So initially I was actually planning on writing a post after every training session until our yellow star test. I now realize this was a tad ambitious so I figure I’ll do a training summery every 3 or 4 weeks to cover any new stuff we’ve done and then post about other derby related happenings. So here’s a run down of all the stuff we’ve been doing over the last few weeks :)

I had my first SHED training session, quite exciting and bloody cold. I finally got to experience first hand the notorious Dandenong training ground. I had been told in the past that the floor was slippery as hell, well that has certainly changed, I couldn’t plow stop to save my life! One thing was still holding true however, the closeness of the the track to the wall. I almost met intimately with said wall a number of times during the night.

We basically went through the yellow star test requirements (which I’ll hopefully be sitting on the 31st of this month *cold sweats* ) This entailed:

60 second body bridge, 50 sit-ups and 20 push ups. Blergh I made the 60 second body bridge..just.. but I’m going to need to work on those push ups…

Endurance : 1 min @ 50% capacity, 2 min endurance working on form, 1 min break and then 5 min endurance with a warm down… I was feeling pretty tired after this. I think I performed about as well as I did for white star but I need a clicker to count my laps because my head always loses track and starts looping thinking music.

Wide weaves and falls. I think I almost have the weaves down going in either direction.

Squat skating : 2 mins of on/off squatting according to whistle blows and then 1 min full squat while skating, 1 min break and then another 1 min of skating in full squat. This as I’m sure you can imagine was the definition of pain.

Next up was my favourite game: satan’s mattress. I nearly died….apparently this is on the test and we have to do it for 2 mins… dear god no ! or should that be dear satan no !?

After drinking a litre of water it was time for some weaving pace-lines. I’ve come to enjoy weaving pacelines, they used to terrify me. I always worried about knocking people over of getting in someone else’s way. I find myself much more comfortable now and able to use speed control when I never really could before.  Even with a belly full of water making swoosh swoosh noises I still made it through without stacking.

The final drills of the night were the most fun. we were split into 2 groups taking it in turn to be a blocking pack and a jamming pack. as jammer’s we first had to make it through the pack by stepping through and the second time we had to try and make it through at speed. This was so much fun !! I like blocking but jamming is so cool. I really don’t know if I’ll ever get to be a proper jammer, I need better fitness, a leaner booty and a little more confidence but right now I’m loving these drills.

Lesson of the evening, get a smaller mouth-guard ! I was chewed up pretty bad this week for again not having my mouth-guard in properly.. my fault completely..pretty sure i’ll be vigilant from now on, even if I am choking on my own drool.

*PAUSE*

See just after I wrote this up we had another training session with a buttload more new stuff..so I started writing that one up…and then there was another training session and I started to write that one up and then…I’m sure you see where I’m going here…too much jibber jabber !

In summery, the training sessions up to now have been alot different to boot camp and they are a hell of alot more fun. We’ve learnt so much that I can’t distinguish the individual sessions but a run down on some of the stuff we we have done up until now is:

making and breaking walls, surge blocking. weaving pacelines, blocking pacelines, baton passing, transition stop races. The most fun so far would have to be the endless jammer drills where we have 2 packs, one pack blocks and one pack filters through jamming. So fun and so scary.

When we’re not covering so much new stuff all at once I’ll break it down a little more but right now my head is swimming with new drills..and dreams of what kind of player I’ll end up being.

Besides the training on Tuesday’s I’ve been helping with more NSO jobs. blocker penalty timing! I get to sit in a chair, wield 2 stop watches and wait for people to rack up the penalties and then yell at them to go back and play. With great power comes great responsibility ! Unfortunately I only seem to get one or 2 people to time per scrimmage session..Bring back the biff ladies !

IN OTHER NEWS : OH MAH GAWD I got new skates. BIG GREEN ONES. The wife has named them snot wheels and who am I to argue with her, she totes wears the pants. I decided to just go with rebels again because I’ve been really happy with mine. They are getting a bit ratty which is why I wanted a new pair but overall I’ve never had so much as a blister from them so i don’t see why I would want another boot…I may however get an aluminium plate at some stage in the future. Big shoutout to wayne at derbyskates.com.au and J-F for helping me out. I got a really good deal on the skates as well as the bearings and wrist guards and I got them all within a week and a half  *feint*

So I’ve finally had a chance to sit still and write a blog entry… expect more soon, hopefully not as stupidly long. The yellow star test is in two weeks so I’m once again soiling myself…oh and i’m nervous too :) I will be starting my push-up and sit-up routine at home tomorrow I swears ! *hurrrrrrr*

OH OH MOST IMPORTANTLY The first ever SSRD public bout is on the 28th. CLICK HERE for more information and score yourself some tickets ! There is also a promo video here . It’s going to be an awesome night and I get to time the blocker penalties for reals *gasp* Hope to see you there !

Phew epic post. If i could give you a strawberry freddo frog for making it this far I would!

xx BeeDee (lol…just thought I would try that out…fail) ]]> http://blitzkriegdeluxe.com/?feed=rss2&p=370 0 http://blitzkriegdeluxe.com/?p=85 http://blitzkriegdeluxe.com/?p=85#comments Sun, 06 Dec 2009 04:26:29 +0000 blitzkrieg deluxe http://blitzkriegdeluxe.com/?p=85 So in an attempt to find something derby related to write about i thought i might share my first set of gear with you.

