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

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.

xo ]]> http://blitzkriegdeluxe.com/?feed=rss2&p=129 0 http://blitzkriegdeluxe.com/?p=116 http://blitzkriegdeluxe.com/?p=116#comments Sat, 13 Feb 2010 11:05:08 +0000 blitzkrieg deluxe http://blitzkriegdeluxe.com/?p=116 so after an 8 week break from skating here i am, back on the wheels. It’s been 2 weeks since my first sesh back with the girls at rollerama. i was not so quietly shitting myself but felt comfortable as the girls pretty much hadn’t skated since the white star test either.

I was pretty happy with the fact that it all came back within the first 15 mins. cross overs, t-stops, plow stops all still doable. i couldn’t wait to start the derby lite training classes on the Thursday.

Thursday rolled around and my body was in for a rude shock. 8 weeks and no exercise to BAM 2 and a half hours of full on skating and manoeuvres. we covered everything we had learnt in the boot camp in one lesson.. madness.. as well as additional baseball slide stop which are pretty fun. As i limped off the floor already sore and covered from head to toe in derby juice (sweat lol) i knew i was already in for a painful few days… i was so right.

The next Thursday my groin was still playing up so i couldn’t do falls but we learnt a new and pretty scary move that i still have a massive amount of work to do on:

the transition : skating forward turn your skates around one at a time so you are facing the other way and stop using your toe stops… eeek. i fail so hard at this but it’s all practise and muscle memory. there was a few variations on this involving jumping but i dared not try them.. not considering the amount of stacks i had already accumulated that night.

so the aim for the moment is to skate casually once a week with the girls (claire and new derby wife bec) and then train on thursday’s in the intermediate class. once I’m a little fitter i will try and fit in another sesh during the week and do some derby recommended workouts which i’ll post here if i have any success with. Also will be attempting to do the 1000 steps weekly as well.

In other news it appears my first choice derby name has been snatched up by an american girl so i have to come up with something different. at the moment i’m tossing around blitzkrieg banshee but i have another few floating around if that doesn’t work.

In my break time i was asked to restyle/update the VRDL wordpress theme which was a bit of fun. I also put my name down for volunteer duties so i will hopefully get to help out at the next bout in march. check the link for more details.

so that’s it for now. the dream is still alive. i think about the sport all the time so i think that’s a pretty good indication that it’s something I’m going to stick with. I’m just waiting for my next paycheck to come in so i can splurge on some new wheels and gaskets.

xo

now this is in no way an advertisement for the brands i use, i’m just trying to show what i use at the moment and from my own experience and talking to other girls it seems pretty much standard for freshies starting out.

basically to start training for derby on the most basic level you need the following

• quad skates
• helmet
• knee (decent)/elbow pads
• wrist guards
• mouth guard
• striped knee high socks (not really but it’s a plus ^_^)
• water water water

from left to right : 1) puma street skates crica 2000 2) sure grip rebels 3) s-one cromag (for fat heads) 4) protec wrist guards 5) 187 knee pages 6) no-name elbowpads

1)  puma skates these babies were bought in 2000 when i had every intention on rolling around the streets of melbourne in my time off work. after about 5 mins on them and a near spectacular fall i was scared off them for the next 9 years which they spent in my various bedrooms since.. well until june 2009. after researching roller derby for a while i convinced a friend to come out with me to the local rink (caribbean rollerama 4 lyfe !!) for a test run. it was fun but alot of hard work,  i was pretty uneasy and decided that i was just going to bite the bullet and invest in a decent pair of skates to practice with especially seeing as the wheel nuts stick out too far and are not allowed to be used in derby. this brings us to…

2) sure grip rebels the first time i picked these sexy little girls up i knew the difference between them and the old pumas was massive. i tossed the pumas aside and got down to the rink as quickly as possible. moving around in the rebels was effortless compared the to pumas. The sure grips have given me no aches, no blisters and no foot monsters, that is not to say they won’t after more strenuous work outs but i’m very happy with them.

