Blitzkrieg Deluxe

IN SPACE NO ONE CAN HEAR YOU SKATE

blitzkrieg deluxe — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 09:09:40 +0000

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She finally did it, she finally got her arse to a proper white star training session. Now I don’t feel quite as guilty claiming to be a derby girl. Still I have a lot of attendance to make up if I want to qualify to sit my next test. In my defence a bad bout of tonsillitis and birthdays did seem like pretty good excuses at the time.

Anyhoos…

FIRST TRAINING SESSION

Before we were even allowed to get on the rink, we new white stars had to first pass the basic written rules test. I was fairly nervous about this during the week as I had still not sat down and read all the rules. I was just hoping to get by with what i’ve learnt along the way in the last 12 months. Luckily for me it turns out I knew more than I thought. Not sure on what my mark was but i was just happy to get out on the track.

It was fairly intimidating at first, not that I was made to feel that way by anyone of coarse, I just was a little overcome by the feeling of being a little noob in a big pond of total awesomeness.

The skating was amazing fun. It was so cool to not be doing to same old drills over and over and over again. I wasn’t as nervous as I thought I was going to be but I think that’s mainly down to everyone was super friendly and helpful.

So here’s the 411 on what we did.

1.PACE LINES

From the back of the pack jog (HUH?!?) up the inside line to the front. I was actually a little scared of this but doing little steppy steppys wasn’t so bad, until I got yelled at for not having my mouth guard in. SAFETY FAIL SHAME !
Weaving from the back of the pack to the front between each person.
Weaving and faking from the back of the back to the front between each person, I took this is a combo of the first two so I kinda did a little jog before I weaved and then just after. not sure if I was doing it right or not but I had my mouth guard in this time. A minor win!

By the end of this I was pretty buggered. the line was so long it took ages to get to the front.

2.MAKING WALLS
We were paired up with a more experienced skater (<3 hipi) and were told about the basics of making a wall to stop other players getting through the pack. lessons learned include :

Skate low and wide and take up as much room as possible.
Try to close any gaps
Watch behind to make sure you know where the jammer is coming from.
Don’t push back with your arms to stop a player coming through.

3. WATERFALLS
2 people became a group of 3 and we worked on keeping a wall, while rotating players around making sure the gaps were covered at all times.

4. BLOCKING AND JAMMING
3 people together, 1 inside blocker, 1 patrolling blocker and 1 jammer. The aim was for the 2 blockers to stop the jammer getting past.

The inside blocker guarded the inside line with their life.
The patrolling blocker moved around while calling the jammer’s position while also trying to block.
The jammer just tried to get past.

We did this a few times making sure everyone got a crack at each position. I’ve decided i don’t mind inside blocking and the jamming was heaps fun but I’ll probably change my mind about that when theres more than a pack of 2 to deal with.

5. MAKING AND BREAKING WALLS
Skating in 2 teams with packs of 4. (purple and red) we took turns in trying to make walls and break walls. This was fairly nerve wreaking.
As we are only baby white stars, we’re not allowed to make big contact moves so I found it a little confusing as to what were were allowed to do.

That was the last drill for the whiteys for the night. I love the fact that when I played RTCW online, new players had white names, anyone with a white name was considered a noob or a “whitey” because they were so new they couldn’t work out how to change the colour of their name, or play with any skill. It does however feel much cooler calling myself a whitey now even if we are not allowed to scrimmage until we hit yellow star.

So the whiteys did we did a quick warm-down skate, a stretch and got to sit around and watch the higher level skaters do their scrimmage, a worthy compromise. I am seriously equal parts excited and terrified at the prospect of being able to scrim eventually.

I got to try my hand at penalty tracking which I’ve never done before. This was pretty cool. I’ve always wanted to do some NSO activities. Big thanks to Andrew for being so patient every time a purple penalty was called. Pretty sure he would have been sick of me asking “what did he say?” “is this right?” “what was that?”.

NOTE FOR NEXT WEEK: obtain hearing aid so I can hear the coaches and refs and remember to buy my purple and red singlets for team drills. Much love to Bonnie for the sexy loaner for the night <3.

