Roller Derby Boot Camp
Day 6- AKA the day I couldn’t do anything right
Ever just have one of those days when nothing seemed to go right? Yeah, that was yesterday. It started with a burnt dinner (woo slow cooker not having enough water!) and ended with a giant bruise on my right hip.
Let’s break it down shall we?
Dinner sucked, so I didn’t eat enough, and what I did eat tasted like bleh and I ended up with some acid reflux and almost threw up twice during practice. A good meal can go a long way towards success, but a bad one can throw you off completely. I will be eating well tonight and hoping this is a one time occurrence.
I learned a valuable lesson about cleaning skate wheels. Do NOT use baby wipes as they contain a lotion and will leave said lotion on your wheels. This is most likely the cause of my slick wheels and why it felt worse with each practice. I learned this lesson the hard way- by falling down twice around the curves because I had no grip. Nice fall the first time, epic wipe-out the second time. But hey, I did a perfect baseball slide on that second fall! Too bad the hip took a big hit though and it knocked the wind out of me. But, I got back up and finished my laps.
Then we went onto some review of basic skills. One of the coaches watched us individually do falls. I got called out for doing the two knee fall wrong. What? Yeah, I apparently don’t do one knee than the other and I don’t space my knees out far enough. I’ve been telling myself to first hit with one knee and then the other, but I just…don’t. And my four point fall is off too as I slam my elbows and wrists down at the same time instead of elbows then wrists. These things are hard to control when you’re falling, but I must practice practice practice so it becomes muscle memory. At this point, I was so ready to give up and pout, but somehow I sucked it up and finished practice. My only saving grace here is that I have excellent form with one knee falls and the 180 degree fall. My baseball slide is a little hit and miss on perfect form. Sometimes that lead leg comes up a little too high.
After that we did an obstacle course. Skate to cone, do a 180 fall, skate back, do a 180 fall, skate towards the end of rink and then come back weaving through 10-foot spaced cones, skate back towards end of rink and do 2 T-stops (nailed it! FINALLY!), then skate back towards the start and jump over cones. My jumping was off and I didn’t keep my feet together. I think that was mainly due to a lack of confidence after being called out twice during fall practice.
I’m going to TRY to have more confidence in myself tonight. After what felt like a disaster (in my mind at least) yesterday, today has got to be better, right?
