Thats right, Tubby McFatsacks himself jumped the apex. Put that in your pipe and smoke it...
Sure, I cleared all of about 4' of distance, but I did it clean and it scored me lead jammer. Oh happy day!
The two Oregon men's derby teams (PMRD and LCC) are having our first ever official scrimmage on the 19th at the Pavilion in Salem, OR (HUGE thanks to CCDG for helping set that up!) from 11-2pm. People are allowed to come and watch, so if you're a person you should consider doing that. If you're a meat popsicle, then you're on your own... weirdo.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Monday, November 29, 2010
Rat City Scrimmage, practice, renegade, and too little sleep.
Had a whirlwind of misadventures since the last post, so some summarizing is in order...
Went to Bend, OR and skated in a renegade derby bout with Earl Slick, Speed Dealer, and Han Cholo from LCC and Hurt Vonnegut from CCDG whom I promised I would mention in this blog... so there you go, Hurt. She actually knocked me down for the first time at that bout, but being allowed to scissor kick does make things easier for her. The bout was VERY different that derby as I know and love it and it definitely took some getting used to. The track was about 1/2 the size, the jams only one minute, and the rules virtually non-existant. It was fun once I realized it didn't count as sports by my standards, and I definitely saw potential to pick up some bad habits mixing both styles of play.
Lots of practices between then and this weekend, where I have been slowly making progress improving the horror-show that is my form, and working on my hits. I had the unique joy of having a rib get popped out of place at an LCC practice (where that same rib was pounded 3 more times because someone didn't have sense enough to sit down...), but it got popped back in at practice the next week, and is almost completely back to normal now. So much fun...
On Saturday, Hotboxx, Stitches & Bones (both of STDD), and I drove to Seattle and played in the Rat City open scrimmage. We got there a bit late so the ladies opted to get the USARS day insurance that let them skate with the boys. We got to skate with several Rat City travel team skaters including Anya Heels, ReAnimate-her, and Carmen Getsome. Also, Puget Sound Outcast Derby was there in force, so I finally got to skate with the most established men's derby team on the West coast. Radillac, G. No-Evil, and all the rest of the PSOD crew were awesome skaters and very friendly. I'm definitely looking forward to skating with/against them at the Wild-West Showdown in March and possibly sooner than that for a scrimmage as well. Good times!
Went to Bend, OR and skated in a renegade derby bout with Earl Slick, Speed Dealer, and Han Cholo from LCC and Hurt Vonnegut from CCDG whom I promised I would mention in this blog... so there you go, Hurt. She actually knocked me down for the first time at that bout, but being allowed to scissor kick does make things easier for her. The bout was VERY different that derby as I know and love it and it definitely took some getting used to. The track was about 1/2 the size, the jams only one minute, and the rules virtually non-existant. It was fun once I realized it didn't count as sports by my standards, and I definitely saw potential to pick up some bad habits mixing both styles of play.
Lots of practices between then and this weekend, where I have been slowly making progress improving the horror-show that is my form, and working on my hits. I had the unique joy of having a rib get popped out of place at an LCC practice (where that same rib was pounded 3 more times because someone didn't have sense enough to sit down...), but it got popped back in at practice the next week, and is almost completely back to normal now. So much fun...
On Saturday, Hotboxx, Stitches & Bones (both of STDD), and I drove to Seattle and played in the Rat City open scrimmage. We got there a bit late so the ladies opted to get the USARS day insurance that let them skate with the boys. We got to skate with several Rat City travel team skaters including Anya Heels, ReAnimate-her, and Carmen Getsome. Also, Puget Sound Outcast Derby was there in force, so I finally got to skate with the most established men's derby team on the West coast. Radillac, G. No-Evil, and all the rest of the PSOD crew were awesome skaters and very friendly. I'm definitely looking forward to skating with/against them at the Wild-West Showdown in March and possibly sooner than that for a scrimmage as well. Good times!
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Teamwork: more than just socialist propaganda?
Another Monday night scrimmage come and gone with Lane County Concussion. They (LCC) scrimmage every Monday, often with a handful of women skating with us as well, which is cool until one of them skitters around you like you were standing still. Clearly the result of girls maturing faster than boys.
Getting to regularly skate with new people helps broaden your horizons and forces you to develop your book of derby lore beyond the limited chapters your team might subscribe to. It also means you have to create trust and understanding in a couple jams to avoid being decimated by those choads in the white shirts for the next hour and change. While some people have enough experience or are good enough at following quick instructions to instantly fill the gaps, others struggle to play like they are anything other than a team of one. This recent scrimmage was a good example. One team had a slightly better blocking lineup than the other, but was prevented from outright dominating the entire evening through solid communication and teamwork by the other blockers. When our team worked as a unit, life was good. When we devolved into four individuals each trying to take on the entire opposing line, not so much...
Cohesive play and strong communication are essential to successful pack play. Being able to collectively go from trapping for easy points to a kill-line when your jammer is in the box for blitzing someone in the tramp-stamp is critical and can mean the difference between an unfortunate 20 point swing and an annoying 60 second pace-line while your friend with the star sits in the corner and thinks about what they have done wrong. In my experience, guys seem to have a hard time with this concept. I have had moments of trapping someone in the back and having to physically grab blockers from my team like a deployed parachute to prevent them from chasing a blocker on our jammer at 20', all while yelling at them loud enough to cause permanent hearing damage in the next two generations of their offspring. It is mildly frustrating, kinda like safety lighters and child-labor laws. I have considered suggesting some sort of a ear-bud radio system, but then I would probably hear a bunch of grumbling about being too demanding or how that Buzzed guy is a loud douche. Obviously there is room for improvement here.
Getting to regularly skate with new people helps broaden your horizons and forces you to develop your book of derby lore beyond the limited chapters your team might subscribe to. It also means you have to create trust and understanding in a couple jams to avoid being decimated by those choads in the white shirts for the next hour and change. While some people have enough experience or are good enough at following quick instructions to instantly fill the gaps, others struggle to play like they are anything other than a team of one. This recent scrimmage was a good example. One team had a slightly better blocking lineup than the other, but was prevented from outright dominating the entire evening through solid communication and teamwork by the other blockers. When our team worked as a unit, life was good. When we devolved into four individuals each trying to take on the entire opposing line, not so much...
Cohesive play and strong communication are essential to successful pack play. Being able to collectively go from trapping for easy points to a kill-line when your jammer is in the box for blitzing someone in the tramp-stamp is critical and can mean the difference between an unfortunate 20 point swing and an annoying 60 second pace-line while your friend with the star sits in the corner and thinks about what they have done wrong. In my experience, guys seem to have a hard time with this concept. I have had moments of trapping someone in the back and having to physically grab blockers from my team like a deployed parachute to prevent them from chasing a blocker on our jammer at 20', all while yelling at them loud enough to cause permanent hearing damage in the next two generations of their offspring. It is mildly frustrating, kinda like safety lighters and child-labor laws. I have considered suggesting some sort of a ear-bud radio system, but then I would probably hear a bunch of grumbling about being too demanding or how that Buzzed guy is a loud douche. Obviously there is room for improvement here.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
The beatings shall continue until morale improves!
So with the added skating (LCC & zebra with STDD on weekdays) comes added bruises, aches and pains. On Monday a 70-year old that skates for LCC, Merby Dick, and I got tangled in a pack midway through collapsing like a dying star and my arm ended up on the receiving end of one of his skates, as did my helmet. Don't worry, the helmet was ok... as was Merby, that dude is a tank.
Injury is probably the most feared aspect of the sport. PMRD has seen 3 skaters sidelined with injuries from practice alone. How do you play and avoid injury? As I understand it there are two major factors: training and luck. Unfortunately, you can only influence one of them, and I don't mean in the breaking mirrors kind of way. Everyone has to pass minimum skills to bout, and should be doing so to scrimmage as well. Some skaters I have spoken with about this has said that often minimum skills alone are not enough to make someone a safe skater. Sure, you can fall small when you're told to and are actively focusing on doing it, but what about when that refrigerator on wheels comes out of no-where and drops the hammer on you?
It takes a good bit of training to properly fall small when you are going down on someone else's terms. In my case I was promised a thorough beating topped off with no small amount of sprawl drills before I really learned my lesson and started turning into human origami when I felt the horizon start to shift. Even still I have my moments. Also, I had to change my view of taking a knee. I went from looking at is as admitting defeat or losing control to thinking of it as hitting a reset button. It should take less than a second to return to skating from a proper knee fall while that full on sprawl that you get for losing the fight with gravity will cost you a good 3+ seconds in many cases. That little difference in recovery time is all that their jammer needs to squirt by, or an opposing blocker to put the bad-touch all over your own fun-sized teammate sporting the star.
Hopefully your team/league is at a point where all your fellow skaters are as disciplined as you are, but thats not always the case. Other skaters are, oddly enough, your main source of face-plant fodder. Even when they're on your side a bad misstep can quickly result in the track punching you in the stomach. Worse still, when a teammate/opponent falls poorly they can trip others which quickly spreads like ripples in a pond until the whole pack is gut-surfing through turn 2. Skating with unsafe skaters who are participating beyond their skill level is often dangerous and you certainly should feel free to speak up to your coaches/teammates if you have concerns. Even the most seasoned skater still does minimal fall drills on occasion to keep skills sharp and check their form, so odds are you can benefit from them just as much as I can.
So get out there, lock those wheels, get the snot knocked out of you, and hit that floor... just practice doing so safely before hand.
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Injury is probably the most feared aspect of the sport. PMRD has seen 3 skaters sidelined with injuries from practice alone. How do you play and avoid injury? As I understand it there are two major factors: training and luck. Unfortunately, you can only influence one of them, and I don't mean in the breaking mirrors kind of way. Everyone has to pass minimum skills to bout, and should be doing so to scrimmage as well. Some skaters I have spoken with about this has said that often minimum skills alone are not enough to make someone a safe skater. Sure, you can fall small when you're told to and are actively focusing on doing it, but what about when that refrigerator on wheels comes out of no-where and drops the hammer on you?