Despite from my truancy on the weekend training front I have still made it to the previous 2 Tuesday sessions. The first was the info night but last weeks was much more fun, It was the SSRD first public bout !! Well semi public, it was for friends and family only but it was still awesome to watch. I was running the merch stand with Megsy for the first half with an army of junior derby queens in the making. It was good volly job here because we could still see all the action. It really got me pretty excited to think that maybe sometime in the next 12 months I’ll be out there as well.

Check out the video on the left of the girls in action and nurse pain grand-slamming it up :D

The first real public bout will be on AUGUST 28TH, more details to come but save the date !

NEXT : Friday night training. woo.

LIVIN’ THE WHITESTAR LIFE

blitzkrieg deluxe — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 12:34:52 +0000

Phew I think it’s pretty much sunk in that I actually made it to my white star. Having said that I still haven’t skated at any training sessions yet.

We are allowed to skate on Fridays and Saturdays right away but not Tuesday scrimmage for a few weeks due to SSRD preparing for and holding their first mini bout.

Unfortunately work held be back last Friday and I couldn’t make the first session and i was away for the Sunday sesh. It’s pretty funny that I’ve been skating so hard to get in and once I’m in I can’t make training… cross my skates that this is not going to be a running trend. Ideally I’ll make all 3 sessions a week. I really need to work on building those delicious derby muscles. nom nom.

We were still allowed to go Tuesday session this week. It was our induction night where we went through the rules, of which there will be a basic test on in 2 week *yikes* Time to put my “work funded” rules set to work. Although from what they asked on the night I seemed to know more then I thought.

While we were not able to skate this Tuesday it was cool to watch some of the SSRD girls hard at work practicing for the family and friends bout next week. We finished up the evening with a league meeting where the ladies went through the new policies while I munched on the Doritos dutifully supplied by my wifey and delicious baked goods supplied by Erika <3

The highlight of the night I have to admit was Alex officially handing my white star sticker for my helmet *cue explosions*. No more artists interpretations for me !

Hopefully next blog post I’ll have something skate related to talk about, praying that it’s not injury related.

Oh SSRD are running a fundraiser on the 30th of July to help raise much needed fundage. It’s an 80’s roller disco being held at skateworld in Carrum. for more information clicky clicky !

WHITE STAR : THE FINAL SKATIER

blitzkrieg deluxe — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 09:27:49 +0000

These are the voyages…*cough* sorry, got a little carried away…

So white star test, the bane of my existence for 7 or so months, was finally upon us.

I was fine up until the morning at which point I became a bundle of nerves reminiscent of the exact situation I was in last year. So much nervous energy.. I couldn’t sleep in or sit still around the house. I just wanted to get it all over with.

We started out basically stretching and practicing everything that was going to be on the test to warm us all up. I have to admit I didn’t really push myself too hard at this point because a) I didn’t want to wear myself out and b) I didn’t want to hurt myself before the test had even started.

And then came the test *gasp*

Now from what I remember (which is probably not 100% accurate) my results went something like this :

ENDURANCE

Laps: 25 laps in 5 minutes = 3/5 – Increased fitness will help with number of laps. Last time I got 19.5 so at least I can actually see some progress there.
Cross over form: = 3/5 – appears a little unbalanced.
Derby Stance =3/5 – Need to get lower.

Stance and cross-overs suffered due to me being so tired. Increased fitness should in theory help me improve everything to do with endurance.

STOPS

T-stops = 4/5 – Possibly need to get a little lower.
Plow-stops = 4/5 – Shorter stopping distance would be good.

FALLS

1-point = 3/5 Needs a quicker recovery, be in better stance.
2-point = 3/5 Needs a quicker recovery
4-point = 4/5 Probably needs a quicker recovery.

JUMPS

Basic jump: 4/5 – Need to increase balance so I don’t seem as shaky when landing.

GRAND TOTAL 3.44(3.4) out of 5 WHITE STAR PASS! WOOTLES :D

While we were waiting for the results we played some tag games and practiced some whipping, lots of fun. There was a pretty good vibe going around. Everyone seemed so relieved the test was over.

