembered to pack my first aid kit this week!) I heard a clatter and could see brit knees and Hilary in a heap! I was just thinking “Oh No! Not again” but after a minute Hilary said she was fine, it was her first proper fall since coming to practise was more of a shock to the system than actual injury although I suspect she will ache today and tomorrow!
After this we then practised our cross overs and “gliding” skills of keeping one leg up for the straight of the track, lifting my right foot isn’t too bad, but trying to lift the left foot is mission impossible!
Now for the bit I was hoping we would do, Dodge Ball!!! Yes I finally got to play, and guess what each time I got hit within a few seconds of the game starting so was out before I could get into it! I didn’t see who actually got me as was hit in the back each time, so watch out you feckers.... I’ll get ya next time lol! I think the first round was won by Brit Knees and the second round by Amy?? But maybe wrong there.... but either way its a great way to finish the practise.
Time for stretches and lunges and then time to go tut pub! Cheesy chips and a pint..... yum yum!!
So lets see if I can keep up this level of skating....... or was it a one off ha ha!! Tune in next week to find out!!
Xx Honor Ass xx
http://www.severnrollertorrent.co.uk
I have to admit that I surprised myself let alone the others, by skating better than I thought I would, I tried concentrating on my posture and skating position more, I don’t know if it looked right but I felt more comfortable getting down lower and bending my knees more. I suspect I was still tilted too far forward but seemed to hold it better. My left leg glued itself to the floor again but did manage to get it off a few times and think I was starting to use cross overs going into the corners, I certainly seemed to get a lot faster so hopefully am starting to get the hang of things. Balance is still my big problem, so need to work on my core stability.
We started by doing the usual skate as fast as you can for 5 mins and then go the other way for 5 mins, I didn’t try to push it too fast during this practise, as wanted to regain the feeling of control and getting used to being back on my skates again. Then we did some stretches (which I love.... NOT!) then back on to practise some falls, then stops etc. We then did a couple of laps to work out who was the fastest and I think I did one lap too many as came last and I know I was faster than the 3 newbies lol! I should really learn to count my laps!
We were then broken into 3 groups, the fast group, the middle group and the slow group. The fast group consisted of Helen Fury, Sulu Warrior, Brit Knees and Hilary. The middle group consisted of Shiza Rebel, Christina Aggrolairry, Private Rhodes and myself. The slow group was made up of the newbies, Carla, Natalie and Amy.
First of all the fast group had to do a lap and then come into the middle, as soon as they had crossed the line, the middle group had to set off and do a lap, as soon as we had all crossed the line, then the slow group set off, once they had done their lap then the fast group would set off for 2 laps and so on. So in total we ended up doing 15 laps as fast as you could, I ended up going a lot faster than I had before and kept trying to undertake Christina Aggrolairry which I did a few times, but it was a bit hit and miss and the one time I got it wrong and went too fast into the corner and did a spectacular splat but luckily didn’t bring Christina down with me! I slowed down after that lol!
Had to use my first aid skills for Shiza Rebel who ripped off part of her nail, and while I was using my expert (cough) first aid skills on her (I actually remembered to pack my first aid kit this week!) I heard a clatter and could see brit knees and Hilary in a heap! I was just thinking “Oh No! Not again” but after a minute Hilary said she was fine, it was her first proper fall since coming to practise was more of a shock to the system than actual injury although I suspect she will ache today and tomorrow!
After this we then practised our cross overs and “gliding” skills of keeping one leg up for the straight of the track, lifting my right foot isn’t too bad, but trying to lift the left foot is mission impossible!
Now for the bit I was hoping we would do, Dodge Ball!!! Yes I finally got to play, and guess what each time I got hit within a few seconds of the game starting so was out before I could get into it! I didn’t see who actually got me as was hit in the back each time, so watch out you feckers.... I’ll get ya next time lol! I think the first round was won by Brit Knees and the second round by Amy?? But maybe wrong there.... but either way its a great way to finish the practise.
Time for stretches and lunges and then time to go tut pub! Cheesy chips and a pint..... yum yum!!
So lets see if I can keep up this level of skating....... or was it a one off ha ha!! Tune in next week to find out!!