It takes a good bit of training to properly fall small when you are going down on someone else's terms. In my case I was promised a thorough beating topped off with no small amount of sprawl drills before I really learned my lesson and started turning into human origami when I felt the horizon start to shift. Even still I have my moments. Also, I had to change my view of taking a knee. I went from looking at is as admitting defeat or losing control to thinking of it as hitting a reset button. It should take less than a second to return to skating from a proper knee fall while that full on sprawl that you get for losing the fight with gravity will cost you a good 3+ seconds in many cases. That little difference in recovery time is all that their jammer needs to squirt by, or an opposing blocker to put the bad-touch all over your own fun-sized teammate sporting the star.
Hopefully your team/league is at a point where all your fellow skaters are as disciplined as you are, but thats not always the case. Other skaters are, oddly enough, your main source of face-plant fodder. Even when they're on your side a bad misstep can quickly result in the track punching you in the stomach. Worse still, when a teammate/opponent falls poorly they can trip others which quickly spreads like ripples in a pond until the whole pack is gut-surfing through turn 2. Skating with unsafe skaters who are participating beyond their skill level is often dangerous and you certainly should feel free to speak up to your coaches/teammates if you have concerns. Even the most seasoned skater still does minimal fall drills on occasion to keep skills sharp and check their form, so odds are you can benefit from them just as much as I can.
So get out there, lock those wheels, get the snot knocked out of you, and hit that floor... just practice doing so safely before hand.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
2 Months Later...
So the alien abduction was a hoax, so I'm back with an update to briefly summarize the past 2 months:
I moved to Corvallis for grad school, skating semi-regularly with the Lane County Concussion team until my car decided to cook the motor. My landord plays on the Sick Town Derby Dames team, so I am eventually going to be refereeing in some capacity here. Once the motor is rebuilt then I'm going to be on a regular 4x/week derby schedule plus whatever outdoor skating I work in around class.
The last couple months have brought a few more new skaters at PMRD with our new guys moving along nicely. Unfortunately, our captain and league president (Carpe Demon) suffered a bad fibia spiral fracture at the end of our first coed scrimmage and will be recovering from the injury until February or so.
I got to play in RCR's coed scrimmage last weekend where I witnessed the shock and awe that was Quadzilla. Seriously, I think he is 3 people sharing the same space and time, he was that good. Great eye-opener to how far I have left to go, but I would be pretty content to achieve maybe 1/3-1/2 his skill.
Hopefully I'll be somewhat more timely in my updates, and the weekly remind from the new phone should help with that as well...
I moved to Corvallis for grad school, skating semi-regularly with the Lane County Concussion team until my car decided to cook the motor. My landord plays on the Sick Town Derby Dames team, so I am eventually going to be refereeing in some capacity here. Once the motor is rebuilt then I'm going to be on a regular 4x/week derby schedule plus whatever outdoor skating I work in around class.
The last couple months have brought a few more new skaters at PMRD with our new guys moving along nicely. Unfortunately, our captain and league president (Carpe Demon) suffered a bad fibia spiral fracture at the end of our first coed scrimmage and will be recovering from the injury until February or so.
I got to play in RCR's coed scrimmage last weekend where I witnessed the shock and awe that was Quadzilla. Seriously, I think he is 3 people sharing the same space and time, he was that good. Great eye-opener to how far I have left to go, but I would be pretty content to achieve maybe 1/3-1/2 his skill.
Hopefully I'll be somewhat more timely in my updates, and the weekly remind from the new phone should help with that as well...
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Hide your babies, its Quadtastrophe!
Incase you somehow managed to sleep through the many announcements (my apologies to narcoleptics and those recently recovering from a coma) QUADTASTROPHE 2010 starts tomorrow afternoon! Portland Men's Roller Derby is hosting a variety of events about town this weekend and you're invited!
See the Schedule of Events for locations and start times of the different events. Who knows, maybe you'll get to see the rare Speedicus Bumpicus on a vert ramp or get to experience the unstoppable force that is Carpe Demon's block. Odds are you can skate at least as well as I can, but no one will hold that against you.
Everyone is welcome and we hope to see you there!
See the Schedule of Events for locations and start times of the different events. Who knows, maybe you'll get to see the rare Speedicus Bumpicus on a vert ramp or get to experience the unstoppable force that is Carpe Demon's block. Odds are you can skate at least as well as I can, but no one will hold that against you.
Everyone is welcome and we hope to see you there!
Sunday, August 15, 2010
And now we sweat
Practice this morning, earlier than usual to accommodate the double header for the final day of the Hometown Throwdown (Awesome derby weekend with 6 bouts of nationally ranked teams, so we got started at 9am instead of our usual 11am. That 2 hour earlier start time meant I got less sleep the night before, but also meant a 15+ degree cooler hangar to practice in, good trade!
Speed Dealer, Earl Slick, and Macho-Mexican/Han Cholo were up from Lane county concussion and started us out with some endurance work. First up was paceline work, lapping the pack before weaving through. Next we did the elevator doors paceline which has been shamelessly stolen from the B.A.D. girls warm-ups. In this drill, the paceline constantly spreads from the center of the track to the inner/outer boundaries and then back to the center at the whistle while the people in the back shoot ahead 1-3 spots every whistle until they reach the front. It helps teach quick steps, lateral movement, awareness, communication, and some unfortunate fitness as well. Apparently roller derby involves exercise. Unfortunately, it also involved an injury. Killa'volt locked wheels during a split and went down hard on a knee he had been nursing for the last month, resulting in swelling and bruising that undid a lot of patience & time spent healing.
Since LCC can out-pace the majority of our team, they led us through pyramid sprints as an endurance/speed building exercise. A skater starts with 1 lap sprinting, then a lap coasting, then 2 of each and so on up to 5 laps and then working back down to one lap. As much fun as that sounds, again it turned out to be more exercise. I did appreciate the work though and can see places I can improve my speed and form for a more efficient stride and better lap time. In particular, I liked how this drill really helped me get a head start on my sweating for the day, something I was worried might not get going properly today, with a high of only 96 deg...
After the screaming stopped Anarchy counted us off into two teams and were we given the privilege of wearing red and black pennies that were previously used to wrap cadavers that sat in the sun. Seriously, someone needs to wash or burn those things, they are a bigger health risk than smoking or Keith Richards. I was on the red team consisting of myself, Han Cholo, Speed Dealer, Next of Ken, Silent Mob, and El Guapo. Demon, Bubba, Earl Slick, Beeswhacks, Kill Nye, Boof, and later Cupples SK8 made up the black team. Scrimmage was more heavily slanted towards what I am used to compared to the scrimmage last Monday; strong defensive walls, communication, and teamwork. Bubba took a bad fall that hyper-extended an elbow (scary) for our second injury of the day. Jams were moving at a faster pace than previous scrimmages with fewer/shorter breaks in between. I jammed a few times with moderate success, except for one jam where Bubba was invisible only to me and somehow got by without me seeing him, causing no small amount of embarrassment.
Goal for the week: Survive California, cause I'm going camping. Gonna try not to get back-blocked by a pinecone!
Speed Dealer, Earl Slick, and Macho-Mexican/Han Cholo were up from Lane county concussion and started us out with some endurance work. First up was paceline work, lapping the pack before weaving through. Next we did the elevator doors paceline which has been shamelessly stolen from the B.A.D. girls warm-ups. In this drill, the paceline constantly spreads from the center of the track to the inner/outer boundaries and then back to the center at the whistle while the people in the back shoot ahead 1-3 spots every whistle until they reach the front. It helps teach quick steps, lateral movement, awareness, communication, and some unfortunate fitness as well. Apparently roller derby involves exercise. Unfortunately, it also involved an injury. Killa'volt locked wheels during a split and went down hard on a knee he had been nursing for the last month, resulting in swelling and bruising that undid a lot of patience & time spent healing.
Since LCC can out-pace the majority of our team, they led us through pyramid sprints as an endurance/speed building exercise. A skater starts with 1 lap sprinting, then a lap coasting, then 2 of each and so on up to 5 laps and then working back down to one lap. As much fun as that sounds, again it turned out to be more exercise. I did appreciate the work though and can see places I can improve my speed and form for a more efficient stride and better lap time. In particular, I liked how this drill really helped me get a head start on my sweating for the day, something I was worried might not get going properly today, with a high of only 96 deg...
After the screaming stopped Anarchy counted us off into two teams and were we given the privilege of wearing red and black pennies that were previously used to wrap cadavers that sat in the sun. Seriously, someone needs to wash or burn those things, they are a bigger health risk than smoking or Keith Richards. I was on the red team consisting of myself, Han Cholo, Speed Dealer, Next of Ken, Silent Mob, and El Guapo. Demon, Bubba, Earl Slick, Beeswhacks, Kill Nye, Boof, and later Cupples SK8 made up the black team. Scrimmage was more heavily slanted towards what I am used to compared to the scrimmage last Monday; strong defensive walls, communication, and teamwork. Bubba took a bad fall that hyper-extended an elbow (scary) for our second injury of the day. Jams were moving at a faster pace than previous scrimmages with fewer/shorter breaks in between. I jammed a few times with moderate success, except for one jam where Bubba was invisible only to me and somehow got by without me seeing him, causing no small amount of embarrassment.
Goal for the week: Survive California, cause I'm going camping. Gonna try not to get back-blocked by a pinecone!
Monday, August 2, 2010
I am (not) The Plow King!!!
Once again I am behind in my posts, so I'll summarize to date as best I can...
(8/1) Practice happened again. Skatie Kat joined forces with The Whip help direct the circus of misery, and was an excellent resource for seeing how the things we were doing looked when done correctly. Captain Obvious, having recently failed a durability test involving him, a car, and asphalt (seriously though, get better soon), was an extra set of eyes offering encouragement and input along with one of our newest members who is getting skates/gear the middle of this month.