Wifey had organized a dinner booking down the road for everyone after the test which was a great idea. It was really good to sit around with everyone from the coaches to other white star takers and completely stuff our faces, relax a bit and totally stink out all the other punters. Awesome.

So this means that just under a year of me buying my first pair of derby skates I am officially in a roller derby league. I’m not sure it will fully sink in until the first training session but I’m just going to relax for a little bit now… maybe… anyone for rollerama?? :D

The good news (besides the obvious) is that I don’t have to write a boot camp experience for the third time. From this point on everything is going to be pretty new to me. This means more challenges, probably more tears but hopefully a lot more progression towards perhaps, one day, being able to play roller derby in an official capacity.

I really hope that everyone that didn’t make it the first time goes back for the resit in a couple of weeks. I know how crappy it feels to not make it the first time. It sucks hard. Just quietly, I was pretty upset the first time, a lot more then I probably communicated to people. I felt completely defeated. Honestly though, I have no idea where I would be now if I had just given up the first time. Derby is not easy, it’s not ever going to be easy and if it was easy I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be all that interested. Stay with it girls. It won’t be the same without you.

See you soon <3

BOOT CAMP 5 : THE EMPIRE SKATES BACK

blitzkrieg deluxe — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 10:42:48 +0000

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BOOTY CAMP

This week was a full recap of everything we can expect in the test.

t-stops
plow stops – note to self : try to get better at this using soft pushers.
one knee falls
two knee falls
4-point falls
jumps – they still scare the poop out of me everytime but I can do it 8 times out of 10.
endurance and form – I think I either made 24.5 or 25.5 laps this time which is a pass..but my form does seems to suffer the more tired I get.

We also did some weaving again and some practise starts for jammers.

toe stop starts - starting on both stops, break into a run on the stops for a few strides then back onto your wheels. kinda fun but hard to get into position quickly.
duck starts – feet point out, crouch and then pound your feet into the ground for take off. I would like to say this was my favourite just because of my recent obsession with ducks but I think I liked the toe stop starts better.

I think i’m ready for the test this time. In hindsight last time I really don’t think I was, mentally or physically. I could do most things but I wasn’t confident enough and it was more of a hit and miss on skills like plow stops and jumps.

But as much fun as bootcamp was this week it kinda didn’t match up to the experience of…

THE GREAT SOUTHERN SLAM

IT WAS AMAZING !! It was also my first time in Adelaide and for a major city it sure is small and sleepy. Everything was in walking distances and the locals couldn’t wait to say hello to you so badly they feel the need to scream out of car windows every 5 minutes, day or night.

The event was held at the show grounds taking up 2 pavilions with 4 tracks all on the go at the same time. It was pretty hard to decide which bouts to watch and which ones we would have to miss but obviously the Victorian teams took priority along with securing delicious merch. I spent way more money then I intended to but my derby tee collection just got an awesome boost.

It was great seeing skaters of various skill levels all jumping in and having a go. So many girls were having their first ever bout here which I think was awesome. If it had been me, I don’t think I would have made it out of the bathroom. It was alot of fun watching some of the girls I did boot camp with last time in their first challenge bouts. Seriously impressive stuff.

The amount of derby love was overwhelming, so many really cool people all together and enthusiastically talking about derby related topics, everyone was so positive and friendly, it was just the greatest atmosphere to be in.

It was so hard to watch the final against Sun State Roller Girls and the VRDL. The skill level of the players was amazing, so many strategies I have never actually seen in front of my face before. the best word I can use to sum the game up is INTENSE. It was so good to see the Victorian girls take it though, It was the perfect ending to and awesome trip…well besides the after party, but that’s another story..

If they run another great southern slam next year i’ll be there in a heartbeat whether I can skate or not.

I took some photos and videos that are linked to over on the left. but please be warned that the quality is not great due to an iphone being my medium. You may also want to turn the volume down on the videos as the screaming may just blow your mind..literally.