but skates are not just about the boot. the wheels i have are sure grip fugitives  (62mm 92-95A pink -  62mm is the size of the wheel, and 92-95A is the hardness, basically the harder the wheel the faster) they are pretty much middle ground in terms of grippyness and hardness. i thought this was the best way to go due to not knowing what the surface was going to be like everywhere. the bearings are the standard sure-grip speedy ABEC 7’s compared to ABEC 1’s (the lowest grade available)  that i had in my pumas… i will upgrade to the ultra pricey ceramic bearings later down the track but what i have at the moment seem perfect for anyone starting out. if you want to skate outside alot you will want some cheaper bearings and softer wheels on standby so u don’t go arse over tit at the mere sight of a pebble or twig in the way. i don’t have a set myself so i will refrain from commenting further.

suregrip rebels seem to be very popular with skaters starting out, they are reasonably priced which is good. it’s probably not a good idea to spend too much more on your first pair until you work out where u stand in the world of derby. another popular boot with the girls i’ve seen around is the riedell r3’s or the riedell vandals i’ve heard alot of good things about these and are keen to try some on… plus the vandals have uber sexy white stripes down the side ^_^.

australian shops are quite expensive for skates that are imported . i personally bought mine from sin city skates and including the shipping they were still considerably cheaper then over here.  now thats not to say this hasn’t changed in the last few months but make sure u shop around. there’s a good chance you could get a better skate setup overseas for the same price as a lesser skate in oz.

but enough about these so called “derby skates”. i’m pretty sure that the fisher price bad boys are what we all started out on. The sounds of awesome (read:cheap) plastic grinding on footpaths or deserted streets, the children’s screams (myself included) at the many grazed knees, sprained ankles and bruises that resulted still ring fondly in my ears. i eagerly await the day when there is a local derby league where “my first skates” are the main requirement. oh the things (injuries) i could do (to myself) on these puppies.

3) s-one cromag helmet now i’ll be honest. i wasn’t given much choice in the way of helmets. the first helmet i bought was a protec but it didn’t fit. however it seems like a good helmet, well priced and popular with derby girls. now after shopping around i found the xxxl cromag and ordered one from the states. fits like a glove surprisingly and i have no complaints.the only thing left to do with it is sticker it up.

4) protec wrist guards a must even though you are not supposed to be landing with your hands first at all.  if i had been wearing these babies when i was 14 i would be minus one fractured wrist.

5) 187 knee pads so good! basically with all the knee falling you will need to be doing you really need a good pair of knee pads. these were recommended by so many people. the protecs up to this point were not as good but i think they’ve just changed the design to match the 187 type. basically you need a big set of pad thats going to allow you to fall on them over and over and over again without hurting your knee in the process. the 187’s are nice and big, very comfy, easy to drop onto and slide on and they also have a removable/replaceable thingy.. err u know what i mean…the hard bit.

6) no-name elbow guards it’s been my experience so far that elbow pads are needed but not as important as knee pads for fresh meat training. thus i am still using the bare minimum (read:cheap) pads until i get into the league at which point i will upgrade. it’s good to get used to wearing the pads and having a feel for them being there but when your starting out save your money and put them into your knee pads or some ice packs ^_^.

7) mouth guard it’s required but each to their own on which brand/type. i like my dr.shock gel mouth guard.. well i don’t like it, it makes me look like an idiot and i can’t talk when i wear it but it’s comfortable enough. most mouth guards you can get at pharmacy or sports stores.

if i get some new gear in the future i’ll try and give it a bit of a review on here. even though i won’t be skating for a while i just want to buy more stuff, more wheels, new bearings, tools, more striped socks..it’s a good thing i had my credit limit lowered.

i have an operation scheduled for next week which means i can’t sit the resit which is unfortunate but ultimately pointless.  the op is something i need to do and it would be better to do it now then start derby training and then have to leave for 8 weeks and be kicked out anyway.

still it would have been nice to know i had passed it first time. :3

until next week i’m going to keep on skating because apart from wanting to derby it’s just plain fun to skate around and it would be awesome to have a last skate around with some of the lovely ladies i have met before they are whisked off for hardcore training sessions with the league.

i should be back on my skates in 8 to 12 weeks and with the next intake anywhere from 6 to 12 months away i’ll have plenty of time to brush up and improve on the basic skills,  hopefully learn a few more and just get better and more balanced on my skates in general.