Xx Honor Ass xx
http://www.severnrollertorrent.co.uk
Monday, 9 February 2009
Dodge, or go down!
Once again this week, I was unable to skate and it was a good job as having a slight hangover which then turned into a full blown migraine, I would have been as much use as a chocolate tea pot, but I have learnt one lesson... don’t go out drinking the day before roller derby practise! But I was told by one other team member suffering with a hangover, that she actually felt better for doing the exercise, so thought it was a good hangover cure..... but each to their own! My account of the practise may not be entirely in the right order as my head was a little woolley at this point!
We had a good turnout this week, one new skater and one skater who had been once a few weeks back. Sulu Warrior remains the title holder for skating at every practise, so I think the mascot Ram-Paige should go to Sue this week, which is a good thing as Ram-Paige was left behind at Sue’s this week anyway!
The practise was started with the more experienced skaters doing as many laps as they could for 5 minutes, the aim is to be able to do at least 20 laps and I know a couple managed this and some were very close, so things are looking really good. They then had to do the opposite direction for 5 minutes and believe me, by skating the opposite way may sound like a doddle, but it is deceptively difficult and takes some getting used to.
Then it was time for the rules test and some stretches.
Helen Fury took some time to coach the new skater, Carla. Carla hadn’t skated in years and it wasn’t long before she had got a good position and was skating well.
Following on from this, the shopping cart exercise was brought in and believe me, this is very funny to watch. It teaches the skaters to get down into a low crouching position and for their skating partner to push them around the track as fast as possible. During a roller derby bout this tactic can be used by the blockers to push their jammers through the pack so is a worthwhile exercise and when the speed gets up it’s quite frightening to be the cart and be propelled around the track! Skaters afraid of speed, don’t get Helen Fury to be your shopper!!!
For the skaters with mouth guards, they were set the challenge of skating round the track while Helen Fury practised “bumping” into them.... now having watched this from the sidelines, I was extremely glad to have been off my skates and boy did she send those girls flying! I know we have to get used to those kind of bumps happening hundreds of times throughout a bout, but it looked brutal! After the initial shock of being sent flying, the skaters picked themselves up and prepared for the next attack. Even when they were hit the second time, you could see how much better they handled it and fell in a more controlled manner, so you can see how useful this exercise is, but I am dreading my first go!
The next exercise for the “mouth guard” skaters was learning how to block correctly by bumping the skaters with your bottom/hips. To do this, they had to skate up to a chair, get alongside it and park their bottom on the chair in a controlled manner. Now this may sound easy, but believe me it wasn’t. Each skater that tried it gave it their all, but we all know we have a long way to go before we can perfect that move! I was quite happy just watching and holding the chair!!
The next exercise is the roller derby equivalent to the bleep test, and looked like a real strength zapper to me! All of the skaters had to line up at one end of the hall, then skate to the first black line, fall onto both knees, get up skate back to the wall, then turn around skate to the half way mark, fall, get up, skate back to the wall and turn around and skate to the ¾ line, fall, and so on! Knowing how much energy it takes to get up from a fall within 3 seconds and then do it again and again, I know how exhausting this can be, so my sympathy went out to the skaters.... yeah right... it looked amazing ha ha!
The last exercise looked the most fun to me, this was dodge ball on skates. Helen Fury and Cupid Stunt had popped to a sports shop on the way and had purchased 3 soft balls (tennis ball size) and the object of the game was for the skaters to skate around the track and 3 of them were given a ball each. Once the whistle had blown they then had 5 seconds to throw the ball at one of the other skaters. If you were hit, you had to sit down where you were hit and you became an obstacle for the other skaters to manoeuvre around. The remaining skaters then had to try and get the loose balls and then throw them within 5 seconds and hit their team mates until the last man was standing, which in this case was Sulu Warrior, who only just beat Anna to supremacy! This was a fantastic way to end the exercises, and everyone had huge smiles on their faces, so I can see this being a popular events!
Next it was the compulsory circle of pain, where everyone forms a circle and names a exercise for the group to complete, so for example one skater will say “10 press ups” so everyone does 10 press ups, the next skater will say “20 seconds plank” so everyone holds the plank position for 20 seconds. This continues until either everyone has had their say or time runs out. Then this is followed by stretching and cool down.
