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
Monday, 23 February 2009
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
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