Because we have aspirations of someday bouting LCC, and by someday I mean mid September, The Whip and Skatie pushed us through the skill assessment list, but not before my least favorite endurance drill ever. The 50 in 15! Fifty laps around the outside of the track, Speed Bump seems to like this one (because he can do it... healthy bastard) and once again led the charge. I kept pace with the fast group for the first 10-12 laps before admitting I was a failure on wheels and shifted to inside the track where I kept skating for the remainder of the 15 minutes. After the Bataan Death March on wheels we circled up and started stretching, then started into the checklist of things I need to work on.
We made it as far as the whips and hip assists before time was up for the day. Plow stops continued to be something that other people do, and some of the stepping stuff (seriously, who walks around in skates...) was awkward to say the least. My cross-body whips were another area that requires immediate improvement, but everything else I did seemed to be up to snuff. And by up to snuff I mean how a person might look if they did it during a seizure.
As the time was winding down, it became apparent to those with the whistles that we hadn't skated enough. 25 laps in 5 minutes, which attainable still isn't something I do for fun. But I completed them once again. Then I cried.
(8/5) Our first outdoor practice this year.
Captain Obvious ran the show for the 4 of us (Myself, Next of Ken, El Guapo, and Stovepipe) who made it, using the area & supplies to try and make the best of our time. Lots of maneuverability and basic skills work. Plow stops still weren't impressive, but I could reliably shed some speed and stop from a slow pace within 20ft. Later, Cupples showed up (OMG!) and ran us through some form skating and more basic skills work. Skating outdoors ~3/5 stars. Skating outdoors in the blistering sun <1/5 stars... El Guapo's super-kickass snakeskin skate boots totally made it all worthwhile though!
(8/7) Endurance practice.
Ever walk through a desert? While walking through that desert did you ever think to yourself "This would be better if I skated across this desert while Skatie Kat constantly told me to skate lower and went 2x as fast as me without breaking a sweat"? Well if you have wondered that I can tell you that it really doesn't make it any better. On the bright side, I did get to work on using my long legs to really get some lengthy strides to achieve (relatively) faster speeds for a given effort level. Also, I did not puke or cry, so I consider the whole thing a success.
(8/8) Practice
Holy crap, we have a full team! 14 people were there, and while some were still fairly new, we had a bench worth of players in the same structure. It felt weird... but in a good way.
SBA pushed us through some warm up exercises and then we were right into the meat & potatoes... The sweaty man-on-man action that is pushing drills. I was paired with Carpe Demon and Bubba Fett during different drills, both of roughly the same weight class. Demon showed me the source of his secret power (besides raw power itself) and we worked on getting a leg in front when steering another player off the track. Once that other player gets a leg in front you are really fighting an uphill battle. If that player is Demon then you are just delaying the inevitable, cause you can only do so much before he cheerfully steers you off the track.
After a handful of similar drills, we scrimmaged. Not that little 4 vs 3 stuff we have done in the past, I mean full on 5 vs 5 scrimmage. It was great, we even got to use the benches. Injured skaters and coaching staff officiated and it was go-time. It felt really good to really scrimmage, even more than our first short-sided versions. Cupples showed up and was good to go, I look forward to watching him & Speed Bump go head to head someday. Pack strategy, communication, and awareness was present on both sides, and we got to see our hard work shaping up. Unfortunately, I took a finger to the eye that almost touched brain (good luck washing that out from under your fingernail!) midway through, which tore a contact and left me with a bit more of a handicap than my standard ineptitude. Since I am about 90% testosterone, confirmed by my very-real doctor I assure you, I got back in the mix a couple jams later and had a blast with no serious decrease in performance.
(8/9) Lane County Concussion Practice
Since we are on mutually good terms with LCC we figured a bunch of us would head down to their practice and roll with them. I had been once before an knew that they were all good skaters with endurance that I would pay good money to get in pill form. They had a pretty good turnout with us there (4 PMRD, 9 LCC skaters, + SBA & Cpt Obvious along to officiate/observe). We started out by doing some core exercises in the center. Each skater called out an exercise and we all did 10-15 of them. Apparently derby involves exercise, which was a shock to some of us PMRD folk. Once we had successfully developed washboard abs, the paceline of doom began. I had seen this before, but that doesn't make experiencing it any less traumatic. LCC's paceline move about half-again as fast as ours often do, and they had some aggressive drills while they burn out the laps. I wasn't going to show weakness by quitting so I hammered down and pushed all the way through, but it was still awfully trying. Apparently more endurance practices are required... damnit.
Once the speed-skate was over sides were chosen and we scrimmaged like nobody's business. I was on the white team with a couple guys I knew from my previous visit while the other 3 PMRD skaters (Demon, NoK, & Bubba) were on the black team. About 3-4 jams into the scrimmage I realized how badly I missed my teammates. Our (PMRD) defense and pack work is very different than theirs (LCC) and playing against our guys without that same support was frustrating. Demon & Bubba continually carved through the pack, moving/leveling anyone who tried to oppose them while NoK continually filled gaps in their lines and held blockers/jammers up as we made attempts to mix things up. At halftime, Speed Dealer noted that the 3-man wall they (black) were building by turn 2 was reliably shutting us down, and we needed to do something about it. Unfortunately for our team (white) by the time we got our tactics working it was too late and the other team had too much of a lead to catch up. Awesome to scrimmage 2 days in a row, but I was wicked sore the next day.
Goal for the weekend: Work on lateral stepping and knock-down blocking.
(8/1) Practice happened again. Skatie Kat joined forces with The Whip help direct the circus of misery, and was an excellent resource for seeing how the things we were doing looked when done correctly. Captain Obvious, having recently failed a durability test involving him, a car, and asphalt (seriously though, get better soon), was an extra set of eyes offering encouragement and input along with one of our newest members who is getting skates/gear the middle of this month.
Because we have aspirations of someday bouting LCC, and by someday I mean mid September, The Whip and Skatie pushed us through the skill assessment list, but not before my least favorite endurance drill ever. The 50 in 15! Fifty laps around the outside of the track, Speed Bump seems to like this one (because he can do it... healthy bastard) and once again led the charge. I kept pace with the fast group for the first 10-12 laps before admitting I was a failure on wheels and shifted to inside the track where I kept skating for the remainder of the 15 minutes. After the Bataan Death March on wheels we circled up and started stretching, then started into the checklist of things I need to work on.
We made it as far as the whips and hip assists before time was up for the day. Plow stops continued to be something that other people do, and some of the stepping stuff (seriously, who walks around in skates...) was awkward to say the least. My cross-body whips were another area that requires immediate improvement, but everything else I did seemed to be up to snuff. And by up to snuff I mean how a person might look if they did it during a seizure.
As the time was winding down, it became apparent to those with the whistles that we hadn't skated enough. 25 laps in 5 minutes, which attainable still isn't something I do for fun. But I completed them once again. Then I cried.
(8/5) Our first outdoor practice this year.
Captain Obvious ran the show for the 4 of us (Myself, Next of Ken, El Guapo, and Stovepipe) who made it, using the area & supplies to try and make the best of our time. Lots of maneuverability and basic skills work. Plow stops still weren't impressive, but I could reliably shed some speed and stop from a slow pace within 20ft. Later, Cupples showed up (OMG!) and ran us through some form skating and more basic skills work. Skating outdoors ~3/5 stars. Skating outdoors in the blistering sun <1/5 stars... El Guapo's super-kickass snakeskin skate boots totally made it all worthwhile though!
(8/7) Endurance practice.
Ever walk through a desert? While walking through that desert did you ever think to yourself "This would be better if I skated across this desert while Skatie Kat constantly told me to skate lower and went 2x as fast as me without breaking a sweat"? Well if you have wondered that I can tell you that it really doesn't make it any better. On the bright side, I did get to work on using my long legs to really get some lengthy strides to achieve (relatively) faster speeds for a given effort level. Also, I did not puke or cry, so I consider the whole thing a success.
(8/8) Practice
Holy crap, we have a full team! 14 people were there, and while some were still fairly new, we had a bench worth of players in the same structure. It felt weird... but in a good way.
SBA pushed us through some warm up exercises and then we were right into the meat & potatoes... The sweaty man-on-man action that is pushing drills. I was paired with Carpe Demon and Bubba Fett during different drills, both of roughly the same weight class. Demon showed me the source of his secret power (besides raw power itself) and we worked on getting a leg in front when steering another player off the track. Once that other player gets a leg in front you are really fighting an uphill battle. If that player is Demon then you are just delaying the inevitable, cause you can only do so much before he cheerfully steers you off the track.
After a handful of similar drills, we scrimmaged. Not that little 4 vs 3 stuff we have done in the past, I mean full on 5 vs 5 scrimmage. It was great, we even got to use the benches. Injured skaters and coaching staff officiated and it was go-time. It felt really good to really scrimmage, even more than our first short-sided versions. Cupples showed up and was good to go, I look forward to watching him & Speed Bump go head to head someday. Pack strategy, communication, and awareness was present on both sides, and we got to see our hard work shaping up. Unfortunately, I took a finger to the eye that almost touched brain (good luck washing that out from under your fingernail!) midway through, which tore a contact and left me with a bit more of a handicap than my standard ineptitude. Since I am about 90% testosterone, confirmed by my very-real doctor I assure you, I got back in the mix a couple jams later and had a blast with no serious decrease in performance.
(8/9) Lane County Concussion Practice
Since we are on mutually good terms with LCC we figured a bunch of us would head down to their practice and roll with them. I had been once before an knew that they were all good skaters with endurance that I would pay good money to get in pill form. They had a pretty good turnout with us there (4 PMRD, 9 LCC skaters, + SBA & Cpt Obvious along to officiate/observe). We started out by doing some core exercises in the center. Each skater called out an exercise and we all did 10-15 of them. Apparently derby involves exercise, which was a shock to some of us PMRD folk. Once we had successfully developed washboard abs, the paceline of doom began. I had seen this before, but that doesn't make experiencing it any less traumatic. LCC's paceline move about half-again as fast as ours often do, and they had some aggressive drills while they burn out the laps. I wasn't going to show weakness by quitting so I hammered down and pushed all the way through, but it was still awfully trying. Apparently more endurance practices are required... damnit.