That ended the practise and it was then time to head over to the pub for a nice pint of beer/coke/lemonade or whatever tipple was required. We then launched into the first AGM for the Severn Roller Torrent League and discussed the various committee roles and elected the relevant people to the roles and discussed having a second training session and different venues, fund raising ideas, all of which went incredibly well and was done in no time. Sadly I was really not feeling very well at this point as wasn’t able to pay much attention but from what I understand everyone was pleased with the outcome.
Sadly I wont be there next week as have a family 90th Birthday party I am under orders to attend, but I look forward to hearing about the post valentine practise!
I have taken some more footage from this weeks practise, but haven’t posted them online yet, but I will post them on here shortly.
Video of the practise: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-OcWplQRpk
Adios
Honor Ass xx
We had a good turnout this week, one new skater and one skater who had been once a few weeks back. Sulu Warrior remains the title holder for skating at every practise, so I think the mascot Ram-Paige should go to Sue this week, which is a good thing as Ram-Paige was left behind at Sue’s this week anyway!
The practise was started with the more experienced skaters doing as many laps as they could for 5 minutes, the aim is to be able to do at least 20 laps and I know a couple managed this and some were very close, so things are looking really good. They then had to do the opposite direction for 5 minutes and believe me, by skating the opposite way may sound like a doddle, but it is deceptively difficult and takes some getting used to.
Then it was time for the rules test and some stretches.
Helen Fury took some time to coach the new skater, Carla. Carla hadn’t skated in years and it wasn’t long before she had got a good position and was skating well.
Following on from this, the shopping cart exercise was brought in and believe me, this is very funny to watch. It teaches the skaters to get down into a low crouching position and for their skating partner to push them around the track as fast as possible. During a roller derby bout this tactic can be used by the blockers to push their jammers through the pack so is a worthwhile exercise and when the speed gets up it’s quite frightening to be the cart and be propelled around the track! Skaters afraid of speed, don’t get Helen Fury to be your shopper!!!
For the skaters with mouth guards, they were set the challenge of skating round the track while Helen Fury practised “bumping” into them.... now having watched this from the sidelines, I was extremely glad to have been off my skates and boy did she send those girls flying! I know we have to get used to those kind of bumps happening hundreds of times throughout a bout, but it looked brutal! After the initial shock of being sent flying, the skaters picked themselves up and prepared for the next attack. Even when they were hit the second time, you could see how much better they handled it and fell in a more controlled manner, so you can see how useful this exercise is, but I am dreading my first go!
The next exercise for the “mouth guard” skaters was learning how to block correctly by bumping the skaters with your bottom/hips. To do this, they had to skate up to a chair, get alongside it and park their bottom on the chair in a controlled manner. Now this may sound easy, but believe me it wasn’t. Each skater that tried it gave it their all, but we all know we have a long way to go before we can perfect that move! I was quite happy just watching and holding the chair!!
The next exercise is the roller derby equivalent to the bleep test, and looked like a real strength zapper to me! All of the skaters had to line up at one end of the hall, then skate to the first black line, fall onto both knees, get up skate back to the wall, then turn around skate to the half way mark, fall, get up, skate back to the wall and turn around and skate to the ¾ line, fall, and so on! Knowing how much energy it takes to get up from a fall within 3 seconds and then do it again and again, I know how exhausting this can be, so my sympathy went out to the skaters.... yeah right... it looked amazing ha ha!
The last exercise looked the most fun to me, this was dodge ball on skates. Helen Fury and Cupid Stunt had popped to a sports shop on the way and had purchased 3 soft balls (tennis ball size) and the object of the game was for the skaters to skate around the track and 3 of them were given a ball each. Once the whistle had blown they then had 5 seconds to throw the ball at one of the other skaters. If you were hit, you had to sit down where you were hit and you became an obstacle for the other skaters to manoeuvre around. The remaining skaters then had to try and get the loose balls and then throw them within 5 seconds and hit their team mates until the last man was standing, which in this case was Sulu Warrior, who only just beat Anna to supremacy! This was a fantastic way to end the exercises, and everyone had huge smiles on their faces, so I can see this being a popular events!