SO NEXT WEEK… white star test !!! *nerves*. fingers crossed it won’t end in tears or injury and there won’t be another emo blog post incoming…wish me luck :)

BOOTCAMP 4 : LIVE FREE OR SKATE HARD

blitzkrieg deluxe — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 08:48:25 +0000

Will I grow out of using blog titles based on movie sequels? nope and I’m not even sure that I want to.

So this week started well. I managed to scam some printing and binding resources from my place of employment to finally get a copy of the rules organized. I am yet to read them even though they have been officially sitting on my desk at home for a week. I even coloured in the front with pink biro rather then actually do any productive reading. At least I have the guys at work walking around the office making random ref singles… office favourite seems to be “grandslam” so maybe i’ll actually start learning from them.

Rollerama sessions were great as usual apart from me trying my best to do jump 180’s and stacking hard. You know the kind of stack i’m talking about. Your feet fly out forwards from under you and it feels like you’re floating in mid air for hours before you crash to earth butt first. It was pretty embarrassing on a night where there are derby veterans present. However I still went from person to person asking if they saw my uber fail and proudly announcing that I landed on my sidebum.

As an added bonus one of our “crew” won the nightly roll the dice game and I got to share in the spoils…in skittles form…I tasted the rainbow and it was delicious.

Then came boot camp week 4. Poor wifey hurt her bot bot and deemed herself too sore to participate. This meant spending almost 2 hours sitting around watching us noobs with only a bag of peas for company :(

A lot got crammed into this weeks sessions:

SATAN’S MATTRESS: A game/relay type thing where you skate towards a wall and as you get close move into a baseball slide,then flat onto your back while sliding towards the wall but not hitting it with your feet. then waiting for the whistle and getting up and doing it again as fast as you can. REALLY hard work.
WEAVING: Wide weaves and narrow weaves, very strange sensation and a lesson in weight distribution. I’m not very good at narrow weaves but I am better then I used to be.
JUMPS: Starting from jumping a line - to jumping a cup – to finally jumping a box. I never feel quite safe jumping so i’m hoping I will eventually get used to it. I did manage to jump a little box though so *squeals*

Apart from those new things there was heaps of activities recapping everything we have learned so far which was good. We also did some more transitions and sprinting endurance practice. I’m still critically unfit I think so the more of this stuff the better.

OMG HELMET WOOT! The highlight of my week was totally getting my new helmet back from J-F Tranquille. It’s been painted absolutely perfectly. I knew when I asked him initially if he could do a custom helmet for me I would be in good hands. He SOOO delivered! He took my love of Wolfinstein,skulls and Blitzkrieg and made something better then I would have ever imagined. Ok i’ll stop gushing now..but srsly… OMG OMG OMG lols. <3 J-F

So now the wait begins to actually wear it. I figure I will wait till after the white star. I still can't register the name for a while yet but passing the white star (laces crossed) will be enough validation for me!

Quick disclaimer: I’d like to clarify that even though my name and helmet is world war 2 inspired I am totally not a fascist nazi racist jerkface. kthanx.

So there’s no bootcamp this sunday the 13th, which is a bummer, but we’re off to Radalaide instead for the Great Southern Slam. A totally worthy compromise. Reports and badly taken pictures to follow..

BOOTCAMP 3 : THE SKATENING

blitzkrieg deluxe — Mon, 31 May 2010 12:49:24 +0000

So boot camp week 3. I can honestly say this is so much more fun this time around. Half way through i looked at the clock and realised there was only an hour to go and I actually felt sad. I wasn’t sure if we would learn anything new after last time but I was happily proven wrong.