Once the speed-skate was over sides were chosen and we scrimmaged like nobody's business. I was on the white team with a couple guys I knew from my previous visit while the other 3 PMRD skaters (Demon, NoK, & Bubba) were on the black team. About 3-4 jams into the scrimmage I realized how badly I missed my teammates. Our (PMRD) defense and pack work is very different than theirs (LCC) and playing against our guys without that same support was frustrating. Demon & Bubba continually carved through the pack, moving/leveling anyone who tried to oppose them while NoK continually filled gaps in their lines and held blockers/jammers up as we made attempts to mix things up. At halftime, Speed Dealer noted that the 3-man wall they (black) were building by turn 2 was reliably shutting us down, and we needed to do something about it. Unfortunately for our team (white) by the time we got our tactics working it was too late and the other team had too much of a lead to catch up. Awesome to scrimmage 2 days in a row, but I was wicked sore the next day.
Goal for the weekend: Work on lateral stepping and knock-down blocking.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Giggity
Another fun practice yesterday. Anarchy was at the helm, aided by Faux Paul, and we had a new skater (with gear!) in addition to 6 skaters. Drills, water breaks, and more drills filled the practice. Also, there was some questionably large amounts of sweating going on, much of it by me...
Anarchy started practice out by laying out a goddamn minefield of cones about the track. Some areas were designated as 'sticky-skate weaving' areas, others for toe-stop walks/runs, and a couple other activities that wouldn't be out of place on one of those jacked-up Japanese game shows where the contestants inevitably get beat down by cosplay enthusiasts. We slowly got going on the track, some faster than others, and went through the obstacle course. Good times, and by good times I mean screw plow stops. Once we were warmed/loosened up we got to stretch and then setup shop for some endurance work which involved variations on sticky-skate, cross-overs and squats in regions of the track, and finally built up towards the good stuff...
Now when I say good stuff, I don't mean the drills/skills which are most useful to me, but rather the stuff that I draw pictures of and then stick on the fridge. I may not be good at all of 'the good stuff' but I really enjoy it, even if I feel like it may kill me. First up was some jammer-style toe-stop starts. Now when it comes to skating, I am far from the fastest guy on the team, but this I can get into. I'll never be a jammer, unless they change the rules and you score by having the pack lap the jammer, but being the first one off the line is something I can get on board with. Get low, lean forward and run as hard as you can to avoid face-planting, usually resulting in respectable forward acceleration. Granted, only about half of the team was present, but I was happy to see that I was in the top half of those present, being beaten by Captain Obvious (taller than me, but only 75% the weight) and Beeswhacks (card-carrying skate-ninja and 66% of my bodyweight). Fun stuff, and if I lose weight/get stronger I might be able to challenge them someday... but I'm still not gonna be a jammer.
Later we got to do some hit drills. Unlike our initial hit drills, which more or less relied on using sheer impact force to get results, we worked on specific portions of contact, specifically hip checks and then full body checks. Since I come fully equipped with a 'big-backyard', the hip checks weren't terribly difficult to initiate, but I still need practice to make them particularly useful. Most of my hits felt about a step off for the day, but not the end of the world. We later did some pack work which was helpful for moving around at speed, starting/stopping as a pack, and giving/receiving/observing hits in close quarters.
With only a few minutes to go, and sweat having long since turned my white t-shirt clear, Anarchy declared we were doing the 25-in-5, which I had figured we would have done at the start of practice if it was coming. I figured wrong, so very wrong... The last time I tried I managed 23 laps, which was after nearly 3 weeks off skates. I had spent the last week skating more than usual, and was looking to see some improvement, even if it only meant making 24 laps when I tried again, though trying at the end of a 2-hour practice made me question whether or not I would be able to hold my previous count. Turns out all that extra wheel-time, the new bearings, and the fact that I really didn't want to puke all that water I had just drank came together to push me through. All 25 laps came and went and I can cross that one off the list of required basic skills. Managed to stump out crossovers almost the entire time, even after the left leg turned into dead weight around lap 8. On top of that I didn't hurl all over the track like I thought I was going to. Yay me!
Goal for the week: Practice plow stops until they are actual stops. If necessary, careen towards groups of little kids for motivation to actually stop.
Anarchy started practice out by laying out a goddamn minefield of cones about the track. Some areas were designated as 'sticky-skate weaving' areas, others for toe-stop walks/runs, and a couple other activities that wouldn't be out of place on one of those jacked-up Japanese game shows where the contestants inevitably get beat down by cosplay enthusiasts. We slowly got going on the track, some faster than others, and went through the obstacle course. Good times, and by good times I mean screw plow stops. Once we were warmed/loosened up we got to stretch and then setup shop for some endurance work which involved variations on sticky-skate, cross-overs and squats in regions of the track, and finally built up towards the good stuff...
Now when I say good stuff, I don't mean the drills/skills which are most useful to me, but rather the stuff that I draw pictures of and then stick on the fridge. I may not be good at all of 'the good stuff' but I really enjoy it, even if I feel like it may kill me. First up was some jammer-style toe-stop starts. Now when it comes to skating, I am far from the fastest guy on the team, but this I can get into. I'll never be a jammer, unless they change the rules and you score by having the pack lap the jammer, but being the first one off the line is something I can get on board with. Get low, lean forward and run as hard as you can to avoid face-planting, usually resulting in respectable forward acceleration. Granted, only about half of the team was present, but I was happy to see that I was in the top half of those present, being beaten by Captain Obvious (taller than me, but only 75% the weight) and Beeswhacks (card-carrying skate-ninja and 66% of my bodyweight). Fun stuff, and if I lose weight/get stronger I might be able to challenge them someday... but I'm still not gonna be a jammer.
Later we got to do some hit drills. Unlike our initial hit drills, which more or less relied on using sheer impact force to get results, we worked on specific portions of contact, specifically hip checks and then full body checks. Since I come fully equipped with a 'big-backyard', the hip checks weren't terribly difficult to initiate, but I still need practice to make them particularly useful. Most of my hits felt about a step off for the day, but not the end of the world. We later did some pack work which was helpful for moving around at speed, starting/stopping as a pack, and giving/receiving/observing hits in close quarters.
With only a few minutes to go, and sweat having long since turned my white t-shirt clear, Anarchy declared we were doing the 25-in-5, which I had figured we would have done at the start of practice if it was coming. I figured wrong, so very wrong... The last time I tried I managed 23 laps, which was after nearly 3 weeks off skates. I had spent the last week skating more than usual, and was looking to see some improvement, even if it only meant making 24 laps when I tried again, though trying at the end of a 2-hour practice made me question whether or not I would be able to hold my previous count. Turns out all that extra wheel-time, the new bearings, and the fact that I really didn't want to puke all that water I had just drank came together to push me through. All 25 laps came and went and I can cross that one off the list of required basic skills. Managed to stump out crossovers almost the entire time, even after the left leg turned into dead weight around lap 8. On top of that I didn't hurl all over the track like I thought I was going to. Yay me!
Goal for the week: Practice plow stops until they are actual stops. If necessary, careen towards groups of little kids for motivation to actually stop.
Friday, July 23, 2010
New Bearings = WIN
So a while back I bought some new bearings. After talking with Boyd @ Oaks I went with the Qube 8-ball, which, like their name suggests, have 8 balls rather than the traditional 7 per bearing. They (Qube) claim the extra sphere and a deeper groove/channel results in a bearing with good roll and excellent resistance to blowing out from side loading (cornering forces for the most part). I was interested in them because they were a reasonable price point, and I trust the people @ Oaks. Also, I knew that the bearings which came with the skates hadn't been cleaned/serviced since I purchased them back in March, so they would likely need to be replaced or at minimum serviced soon if I wanted to avoid any annoying sounds or failures.
The 8-balls certainly seemed to roll-on better than the previous set (ABEC-7s, I believe sure-grip brand but not certain). Felt like I had a little better glide and/or coast when I was paying attention. Since this was only my second set of bearings, I don't have a strong scale to measure them against, but will put them through their paces, servicing them monthly now that I have oil to do so, and hope to chart how they hold up to my 220+ lb abuse. Only time will tell. For now I am happy with them and hope to feel some improvement at practice this weekend.
The 8-balls certainly seemed to roll-on better than the previous set (ABEC-7s, I believe sure-grip brand but not certain). Felt like I had a little better glide and/or coast when I was paying attention. Since this was only my second set of bearings, I don't have a strong scale to measure them against, but will put them through their paces, servicing them monthly now that I have oil to do so, and hope to chart how they hold up to my 220+ lb abuse. Only time will tell. For now I am happy with them and hope to feel some improvement at practice this weekend.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Still not dead... mostly
So it has been literally a month since my last post. While I was off skates for over 2 weeks of that time, obviously skating and derby have been happening. This will be a LONG post, working my way towards the present. As I have no way of knowing who, if anyone, is reading this I'm choosing to not feel too bad.
6/22-7/10:
No practice, or I was out of town (Denver, then SLC). I think I managed to get in an open skate once or twice at most. No serious working out, but I did get paid in food in Denver, so I got to exercise my table muscles and put on 5-7lbs... Damn it. Killa'Volt is still off skates with a possible knee injury, summer in Portland means that people are busy and we cancel the 7/4 practice as well.
7/11:
First practice back. Just Kill Nye, Next of Ken, and myself. The Whip/CDW/Anarchy (all three personalities in the same space!?!) is attending a surprise Tool concert with Demon for his birthday, awesome party follows that evening. Really awesome. El Guapo pops in briefly but is injured and will be out till the end of July.