Next it was the compulsory circle of pain, where everyone forms a circle and names a exercise for the group to complete, so for example one skater will say “10 press ups” so everyone does 10 press ups, the next skater will say “20 seconds plank” so everyone holds the plank position for 20 seconds. This continues until either everyone has had their say or time runs out. Then this is followed by stretching and cool down.
That ended the practise and it was then time to head over to the pub for a nice pint of beer/coke/lemonade or whatever tipple was required. We then launched into the first AGM for the Severn Roller Torrent League and discussed the various committee roles and elected the relevant people to the roles and discussed having a second training session and different venues, fund raising ideas, all of which went incredibly well and was done in no time. Sadly I was really not feeling very well at this point as wasn’t able to pay much attention but from what I understand everyone was pleased with the outcome.
Sadly I wont be there next week as have a family 90th Birthday party I am under orders to attend, but I look forward to hearing about the post valentine practise!
I have taken some more footage from this weeks practise, but haven’t posted them online yet, but I will post them on here shortly.
Video of the practise: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-OcWplQRpk
Adios
Honor Ass xx
Friday, 6 February 2009
You’ve Been Framed
The last Practise (Feb 1st 2009) was an interesting practise, not only because we had a very low turnout of skaters but also because our regular trainer Helen Fury was away skating in Stuttgart for the Birmingham Blitz Dames, so Cupid Stunk aka The Skatrix and Sulu Warrior took over and between them did a fantastic job. Because I had my right eye lasered in the week (by choice I hasten to add, I wasn’t playing a James Bond hero or villain and got zapped by a random laser beam!) I have been told I cant skate for at least a month, so am banned to the sidelines for now.
However being on the sidelines, or in face the middle as it turned out, was extremely interesting as it gave me a chance to study everyones skating techniques and listen to Cupid Stunt on the strengths and weaknesses of the skaters and their potentials within the team etc and it was a real eye opener.
The rules test was hard this week as I certainly hadn’t done my homework and a couple of newbies probably hadn’t been able to access the rules to read up on, but Sulu Warrior certainly knew her stuff and tried very admirably to help her team mates! ;-)
Sulu Warrior was a hard task master this week, she concentrated on endurance and stamina so had the skaters doing endurance laps starting at 7 laps as fast as you can, then in the centre for 10 press ups, 6 laps as fast as you can, 10 press ups, 5 laps as fast as you can, 10 press ups, and so on. So there were a lot of red faces by the end of this, and I did too.... just from the sheer heat they were generating.
Some time was then taken on falls as we all know how important it is to learn how to fall as I’m afraid there were a couple of painful falls this week, some full impact straight on the bum falls and some painful side hip falls that had us all wincing. Alot of this comes down to a) balance and skating in the right position and also confidence in falling on your pads. But after a few practise falls, we started to see some major improvements.
I still find the stripper fall or prostitute fall or whatever its called incredibly funny to watch, more so when you are not doing it yourself! Cupid Stunt showed everyone admirably how to do it properly, and is caught on film......... (errr I mean on the practise videos I took...... )
Backwards skating is still an unmastered art for me, but everyone did really really well last week, the previous week was a disaster (especially for me – I needed special help.... and I mean SPECIAL!!) but everyone seemed to do really well with their reverse skull crushes and I was impressed.
After practise we had time for a quick circle of pain and I joined in for this (as I’ll take one for the team) and then a few stretches and then the most important bit of the while practise... off to the pub! Cheesy Chips and a pint...... bliss!!!
Videos from last weeks practise:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzP61GnVKi4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoWmyHUK5Kg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKKwWoZ9p7E
As long as the snow holds off this weekend, I’ll be filming again at this weeks practise and blogging so please come back for a gander!
Adios Mon Amigos!
Honor Ass
However being on the sidelines, or in face the middle as it turned out, was extremely interesting as it gave me a chance to study everyones skating techniques and listen to Cupid Stunt on the strengths and weaknesses of the skaters and their potentials within the team etc and it was a real eye opener.