Some of the extra stuff that wasn’t included last boot camp was:

Scissor skating: Practising putting one foot in line with the other and then swapping over. rinse and repeat. The boys looked pretty uncomfortable doing this one.. can’t imagine why.
Transitions: Stepping front to back while moving. While I had picked this up at a class earlier in the year I can’t imagine what I would have done had this been on the last boot camp six months ago. Hmm no wait… I can totally imagine… There would have been tears and maybe something extra in my shorts that wasn’t there earlier.
Baseball slides with quick get ups: Moving from a one knee fall onto your sidebum(is that even a word?!) to basically help you learn not to fall on your tail bone I’ve done that once..pretty sure if I did it again I would implode or something. So a very valuable skill for me to have. I had learnt this previously at a class but not quite the same. This time you use your core so you don’t fall back onto your elbows and you use a quick kick motion to swap your legs over and get up… wow i didn’t explain that very well. next time i’ll try a diagram.
Walking on toe stops for 2 laps: Pretty self explanatory. It hurt my tootsies…

We kinda did a game in the form of pushing and pulling a group around the track. I christened our group the “poo posse” much to the other girls dismay, but we rocked it YEAH ! I’m kinda of glad we didn’t get to play “musical cones” (thanks for the proper name harmin’ :D) because I nearly passed out by the end.

After bootcamp it was time for a post bootcamp bbq. It was delicious. It was really nice hanging with the girls ( and guys ) without being at a skating rink (although thats totally rad too). The best part however, was the discovery of a guide to outdoor skating circa 1970.

The black and white photos simply do not communicate the raw awesomeness of the book. The main guy, who no doubt picked up the skills in ‘Nam judging by his 1000 yard stare, had some spectacular and often unorthodox moves but hey, I won’t judge because I wasn’t there man.. I WASN’T THERE! I too hope one day to to able to jump as high as he…but maybe not reveal quite as much of my anatomy.

After chowing down and watching some xanadu, me and the wife headed home to our respective abodes and the night capped off with the duty of airing out my derby wife’s pads along side mine outside. It’s smelly business this derby caper but I wouldn’t change a thing.

Actually I totally would change the smelly part.

Really looking forward to next week.

SKATE HARD 2 : SKATE HARDER

blitzkrieg deluxe — Sun, 23 May 2010 12:13:47 +0000

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Big derby related weekend ahoy ! (more nautical references… I can’t help it)

The bout : Metal mayhem at puckhandlers. Dolls Au Go Go Versus Dead Ringer Rosies. It was a great bout with lots of strategy. I’m getting a better idea of the rules and penalties which makes it much more interesting to watch. Dolls won with an impressive margin but there were a lot of ring-ins on both sides due to injuries. Unfortunatly the next VRDL v VRDL bout will be a while off but next month it’s the great southern slam where the travel team will play (and own !) interstate teams over 2 days. It’s going to be an awesome trip.

The bouts half time show was erm…monkey inspired air guitar… An interesting performance but I chose to believe it could have been improved with the addition of poop throwing or a recreation of THIS

Highlight : The 3 D’s … Dragonforce, Dethklok and Dio. Best Metal Dj set ever \m/ I took some very shitty photos and videos that you can click on over on the left there.

And then came the second week of bootcamp.

While thanks to my derby wife yawning on the trip over which in turn made me yawn and subsequently feel tired, she more than make up for it with a little bomb of caffeine before we got skating. <3.

We all started out stretching but then came the dum duh DAH push-ups, sit ups and body bridges *horror movie scream* … I always knew this day would come… I was fairly woeful as I expected I would be. It may be time to actually start doing them in my own time without being forced to. nuts.

We recapped all the stuff from last week but then got to do some cool things I hadn’t done before.

180 degree single knee slides : Took a while to get my head around this one but I look forward to practising these more. Many times I ended up sprawled on my side. It was good to learn something new but these were not quite as fun as the 180 double knee slides we attempted for funsies at ‘rama with hilarious results.
pushing a plow-stopping wench : 2 laps each. Hard work if your doing the pushing and sore ankles if you are the pushee.

The remaining part of the session was games related. Skills relay in groups of 6, a weird “stop and go” game where you had to stop (t’s and plows) within 3 seconds while racing to the opposite wall and my favourite.. “the game when you race to capture cones by doing 4 point falls faster then your opponents”. catchy name.

The games were awesome. Everyone seemed to be having fun and it was pretty hilarious watching the competitive spirit come out.