Scrappy go Lucky & ITSO EZ are guest coaching us. We work on plow stops, which to date remain something that happens to other people. Some agility work with cones follow, being the most oafish and least experienced skater present I am bringing up the rear on these drills. Lots of good one-on-one instruction, both Scrappy & EZ are patient teachers with lots of good observations and assistance.
7/12:
Monday practice. Since RCR is taking July off (except travel teams, they need to stay sharp) we (PMRD) are able to snag a couple extra 1-hour practices. Joy! And by Joy I mean Anarchy has us (the 5 on skates: Demon, Kill, Next, Bubba, and myself) doing 3 vs 1+1 baby whale/momma whale drills. All sorts of fun and didn't get old over the 45 or so minutes we were doing them, constantly rotating positions after each drill. For only a 1-hour practice, I am tired and nearly puke. Apparently I can get out of shape MUCH faster than I can get in shape.
7/14:
Another 1-hour practice. Several of us decided to warm up by going to the open skate preceding practice (9pm practice, 7pm open skate across the parking lot...) so we could hit the track running... or whatever. Next, Kill, Bubba, Free Will & myself all hit up Oaks, but Free Will couldn't stay for practice afterwards. Unlike Monday's practice, which in retrospect seemed easier, Anarchy said she had missed us and proceeded to put us through the paces something fierce! Agility drills, endurance drills, floggings, and then more drills. Probably one of the longest hours in my life, but a much needed workout none the less.
Anarchy informed Captain Obvious and I that we had sprawls in our future if either of us splayed out like spiders when we fell, which until that point was my signature move. Also, I received a strongly worded letter from my legs the next morning threatening outright mutiny if I did that to them again... which I didn't intend to repeat until Sunday or so I thought.
7/16:
Open skate at Oaks. Nothing spectacular except...
MY HUGE GODDAMN FALL DURING PACE SKATE! Fuck.
If I had to pick a least favorite moment to fall it would be during pace skate. This particular moment combines the two least likable ingredients for a fall: speed and everyone watching. I wish I could claim someone cut me off or some sort of a mechanical skate failure but I can't. My left foot simply decided that it hated my right foot and it was time to take that other bastard out. Fortunately, the sound of 50+ Boys & Girls Club kids watching from the outside of the track made it all worth while... that and the ugly bruise it left on my lower right gut. Fortunately, I had my wrists & knee pads. Unfortunately, I also managed to lose a couple postage-stamp sized chunks of forearm and elbow because I wasn't wearing my elbow pads...
After my demonstration in how to properly clean the recently resealed/resurfaced/extra grippy floor, it was a regular open skate again. I tottered a bit, shaken by the fall, but got back into the routine of left turns at an extra medium pace.
7/18:
Practice, with people... Had a moderate turnout for practice, people were still busy with family/vacation/etc. Speed Dealer from Lane County Concussion surprised us, but we were happy to have him there. Unfortunately, he broke the kingpin on one of his skates (apparently this was the 4th or so time this had happened to him) and was out for part of the practice until he was able to have it replaced at the Oaks Park skate shop. Killa'Volt was back on wheels, wisely taking it easy after the MRI/x-ray/Dr indicated that he had a strained ACL. He avoided the drills, but was eager to get back in the mix once he is at 100%.
Anarchy flailed us through various pace-line skating drills and an assortment of other masochistic exercises involving us sweating and learning what despair tastes like. We discussed offensive versus defensive pack work, particularly when the jammers approach and how to react depending on a number of factors. During this drill I realized that derby seems to be about paying attention. Not just paying attention to the jammers, but to their position & status, to the refs, to your coaches, to your teammates, to the opposing blockers, to the penalty benches, and any number of other factors which come and go during a jam. So to that end I am buying some glue-on decorative eyes for the back and sides of my helmet cause I seem to be lacking in my field of vision.
Speed Dealer returned from the skate shop ready to go and we did some scrimmage jams. I was teamed with Speed Dealer and Kill Nye while Bubba Fett, Carpe Demon, and Next of Ken (NoK) made up the opposing side while Free Will changed between teams a couple times. Having previously seen Speed Dealer in action, I kinda knew what to expect and had told my teammates that he was likely the best skater for LCC, but seeing it live was an eye opener. His speed and maneuverability make him a seriously impressive positional blocker, and while I would have liked to have gotten the chance to go head to head, it was nice having him on my team. Demon played solid the whole time, regularly moving me out of his way, though I did manage to push him out a couple times trying to draw a cut penalty. Bubba and I took turns pounding the shit out of each other, he seems to subscribe to the school of cement for breakfast and bricks for dinner cause every time he hit me it felt like I was running into a friggin' wall. Despite his increasingly solid presence, I still managed to mix it up a bit during the jams. NoK and Kill Nye were well rounded both jamming and blocking, and continue to be excellent jacks-of-all-trades during practice. For my own part I managed to play as a decent (by my lowly standards) blocker, but simply lack the speed to excel as a jammer. Still, I managed not to puke at practice despite my stomach's threats, but seriously considered it a possibility during a couple points, so the day was a success.
Once attendance jumps back up to normal, we should be able to do 5 vs 5 scrimmages in preparation for setting up a scrimmage with Lane County. Speed Dealer said they were eager to play with us, and I would definitely like to get in some sort of full fledged scrimmage sooner than later.
7/19:
Skating at Oaks Park. Again another open skate which was attended by several members of PMRD, nothing too exciting except...
I fell again. Seriously, WTF!?!
7/20:
Next of Ken, Captain Obvious , and I skated a trail in SW Portland, hoping to find something suitable for a skating event coming up in August. Unfortunately, the trail is going to be partially closed for a sewer line beneath it to be repaired so no luck. Plus the long ass skate uphill returning to the parking lot was a bastard.
Goal for next week: Stop falling at Open Skate and when I inevitably do, fall 'small'
6/22-7/10:
No practice, or I was out of town (Denver, then SLC). I think I managed to get in an open skate once or twice at most. No serious working out, but I did get paid in food in Denver, so I got to exercise my table muscles and put on 5-7lbs... Damn it. Killa'Volt is still off skates with a possible knee injury, summer in Portland means that people are busy and we cancel the 7/4 practice as well.
7/11:
First practice back. Just Kill Nye, Next of Ken, and myself. The Whip/CDW/Anarchy (all three personalities in the same space!?!) is attending a surprise Tool concert with Demon for his birthday, awesome party follows that evening. Really awesome. El Guapo pops in briefly but is injured and will be out till the end of July.
Scrappy go Lucky & ITSO EZ are guest coaching us. We work on plow stops, which to date remain something that happens to other people. Some agility work with cones follow, being the most oafish and least experienced skater present I am bringing up the rear on these drills. Lots of good one-on-one instruction, both Scrappy & EZ are patient teachers with lots of good observations and assistance.
7/12:
Monday practice. Since RCR is taking July off (except travel teams, they need to stay sharp) we (PMRD) are able to snag a couple extra 1-hour practices. Joy! And by Joy I mean Anarchy has us (the 5 on skates: Demon, Kill, Next, Bubba, and myself) doing 3 vs 1+1 baby whale/momma whale drills. All sorts of fun and didn't get old over the 45 or so minutes we were doing them, constantly rotating positions after each drill. For only a 1-hour practice, I am tired and nearly puke. Apparently I can get out of shape MUCH faster than I can get in shape.
7/14:
Another 1-hour practice. Several of us decided to warm up by going to the open skate preceding practice (9pm practice, 7pm open skate across the parking lot...) so we could hit the track running... or whatever. Next, Kill, Bubba, Free Will & myself all hit up Oaks, but Free Will couldn't stay for practice afterwards. Unlike Monday's practice, which in retrospect seemed easier, Anarchy said she had missed us and proceeded to put us through the paces something fierce! Agility drills, endurance drills, floggings, and then more drills. Probably one of the longest hours in my life, but a much needed workout none the less.
Anarchy informed Captain Obvious and I that we had sprawls in our future if either of us splayed out like spiders when we fell, which until that point was my signature move. Also, I received a strongly worded letter from my legs the next morning threatening outright mutiny if I did that to them again... which I didn't intend to repeat until Sunday or so I thought.
7/16:
Open skate at Oaks. Nothing spectacular except...
MY HUGE GODDAMN FALL DURING PACE SKATE! Fuck.
If I had to pick a least favorite moment to fall it would be during pace skate. This particular moment combines the two least likable ingredients for a fall: speed and everyone watching. I wish I could claim someone cut me off or some sort of a mechanical skate failure but I can't. My left foot simply decided that it hated my right foot and it was time to take that other bastard out. Fortunately, the sound of 50+ Boys & Girls Club kids watching from the outside of the track made it all worth while... that and the ugly bruise it left on my lower right gut. Fortunately, I had my wrists & knee pads. Unfortunately, I also managed to lose a couple postage-stamp sized chunks of forearm and elbow because I wasn't wearing my elbow pads...
After my demonstration in how to properly clean the recently resealed/resurfaced/extra grippy floor, it was a regular open skate again. I tottered a bit, shaken by the fall, but got back into the routine of left turns at an extra medium pace.
7/18:
Practice, with people... Had a moderate turnout for practice, people were still busy with family/vacation/etc. Speed Dealer from Lane County Concussion surprised us, but we were happy to have him there. Unfortunately, he broke the kingpin on one of his skates (apparently this was the 4th or so time this had happened to him) and was out for part of the practice until he was able to have it replaced at the Oaks Park skate shop. Killa'Volt was back on wheels, wisely taking it easy after the MRI/x-ray/Dr indicated that he had a strained ACL. He avoided the drills, but was eager to get back in the mix once he is at 100%.
Anarchy flailed us through various pace-line skating drills and an assortment of other masochistic exercises involving us sweating and learning what despair tastes like. We discussed offensive versus defensive pack work, particularly when the jammers approach and how to react depending on a number of factors. During this drill I realized that derby seems to be about paying attention. Not just paying attention to the jammers, but to their position & status, to the refs, to your coaches, to your teammates, to the opposing blockers, to the penalty benches, and any number of other factors which come and go during a jam. So to that end I am buying some glue-on decorative eyes for the back and sides of my helmet cause I seem to be lacking in my field of vision.