The rules test was hard this week as I certainly hadn’t done my homework and a couple of newbies probably hadn’t been able to access the rules to read up on, but Sulu Warrior certainly knew her stuff and tried very admirably to help her team mates! ;-)
Sulu Warrior was a hard task master this week, she concentrated on endurance and stamina so had the skaters doing endurance laps starting at 7 laps as fast as you can, then in the centre for 10 press ups, 6 laps as fast as you can, 10 press ups, 5 laps as fast as you can, 10 press ups, and so on. So there were a lot of red faces by the end of this, and I did too.... just from the sheer heat they were generating.
Some time was then taken on falls as we all know how important it is to learn how to fall as I’m afraid there were a couple of painful falls this week, some full impact straight on the bum falls and some painful side hip falls that had us all wincing. Alot of this comes down to a) balance and skating in the right position and also confidence in falling on your pads. But after a few practise falls, we started to see some major improvements.
I still find the stripper fall or prostitute fall or whatever its called incredibly funny to watch, more so when you are not doing it yourself! Cupid Stunt showed everyone admirably how to do it properly, and is caught on film......... (errr I mean on the practise videos I took...... )
Backwards skating is still an unmastered art for me, but everyone did really really well last week, the previous week was a disaster (especially for me – I needed special help.... and I mean SPECIAL!!) but everyone seemed to do really well with their reverse skull crushes and I was impressed.
After practise we had time for a quick circle of pain and I joined in for this (as I’ll take one for the team) and then a few stretches and then the most important bit of the while practise... off to the pub! Cheesy Chips and a pint...... bliss!!!
Videos from last weeks practise:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzP61GnVKi4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoWmyHUK5Kg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKKwWoZ9p7E
As long as the snow holds off this weekend, I’ll be filming again at this weeks practise and blogging so please come back for a gander!
Adios Mon Amigos!
Honor Ass
Tuesday, 27 January 2009
Honor Ass - The Numptys Guide to Roller Derby
A little while ago if someone had said roller derby to me, I would have said.. "roller what??" and in the most cases, that is what the majority of people will still say now. But having had the pleasure of meeting Faith (who shall be known from now on as "Helen Fury") I became immersed in the world of Roller Derby.
I will admit to start with I wasnt that interested but after a while the sheer enthusiasm that Helen Fury and Ruth (also known as The Skatrix) gave off became contagious and I got hooked.
Helen Fury had started her roller derby career back in the States, and when she moved over here had desperately wanted to find a league over here. The closest league to Gloucestershire was Birmingham, so she skated when she could there and when Skatrix started to join in, it wasnt long before they were muttering about setting up their own league in Gloucestershire.
After going to see Helen Fury and Skatrix in a Birmingham Blitz Dames bout, I was totally convinced that I wanted to have a go at this CRAZZEEEEEE sport! I knew I couldnt skate to save my life, but was really keen to try!
I will admit to start with I wasnt that interested but after a while the sheer enthusiasm that Helen Fury and Ruth (also known as The Skatrix) gave off became contagious and I got hooked.
Helen Fury had started her roller derby career back in the States, and when she moved over here had desperately wanted to find a league over here. The closest league to Gloucestershire was Birmingham, so she skated when she could there and when Skatrix started to join in, it wasnt long before they were muttering about setting up their own league in Gloucestershire.
After going to see Helen Fury and Skatrix in a Birmingham Blitz Dames bout, I was totally convinced that I wanted to have a go at this CRAZZEEEEEE sport! I knew I couldnt skate to save my life, but was really keen to try!
So at the end of November, our first practise was held at Tuffley, near Gloucester! Wow... the sheer panic of being on skates and feeling totally out of control was exhilerating, terrifying and hilarious! We practised a few basic moves, all of which I couldnt do! Stops..... what stops, my stopping is either falling over, crashing into a wall or crashing into someone!
My other huge problem is the fact that my left foot is welded to the floor! So it looks like I am skateboarding and just using my right foot to propel myself along! Skatrix and Helen Fury keep shouting "LEFT FOOT!" but its unresponsive! heh heh!
I have now 6 practises under my belt and am only just being able to use my left foot, my skater name of "Honor Ass" does still apply but the nickname of "Bambi" has also been applied several times.
Certainly the first 10 mins of getting onto the track, my impression of Bambi on the ice is without fault, I cant say I have long gangly legs, but the grace and poise is the same as Bambi in the infamous disney film! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEP2gjzmGL4
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