So things to do before next week: more situps and push-ups (guh), more squats and more 180 slides. Looking forward to week 3 already.

In other news: I also decided on my next tattoo. Well that is IF I get into SSRD and IF no one takes my name before the 3 months waiting period. The second if seems slightly more unlikely.. but you never know.. suffice to say that if it does get taken at least my new arch nemesis will have a rad name.

HERE WE GO AGAIN : IDERBY 2.0

blitzkrieg deluxe — Sun, 16 May 2010 11:02:05 +0000

So pretty much exactly 6 months since my first boot camp experience with VRDL comes my second with SSRD. This time it was very different.

Last time I barely knew anyone at all except for Bec, who I had seen at rollerama a couple of times and even then we had idle friendly banter at best.

This time there was a small squad of rollerama regulars who I have come to know and love, as well as Bec who has since become my derby wife !

Last time I was sick with nerves and could barely sleep the night before because I was so worried I was going to embarrass myself with my lack of skill.

This time I was so excited I could barely sleep the night before. I knew the last 6 months of practising the same old skills on a weekly basis meant I was not going to be as hopeless as last time…or did it ???…yes it did.

Last time I was getting frustrated with my mind and body for not cooperating, getting stressed out that I was holding people up, pissing off the coaches due to weakness and sweating my proverbial balls off in 35 plus degrees.

This time I was only getting frustrated with my mouth guard for being lame but I was still probably pissing off the coaches, this time due to laughing too much instead of QQing about passing out. I was still sweating it up albeit in a more comfortable 20 degree heat.

Last time my pads and gear were all new and uncomfortable like.

This time everything fits a little better, I’m so used to wearing them that it feels wrong to skate without them. This time however…the gear PONGS !

Last time I could not skate more than 19.5 laps in five minutes.

This time i could skate 22 ^_^

The skills we need to learn are the same as last time. We need to be able to do the following to pass our white star to be invited to join South Sea Roller Derby.

Toe stops and plow stops
One knee falls, two knee falls, 4 point falls
Jumps
Skate 20+ laps of the track in 5 minutes with good form (bend those knees!) and cross overs

All things considered I believe I am much more prepared mentally and physically for boot camp and derby. I know how to do everything on the list and even though there is room for improvement on everything I’m pretty sure I’ll be happy whatever happens.

Basically I am having a boat load more fun this time around (OMG I’m already making nautical references !). Being relaxed, being in the most awesome company and knowing how to do more than skate around in circles sure does have its advantages.

Bring on week two !

In other news : the blog has a new skin! I think green is my favourite colour at the moment. Can you tell? A big thanx to misty meaner for letting me steal her photos from sunday.

ROLLER DERBY : SERIOUS BUSINESS

blitzkrieg deluxe — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 00:53:46 +0000

so slight change of plans…

after much deliberation with my wifey it looks like we are going to try and make South Sea Roller Derby our new home. naturally is all dependent on my ability to pass the white star ( i think i can, i think i can toot toot).

so firstly the immediate advantages for heading over to ssrd (for me) are:

the bootcamp is coming up sooner then the vrdl (yep i’m totally impatient..but it’s been a year of waiting already come on !)
the league is brand spanking new so there’s the opportunity to grow with them from the start rather then squeeze into a league of awesome vets. (read : less stress, more funs)
the competition to get a spot is a little less, well i am assuming this is the case, i’ve heard whispers the vrdl has over 400 people this time signed up for fresh meat… thats like double last times amount, which was already heaps high !
perhaps most importantly i get to use the name “blitzkrieg deluxe” – vrdl has a lovely skater called rosa deluxe and i didn’t want to pick a name so close to someone else so YAY !
I’ll get to skate with some lovely girls i have met at rollerama that are already in ssrd or intend to join on the next intake like us.
some of the training locations are closer to where i live (eastern suburbs 4 lyfe)

It’s actually a pretty hard decision really and my little heart is still a little torn, i love the VRDL and it’s been my goal for the past year to join them. I’m not the type of person who would join a league and then leave again for another..unless i was forced to due to living arrangements. Basically once I choose (read: am allowed in) a league that has to be it for me.