Speed Dealer returned from the skate shop ready to go and we did some scrimmage jams. I was teamed with Speed Dealer and Kill Nye while Bubba Fett, Carpe Demon, and Next of Ken (NoK) made up the opposing side while Free Will changed between teams a couple times. Having previously seen Speed Dealer in action, I kinda knew what to expect and had told my teammates that he was likely the best skater for LCC, but seeing it live was an eye opener. His speed and maneuverability make him a seriously impressive positional blocker, and while I would have liked to have gotten the chance to go head to head, it was nice having him on my team. Demon played solid the whole time, regularly moving me out of his way, though I did manage to push him out a couple times trying to draw a cut penalty. Bubba and I took turns pounding the shit out of each other, he seems to subscribe to the school of cement for breakfast and bricks for dinner cause every time he hit me it felt like I was running into a friggin' wall. Despite his increasingly solid presence, I still managed to mix it up a bit during the jams. NoK and Kill Nye were well rounded both jamming and blocking, and continue to be excellent jacks-of-all-trades during practice. For my own part I managed to play as a decent (by my lowly standards) blocker, but simply lack the speed to excel as a jammer. Still, I managed not to puke at practice despite my stomach's threats, but seriously considered it a possibility during a couple points, so the day was a success.
Once attendance jumps back up to normal, we should be able to do 5 vs 5 scrimmages in preparation for setting up a scrimmage with Lane County. Speed Dealer said they were eager to play with us, and I would definitely like to get in some sort of full fledged scrimmage sooner than later.
7/19:
Skating at Oaks Park. Again another open skate which was attended by several members of PMRD, nothing too exciting except...
I fell again. Seriously, WTF!?!
7/20:
Next of Ken, Captain Obvious , and I skated a trail in SW Portland, hoping to find something suitable for a skating event coming up in August. Unfortunately, the trail is going to be partially closed for a sewer line beneath it to be repaired so no luck. Plus the long ass skate uphill returning to the parking lot was a bastard.
Goal for next week: Stop falling at Open Skate and when I inevitably do, fall 'small'
Monday, June 21, 2010
Practice, LCC, skating and HRMF!
So this post is considerably overdue... Given that I am perpetually late in life no reason I shouldn't be here too, right?
Practice a week ago was another step on the road to readiness. Speed Bump started things off with a new endurance drill, 50 laps around the outside of the track in 15 minutes. Unsurprisingly, I wasn't up to it. Both shins decided to transmute to wooden stumps after holding pace with the group for the first 5 or so laps, so I stepped to inside the track to make way and continued to plod along as best I could. Awesome beginning...
Anarchy gave us some hit drills to do, which was all sorts of fun. The hits are coming along nicely, and even our newer skaters which are still finding their legs are encouraged to participate, though they are shown a bit more mercy than those who are ok with being pounded to the track. I am definitely getting more comfortable with the hits and have started throwing a decent hip check in addition to the ever-reliable shoulder.
Once again, practice ended with scrimmage/jams usually 4 vs 4, but numbers varied as people cycled in and out as they got tired. Everyone looks forward to these scrimmages, even if we are on the verge of collapse by the time we begin them. Team/pack tactics are shaping up nicely and we're starting to work as a group rather than scattered individuals.
The day after practice I went to Eugene with Killa'Volt to skate with Lane County Concussion. They are the nearest league and there has been recent communication with them about arranging a scrimmage in the future. Practice was VERY different than what I am used to. Their team has existed nearly 6 months longer than I have been with PMRD and that extra skating time really showed with their team. Their endurance and general skating level was noticeably better than mine during warmups and drills. All of them were faster than me (not the greatest achievement, but still frustrating), and a couple were on par with Speed Bump or Bees Whacks in terms of speed and maneuverability. They were self-coached and I quickly found myself missing the scathing demands, criticisms, and encouragement of General Anarchy. Their positional blocking was great, easily better than a large part of our team, but there was virtually no impact blocking or pushing during their drills. I constantly waited for some serious hitting to start up but it never materialized. Being a guest at their practice, I didn't want to be a douche and start blasting people off their skates, so I too held back and took part in the moving roadblock that was their pack. Very different approach to practice than we were used to, and all good guys, looking forward to skating with them again soon... hopefully in different colored jerseys.
Managed to put in some trail skate time and open skates at Oaks Park this week following the back to back practices. No serious soreness until I went for nearly 4 hours straight on Friday. While I appreciate that others want to see their horde of 10-year olds have a roller skate birthday party, I don't really like having to dodge those same kids while doing casual laps at a seriously reduced pace. Either way though, got in a lot of wheel time, which was needed since this last weekend there was no practice because...
RCR 2010 league finals were at the Expo Center! GnR got a hard earned win over BNB for 3rd place. GnR has some awesome skaters, but seemed to struggle all season to put their talent into the same efforts. The Betties were doing well all game, things were back and forth for a while, but finally GnR got a lead later in the second half and made it stick. Seeing Scrappy Go-Lucky get to skate for the Betties again was awesome though. Since it was a double header next up was the championship bout between the High Rollers and the Heartless Heathers. The Heathers brought some interesting line-ups and obviously wanted to win. The High Rollers were short some of their players (Sully Skullkicker, Madame Bumps-a-lot) but still brought the thunder. Like the bout before, it was a close game with some seriously impressive play from both sides. In the end though there could be only one winning team...
HIGH ROLLERS!!!
Practice a week ago was another step on the road to readiness. Speed Bump started things off with a new endurance drill, 50 laps around the outside of the track in 15 minutes. Unsurprisingly, I wasn't up to it. Both shins decided to transmute to wooden stumps after holding pace with the group for the first 5 or so laps, so I stepped to inside the track to make way and continued to plod along as best I could. Awesome beginning...
Anarchy gave us some hit drills to do, which was all sorts of fun. The hits are coming along nicely, and even our newer skaters which are still finding their legs are encouraged to participate, though they are shown a bit more mercy than those who are ok with being pounded to the track. I am definitely getting more comfortable with the hits and have started throwing a decent hip check in addition to the ever-reliable shoulder.
Once again, practice ended with scrimmage/jams usually 4 vs 4, but numbers varied as people cycled in and out as they got tired. Everyone looks forward to these scrimmages, even if we are on the verge of collapse by the time we begin them. Team/pack tactics are shaping up nicely and we're starting to work as a group rather than scattered individuals.
The day after practice I went to Eugene with Killa'Volt to skate with Lane County Concussion. They are the nearest league and there has been recent communication with them about arranging a scrimmage in the future. Practice was VERY different than what I am used to. Their team has existed nearly 6 months longer than I have been with PMRD and that extra skating time really showed with their team. Their endurance and general skating level was noticeably better than mine during warmups and drills. All of them were faster than me (not the greatest achievement, but still frustrating), and a couple were on par with Speed Bump or Bees Whacks in terms of speed and maneuverability. They were self-coached and I quickly found myself missing the scathing demands, criticisms, and encouragement of General Anarchy. Their positional blocking was great, easily better than a large part of our team, but there was virtually no impact blocking or pushing during their drills. I constantly waited for some serious hitting to start up but it never materialized. Being a guest at their practice, I didn't want to be a douche and start blasting people off their skates, so I too held back and took part in the moving roadblock that was their pack. Very different approach to practice than we were used to, and all good guys, looking forward to skating with them again soon... hopefully in different colored jerseys.
Managed to put in some trail skate time and open skates at Oaks Park this week following the back to back practices. No serious soreness until I went for nearly 4 hours straight on Friday. While I appreciate that others want to see their horde of 10-year olds have a roller skate birthday party, I don't really like having to dodge those same kids while doing casual laps at a seriously reduced pace. Either way though, got in a lot of wheel time, which was needed since this last weekend there was no practice because...
RCR 2010 league finals were at the Expo Center! GnR got a hard earned win over BNB for 3rd place. GnR has some awesome skaters, but seemed to struggle all season to put their talent into the same efforts. The Betties were doing well all game, things were back and forth for a while, but finally GnR got a lead later in the second half and made it stick. Seeing Scrappy Go-Lucky get to skate for the Betties again was awesome though. Since it was a double header next up was the championship bout between the High Rollers and the Heartless Heathers. The Heathers brought some interesting line-ups and obviously wanted to win. The High Rollers were short some of their players (Sully Skullkicker, Madame Bumps-a-lot) but still brought the thunder. Like the bout before, it was a close game with some seriously impressive play from both sides. In the end though there could be only one winning team...
HIGH ROLLERS!!!
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Scrimmage till you want to die!
Practice today (6/6/2010) was a shitload of fun. After another installment of the 25-in-5 assessment, we got to do more hit drills focusing on drawing cut penalties from our opponents, pace-line drills where we consistently annoyed Anarchy with our interpretation 'pace', and finally scrimmaged the shit out of each other.
Things started off with some warm-up laps before Anarchy blew the whistle for the 25-in-5. I was determined to improve on my weaksauce 19 laps from last week and managed to hammer out 23 before time ran out, improving by 4 laps. Some of our fastest skaters were in the 30 lap range. Everyone showed improvement, ranging from 2 to 5 more laps, and the concept seemed much less daunting in general. As this is to be a regular occurrence at practice, I am confident that the team will all meet the minimum within a couple months at most.
Everyone's hits showed improvement, varying from cleaner contact and improved stability to increased application of force while staying in control. I was able to bounce a couple blockers while on the defensive and put my mark over the line with respectable reliability. El Guapo, previously our newest skater before the arrival of Captain Obvious today, showed huge improvement and potential. Once he gets the endurance and stability going for him he is going to be a menace. Unfortunately, Bubba Fett took a hard fall to his back and was out for the rest of the practice.