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.

the air was so thick with nerves you could chew it. everyone was scared shitless, myself included.

i headed over early to get a decent warm up with the 2 becs. we got there, kitted up and paid our monies and got out on the floor. Started out shaky as usual but got down and just tried to keep my mind off the white star test.

We started out stretching and i got possibly the 2 best pieces of news i’d had all day:

1) If we fail today we get to have another shot at in in just over a week
2) We are not being tested on cross-overs in the reverse direction.

At this stage reverse cross overs are the bane of my existence.. i’m just too awkward for them. I felt pretty much the entire group breathe a little bit easier after this announcement. However the relieved smiles were quickly wiped off peoples faces minutes later when it came time to start the actual white star tests. eeep !

So this is how it went down yo! :

STOPS: specifically plow stops and t-stop. I think i did these ok… well by that i mean i stopped and didn’t stack. But my plow stops are something i think i’m going to have to cultivate over a long period of time before they look any good.

FALLS: specifically one knee (each side), double knee and 4 point falls (both knees, wrists and elbows). These again i think i did ok on. Not perfect by any means but i managed to do the one knees on both sides without any major incident, the double knees were ok with one knee going down just before the other and the 4 point.. well it’s not my strong point but they were better than they were last week.. which isn’t saying that much

ENDURANCE: 5 minutes around the track sprinting, focusing on form(stance, cross-overs) and basically trying to do as many laps as possible with 2 – 4 other ladies on the track. omgomgomg i was so scared of this one, especially seeing as i tend to over heat and become a sweaty mess. But it ended up alright i think. I had a few uneasy moments but was able to keep the same brisk-ish pace the whole time with a few crossovers included for good measure… i think.  special shout out to peta for yelling out to me and making me panic lol <3

JUMPS: what we had all been dreading. Jumping over cones. This was my major downfall of the day. I DID the jumps and i DIDN’T fall over but the style was ridiculous. Jumps are the thing i am most concerned about but i’m sure i can put in a bit more work on them if i have to.

After jumps it was warm down time and the realisation it was all over. everyone seemed relieved, like a polar opposite of how we were when we came in. the strangest thing was that i just wanted to keep on skating.

All in all i’m not prepared to speculate about whether i’m going to pass or fail. We won’t know for a couple of days most likely so i’m just going to continue skating and try not to think about it (yeah right).

I think the favourite part of my day though was heading over to the local pub with some other lovely freshies to relax, have a drink and a good laugh at ourselves. The bar wench was not impressed with the stench apparently which provided many lols.

I wish all the girls that were there today the best of luck and hope to be skating with them again very soon. Also the coaches were awesome, every week we were encouraged and helped with everything. They were all approachable and patient and willing to dispense the same advice over and over and over and over again.

Seriously this was the best experience i’ve had in a long time and whatever happens after today i WILL be involved in one way or another with the VRDL. I think i’m becoming obsessed…

so fingers crossed i make the cut and got my email in quick enough !

UPDATE : my first minor derby sucess ! emailing back in a timely fashion wins again, although i’m not sure where this skill is going to help me in the future. Anyway turns out they are breaking up the freshies in 2 groups (nearly 60 girls per group). i will be in group one which does their thing in about a week from 5pm to 7pm. starting to get pretty excited/nervous now !

i can’t really describe how excited i am, i’m sure theres alot of girls in a similar position at the moment. i just can’t wait to get started. It seems like i’ve been waiting forever for something like this to come along.

i look forward to getting to know some other freshies. right now i really have no clue on anyone elses ability and where i fit in.  There seems to be a huge number of girls that want to join the VRDL this year. This leads me to believe there will be a little bit of competion to get a spot. This is a scary thought seeing as right at this moment i can only really skate in a circle.

So my check list for bootcamp is :

learn to do at least one stop, buy some decent knee pads, invest in another helment for my abnormally large skull/hair and stop stressing out.

I’ve decided that if i don’t make it this round i’m not going to be too heart broken. whatever happens i’ll stick with it and hopefully make it in sometime in the next 12 months. either way i really am just enjoying having a good skate !

Next Update : Boot camp Week One (eeep!)

It’s 2 weeks from the official information session for the VRDL (Victorian Roller Derby League) fresh meat intake.  I put my name down a few months ago,  bought some skates from Sin City Skates to replace my 8+ year old puma street skates (that i used about 2 times) and have been pretty much starting from scratch.

I used to love skating when i was little whenever i got the chance. i got my first and only broken bone from a skating related incident. I decided on roller derby this year after trying to find a sport to get into.  I was lost and one day looked down at my dusty old skates and decided to see if there was anything local happening.

So now the wait begins…the boot camp starts in November and roller derby in Melbourne has become increasingly popular so the competition to get a spot for 9 months worth of training will be tough.  Will i get in? I hope so..otherwise this will be a very short lived blog  and my already chosen skating name  “Betty Blitzkrieg” will be going to waste.

I kinda hoped i would take to skating like duck to water…That was not the case. My training has consisted so far of my forcing various friends to come to the local rink with me for a social skate and so i can practice the basics. This has led to some spectacular falls, minor injuries, near misses and hilarious situations.  I really should take a lesson but hopefully boot camp will get me over the line.  If not.. there’s always next year right?