I still want to be involved though so i will continue to volunteer for the VRDL, the biggest bummer is not being able to train with the amazing people i’ve already met from VRDL, including the last round of freshmeat. But i’m sure maybe sometime down the track i’ll get to get my arse handed to me by some of them ^_^.

Now the wait begins again, The SSRD info sesh is on Tuesday night just over a week away and hopefully a boot camp is not too long after. Then it’s training 3 times a week (again that’s assuming I pass, but i’m pretty sure i have the whitestar test skills down…maybe o_O )

So thats the new goal, get into SSRD. Which means it’s time for me to bring out ye olde boot camp blogging experience again, lets hope this is that last time i have to boot camp it up. For anyone who is interested in checking out SSRD you can have a looksie here. They are also running a roller disco for fund raising on sunday may 2nd.

In other news: after returning from the states last week I can still skate!

see you guys in a couple of weeks xox

SLEEP, EAT, SKATE, REPEAT

blitzkrieg deluxe — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 10:25:10 +0000

it’s been a big kinda month in derby wannabe land so i’ll try and break this down into little bite sized pieces.

DERBY CLASS

It’s been a completely awesome experience. It’s helped me lose a bit of weight, increased my fitness and strength and spurred my motivation that little bit more. We’ve learned so much in such a short time. I can sort of do transition stops now and am working on my backwards skating of which at this stage is snail pace at best. We’ve been doing lots of pace-lines and pack drills and it all makes me realize more and more that derby, or skating at the very least is totally my bag.

I purchased the roller derby workout dvd and have been doing that once a week at home (sans skates). It’s tough on the legs but once I can get through the whole session without my body pussing out on me I’ll start doing it with skates on.

NEW GEAR

With my new job came more money, more money means more gear! It’s been a while since my last splurge so I invested in : some new 187 elbow pads, a set of sure grip sugar wheels to skate outside on, some harder green fugatives and abec 9 bearings to increase speed and some fugitive pushers to help me with my confidence on corners. As well as that i grabbed some much needed gaskets for my knees and some spare parts and tools so i can stop scabbing off my wifey all the time. Oh and a big trolley bag to replace my back breaking backpack to cart everything around in. Oh and i also grabbed some huge green web toe stops that leave huge green marks at every rink/parking lot i go to. phew maybe too much money spent but i’ve wanted/needed this stuff for so long. At least now i won’t have to buy anything for a very long time.

I also decided once and for all to buy some of berzerker’s roller derby jewellery, i know my name isn’t final yet but it WILL have blitzkrieg involved in some way. I chose to use the wolfinstein font for the letters just to be a little extra nerdy (<3 wolfies). It looks pretty sweet, like the rest of her range but I dare not wear mine out in public until I can actually call myself an official derby girl which is a while off yet but If you’re interested in securing a sweet ass necklace checkout berzerker’s roller derby jewellery facebook page.

BOUTS

My first bout of the season was in Daylesford to watch some of the VRDL girls fill in for the 2 Ballarat teams (libertines and gold diggers). It was great to watch but makes me realize i really need to read up on the rules so I can get a better understanding of the strategy and penalties. Libertines went out to take victory in the end thanks to some awesome jams from swish.

The second bout was the first VRDL bout of the year with the Toxic Avengers v’s Dolls A-Go Go. I was also volunteering as roving merch at the game, trying to make people buy my derby wares with varied success (i think I bought more for myself then I sold j/k). The best part of this job (besides the free ticket) was that I didn’t have to work during the match so I could watch it in all it’s gold and sparkly glory. Dolls won by a huge margin but there were awesome plays by both sides. Very much looking forward to the next one ! If your interested in going to see any bouts this season get your tickets quick because they sold out in 5 days! watch the vrdl site for more information.

And now i head off overseas for a few weeks. I’m going to miss skating, especially seeing as I seem to be doing it 3-4 times a week minimum now but I’m sure there will be plenty to do when i get back. Lets hope I don’t unlearn it all when i’m chowing down on In-N-Out burgers.