Next came paceline drills. For whatever reason, we had issues with this today. Our pace varied depending on the point in the line quickly leading to bunching and stringing out. We did standard forward and backward weaves, self assists moving forward, and finally blocking assists where you treated the individuals in the paceline like weapons. All sorts of fun despite our hiccups.
Finally, scrimmage! Not just a simple 20 minutes of scrimmages though, 45 minutes worth. With only 8 skaters on the floor this meant that we were given nearly a full time out rest between each jam. Balanced teams were decided by Anarchy and then she and Warden eyeballed our performance while calling out majors/minors. Unlike last practice, we actually worked as semi-cohesive units during some of the jams. I managed to give Speed Bump a useful assist while he jammed to help him escape the wrath of Demon, and even caused an opponent to draw a cutting penalty as well. My team (blue pennys) also managed to speed up the pack when we lost our jammer to a major and also made attempts to pull a goat when the other team lost theirs. Penalties were much less frequent than I feared they would be, and afterwards Warden commented that we played cleaner than he thought we would. Speed Bump's big toe got kingpin-stomped during a jam and he was out for the rest of practice which let team blue with Bees (yellow lightning), Kill (also faster than me), and I for the final few jams. As we all fatigued and started losing focus, the penalties became a bit more common. In the final jam, Anarchy had us run it as though it were overtime and with my team having 2 ghosts in the box to the other's 1, that mean we were outnumbered and easy prey if we didn't work together. Kill and I lined up as blockers and Bees donned the star. By this point we were all pretty exhausted, but were determined to make the best of it. Kill and I worked to restrain the opposing jammer as best we could while helping Bees when possible. In the end, we came out 2 points ahead and managed to seal the deal... in one jam... in a scrimmage. Tiny victory!
Great practice, it was really nice to see everyone improving so much as a whole.
Goal for the week: hit up Oaks as soon as finals are over to pound on endurance during the week. I want those 25 laps next practice...
Things started off with some warm-up laps before Anarchy blew the whistle for the 25-in-5. I was determined to improve on my weaksauce 19 laps from last week and managed to hammer out 23 before time ran out, improving by 4 laps. Some of our fastest skaters were in the 30 lap range. Everyone showed improvement, ranging from 2 to 5 more laps, and the concept seemed much less daunting in general. As this is to be a regular occurrence at practice, I am confident that the team will all meet the minimum within a couple months at most.
Everyone's hits showed improvement, varying from cleaner contact and improved stability to increased application of force while staying in control. I was able to bounce a couple blockers while on the defensive and put my mark over the line with respectable reliability. El Guapo, previously our newest skater before the arrival of Captain Obvious today, showed huge improvement and potential. Once he gets the endurance and stability going for him he is going to be a menace. Unfortunately, Bubba Fett took a hard fall to his back and was out for the rest of the practice.
Next came paceline drills. For whatever reason, we had issues with this today. Our pace varied depending on the point in the line quickly leading to bunching and stringing out. We did standard forward and backward weaves, self assists moving forward, and finally blocking assists where you treated the individuals in the paceline like weapons. All sorts of fun despite our hiccups.
Finally, scrimmage! Not just a simple 20 minutes of scrimmages though, 45 minutes worth. With only 8 skaters on the floor this meant that we were given nearly a full time out rest between each jam. Balanced teams were decided by Anarchy and then she and Warden eyeballed our performance while calling out majors/minors. Unlike last practice, we actually worked as semi-cohesive units during some of the jams. I managed to give Speed Bump a useful assist while he jammed to help him escape the wrath of Demon, and even caused an opponent to draw a cutting penalty as well. My team (blue pennys) also managed to speed up the pack when we lost our jammer to a major and also made attempts to pull a goat when the other team lost theirs. Penalties were much less frequent than I feared they would be, and afterwards Warden commented that we played cleaner than he thought we would. Speed Bump's big toe got kingpin-stomped during a jam and he was out for the rest of practice which let team blue with Bees (yellow lightning), Kill (also faster than me), and I for the final few jams. As we all fatigued and started losing focus, the penalties became a bit more common. In the final jam, Anarchy had us run it as though it were overtime and with my team having 2 ghosts in the box to the other's 1, that mean we were outnumbered and easy prey if we didn't work together. Kill and I lined up as blockers and Bees donned the star. By this point we were all pretty exhausted, but were determined to make the best of it. Kill and I worked to restrain the opposing jammer as best we could while helping Bees when possible. In the end, we came out 2 points ahead and managed to seal the deal... in one jam... in a scrimmage. Tiny victory!
Great practice, it was really nice to see everyone improving so much as a whole.
Goal for the week: hit up Oaks as soon as finals are over to pound on endurance during the week. I want those 25 laps next practice...
Monday, May 31, 2010
Till the sweat runs off my...
So I wrote this almost a week ago... I probably should post it before writing about the most recent practice.
Practice (5/30/2010) once again and General Anarchy kicked the crap out of us, but was more or less agreed by many as the best so far. I seemed to be getting sick again (outbreak monkey), but wasn't going to let that stop me from plodding around on wheels for 2 hours.
We started out (after warming up and stretching of course) with the dreaded 25 laps in 5 minutes assessment. Unsurprisingly, I failed (19 laps...), but we did have 2 skaters pass and another 2 within spitting distance. This is to become a regular thing at practice, so I guess I better get moving faster. Our newest skater, El Guapo, picked a rough day to start, but toughed it out and had a great time.
We got to practice some hit drills, knocking your opponent out of bounds and then stopping/backing up to try and force them to draw a cutting penalty. My hits are progressing from completely unthreatening to mildly useful. Very mild though. I desperately need to work on my turn-around control, it really limits how well I can force another player to cut the track
Finally, we got to do some 4-on-4 scrimmages. It is so rewarding to see those drills actually start coming together. We staggered around and made a good attempt at things, but being our first time with both teams having a jammer, it was still quite new to us. It was interesting to see how much an actual jam leveled the playing field. Sure, some people were playing to a higher level, but everyone in the pack was able to serve some purpose. Sometimes that purpose is meatshield...
Practice (5/30/2010) once again and General Anarchy kicked the crap out of us, but was more or less agreed by many as the best so far. I seemed to be getting sick again (outbreak monkey), but wasn't going to let that stop me from plodding around on wheels for 2 hours.
We started out (after warming up and stretching of course) with the dreaded 25 laps in 5 minutes assessment. Unsurprisingly, I failed (19 laps...), but we did have 2 skaters pass and another 2 within spitting distance. This is to become a regular thing at practice, so I guess I better get moving faster. Our newest skater, El Guapo, picked a rough day to start, but toughed it out and had a great time.
We got to practice some hit drills, knocking your opponent out of bounds and then stopping/backing up to try and force them to draw a cutting penalty. My hits are progressing from completely unthreatening to mildly useful. Very mild though. I desperately need to work on my turn-around control, it really limits how well I can force another player to cut the track
Finally, we got to do some 4-on-4 scrimmages. It is so rewarding to see those drills actually start coming together. We staggered around and made a good attempt at things, but being our first time with both teams having a jammer, it was still quite new to us. It was interesting to see how much an actual jam leveled the playing field. Sure, some people were playing to a higher level, but everyone in the pack was able to serve some purpose. Sometimes that purpose is meatshield...
Monday, May 24, 2010
derby derby derby...
Another derby filled weekend has come and gone. Friday I got to attend Friday open skate from 1-5pm before I saw the Wheels of Justice play Denver's 5280 Fight Club. While the first half started out promising for WoJ, Denver came out strong in the second half and simply would not be beaten. It was a VERY technical game with both teams putting up huge efforts. On Saturday I drove to Salem to watch the High Rollers play the Cherry City Derby Girls. I expected to see HR do well and was not disappointed. Honey Hellfire, Sully Skullkicker, Madame Bumps-a-lot, and White Flight were all but untouchable much of the bout, landing several 10-15+ point jams and playing solid defense as blockers. Also out for HR, Minnie van Mayhem, Intensive Scare, Hurricane Skatrina, Devaskating Diva, Crusher, and others I can't remember were in fine form, helping bring about the 199 points for their team. Lots of fun, and great medicine after being so frustrated with the outcome of the WoJ bout the night before.
Sunday practice was only an hour due to a Rosebuds double-header immediately afterwards. General Anarchy started us off with some drills to get us warmed up followed by a variation on crossovers where we actively block the inside line in the curves while doing crossovers, scary right now... maybe less so later. The horse stance exercises appear to be paying off, Anarchy spent less time than before telling me to get low. Eventually we broke into groups of three and one person had to get by the other two. I ended up with Demon and Next of Ken, Next got the first shot at jammer, and due to my exquisite ineptitude at that exact moment in time, got through in relatively short time. I got the next rotation and spent the rest of the drill show how shitty I was as a jammer, never getting by Demon & Next. On the bright side I did manage to get in plenty of practice getting back up, a very useful skill right now. After Anarchy got tired of watching me pick myself up off the court we went 3 on 3 with one side's skater being designated as a jammer. Once again, everyone got to be jammer, though some were noticeably better than others. Some bumps and knockdowns throughout the drill, but not as bad as the first time we did pack drills. Bees proved to be every bit the wheeled ninja I thought him to be; I really want to see him go head to head against Speed Bump. Sadly, there was no Speed at practice yesterday. Demon took an entirely different approach to jamming, flooring much of the pack with an impressive block from the inside line before cruising through at his leisure. Awesome to watch, somewhat less awesome to be on the receiving end of. Just before practice ended I managed to get my hand skated over in a big pileup, which sucked every bit as much as I was told it would. Fists at all times, even when dialing the phone...
After a painfully fun hour of practice, the RCR Rosebuds A and B teams played, the Kitsap Derby Brats. Both Rosebuds teams played with a skill and intensity that made me jealous, but they are a great team to watch. Somehow I don't remember not getting tired when I was their age... I'll leave you with a picture of me in my new profession: Derby Janitor
Goal for the week: work on side-to-side mobility and awareness.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Loving the new boots
So finally got to put in some wheel time on the new boots. After the left of my XL-55's decided it wanted nothing to do with it's sole, Beki had them warrantied, but Sure-Grip apparently no longer made my size so free upgrade to XL-75's! In addition to a more cushy collar area they included a beefy tongue and a velcro strap to hold the ankle in place, something I put to use at open skate today.
Since Weds is my usual open skate day I was excited to try the new setup out, so excited that I left the apartment without my precious crash pads. Turns out I am rather used to wearing them when I skate and I felt vulnerable without them. I had the trucks considerably looser than my previous setup, hoping to improve my cuts from side to side. After a couple laps I decided that there was such a thing as too loose and gave them each a bit of a turn to snug them up some more. The first 30 minutes I just tooled around, taking a few gentle crossovers and cuts, just getting a feel for the new boots and wondering when my feet would stop complaining about how long it had been since I was on wheels... Fast forward another 30 minutes and things were good to go. The looser trucks definitely let me make seemingly effortless cuts, but at the cost of requiring a bit more concentration in the crossovers. Once the feet were feeling good about the new boots, which I think are more comfortable than the old pair (no more angry rubbed-red line around my ankle from the cuff), I started going after some of the drills and testing the waters.
All those mind-numbing horse-stances while listening to youtube music videos are paying off. I was able to get, and stay, lower than usual, something which definitely helps with side-side maneuverability. I felt more stable in an aggressively low stance with my back more upright and thighs near parallel to the floor. Later in the day I tried my luck with toe-stop sprinting starts. I can get about 3-5 strong steps before I need to start skating, but at that point I am moving at a pretty good clip, so I am happy with how those went. Also, I was happy to see that the new boots with the strap seem to hold my ankle down more effectively, no more feeling of my heel lifting out of the rear of the boot. Ghetto-tomahawks and backwards skating also felt better, eventually I hope to be able to do toe-stop sprints to immediate tomahawk stops. Very happy with the progress considering the time spent off skates (almost 2 weeks, boo-hoo... I know) and looking forward to a weekend of watching bouts and going to practice. To put a cherry on top I am going to go to the 1-5pm Friday open skate as well. Oh happy day!
Since Weds is my usual open skate day I was excited to try the new setup out, so excited that I left the apartment without my precious crash pads. Turns out I am rather used to wearing them when I skate and I felt vulnerable without them. I had the trucks considerably looser than my previous setup, hoping to improve my cuts from side to side. After a couple laps I decided that there was such a thing as too loose and gave them each a bit of a turn to snug them up some more. The first 30 minutes I just tooled around, taking a few gentle crossovers and cuts, just getting a feel for the new boots and wondering when my feet would stop complaining about how long it had been since I was on wheels... Fast forward another 30 minutes and things were good to go. The looser trucks definitely let me make seemingly effortless cuts, but at the cost of requiring a bit more concentration in the crossovers. Once the feet were feeling good about the new boots, which I think are more comfortable than the old pair (no more angry rubbed-red line around my ankle from the cuff), I started going after some of the drills and testing the waters.
All those mind-numbing horse-stances while listening to youtube music videos are paying off. I was able to get, and stay, lower than usual, something which definitely helps with side-side maneuverability. I felt more stable in an aggressively low stance with my back more upright and thighs near parallel to the floor. Later in the day I tried my luck with toe-stop sprinting starts. I can get about 3-5 strong steps before I need to start skating, but at that point I am moving at a pretty good clip, so I am happy with how those went. Also, I was happy to see that the new boots with the strap seem to hold my ankle down more effectively, no more feeling of my heel lifting out of the rear of the boot. Ghetto-tomahawks and backwards skating also felt better, eventually I hope to be able to do toe-stop sprints to immediate tomahawk stops. Very happy with the progress considering the time spent off skates (almost 2 weeks, boo-hoo... I know) and looking forward to a weekend of watching bouts and going to practice. To put a cherry on top I am going to go to the 1-5pm Friday open skate as well. Oh happy day!
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Busy weekend and new boots
Wheels of Justice (WoJ) played Rat City this weekend at the Portland expo center in a double header with RCR team good vs team evil. Team evil put the hurt on team good, taking a strong lead early and continuing till the end. Unfortunately, one skater was badly injured and will be out for the rest of the season with a torn ACL. WoJ managed to hold on to a lead for the majority of the bout, taking the win over #5 ranked Rat City, hopefully trading up a spot in the rankings from #6. I was happily manning the Portland Men's Roller Derby booth with Faux Paul throughout both bouts, but managed to get peeks at each bout from time to time. In the picture above taken by Free Will, you can see Demon, myself, and Faux Paul during half time. The team got a deal to rent the booth for the night and despite initial nervousness and some last-minute hiccups in procuring/producing merchandise it was a success. Definitely need to stockpile some merchandise for future endeavors to avoid the panic-sweatshop efforts which lead up to the booth last night. Even without t-shirts or stickers to sell, we made $19 on 2-for-1 buttons Joan of Snark helped get ahold of and nearly filled 3 pages of signup sheets along with handing out dozens of handbills to interested people. Our goal was to get 2 more skating members, and with the positive response we received I would be shocked if we didn't get at least that many. I had lots of fun working with Faux Paul while meeting new interested people and talking with them about joining up. Good times, definitely worth doing again for more exposure and possibly for profitable sales as well with the right items/prices.
Also, in unrelated news, Beki at Oaks Park got the replacement boots for my skates in and had them mounted for me a couple days ago. By some freaky luck, my left boot was trying to secede from the union by separating from where it had been cemented to the sole. Initially I thought that it wasn't an issue, lots of my old shoes have partially torn away from the edge of the sole, but apparently this one was going for the full deal. Sure-grip either no longer makes the old boot in my size or possibly at all, so I got a free upgrade (thx Sure-Grip) to the XL-75 boots, which have a couple features I was curious about now that I have been skating for a while. After picking them up on Saturday afternoon, I was impressed with the new setup. Same plates, trucks, wheels, bearings, and toe-stops as before, but the new boots certainly seem to make a difference. New features include a 'power strap' that helps hold your heel down during tomahawks and toe-stop sprints, a much more cushy ankle/achilles lining, and a more heavily padded tongue with a grippy interior surface so they don't slowly rotate to the outsides of my feet like the previous ones did. Hopefully I'll get to take them out tonight or tomorrow afternoon and see if they feel significantly different.
Since the track was taken over to the expo center, no practice today. We had discussed doing a Portland Parkways event as a team, but several members had conflicts and ultimately the weather didn't want to play along so it didn't happen. Gonna try and get in an extra day of Oaks open skate to make up for it, but it isn't the same. Horse stance has been slow going, kinda boring to just stand there not falling down while your thighs complain. Hopefully it pays off and General Anarchy (who's most recent shirt says Coach Dickwhip, awesome!) gets to find another aspect of my existence to improve upon through creative ridicule and encouragement. We'll see.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
HITS HITS HITS!
Second 2-hour practice today. General Anarchy (aka, The Whip) was in a fairly good mood, sprawls were limitied to only 6, and whistle drills weren't overly soul-crushing this week. Best of all, HIT DRILLS. She (Anarchy) paired us off in lines on the inside and outside of the track, designated which side was dealing the hit, and sent us on our merry way. A couple things quickly became apparent. First off, despite his waifish 180lb physique, Speed Bump can hit plenty hard, regularly flooring his opponents or at least sending them out of bounds. Second, staying in an actual low derby stance is vital, it is the difference between getting knocked over and being inconvenienced when someone plows into you. Demon regularly street-sweepered anyone unfortunate enough to be paired against him with relative ease, though Speed Bump did manage to put him down a couple times when he landed a strong hit on his terms. I got to be a trauma sponge, falling about as often as not when presented with a decent hit, and tried to deal out some hits of my own in the process. Unfortunately, I still think my hits are about as threatening as a pack of wild pugs, but that will improve with time. I really gotta focus on blasting through my target and commiting to the hit when I make my cut.
After hit drills we did some jammer drills where one lucky individuals had the task of getting through 5 blockers unaided. A couple of the faster/better players actually pulled it off a couple times, but Anarchy expressed her surprise at our mediocre competency... but not before making us do push-ups for letting a single jammer through the first time. Everyone got a turn at being the victim/jammer, no exceptions. When my turn to suck floor finally rolled around I was surprised to find that I could actually make a decent stab at things, nearly getting through on one of my better tries. Of course, this only leads me to worry at how well a 'good' jammer will ninja their way through the pack, especially when he has 4 friends wrecking shop to help him through.
After a few rounds of squish the jammer, Anarchy upped the ante and gave the jammer penny to Speed Bump and also gave him a friend to help him get through. The blocker from his team had the job of getting into the pack and just blazing holes in their lines or causing havoc to let Speed through. Turns out that adding just one blocker makes a noticable difference, but by then we had made decent headway in working together, so it wasn't a complete slaughter.
Practice ended with some of the team going to skate the Springwater trail. Since my legs had long since turned to mush by then and my left skate was trying to forcefully divide like a single celled organism, I was not amongst them. Gonna be sore tomorrow, but I am happy as a clam with the team progress.
Goal for the next two weeks (no practice next weekend):Skate lower, apparently I need to be dragging my sack to avoid being yelled at...
After hit drills we did some jammer drills where one lucky individuals had the task of getting through 5 blockers unaided. A couple of the faster/better players actually pulled it off a couple times, but Anarchy expressed her surprise at our mediocre competency... but not before making us do push-ups for letting a single jammer through the first time. Everyone got a turn at being the victim/jammer, no exceptions. When my turn to suck floor finally rolled around I was surprised to find that I could actually make a decent stab at things, nearly getting through on one of my better tries. Of course, this only leads me to worry at how well a 'good' jammer will ninja their way through the pack, especially when he has 4 friends wrecking shop to help him through.
After a few rounds of squish the jammer, Anarchy upped the ante and gave the jammer penny to Speed Bump and also gave him a friend to help him get through. The blocker from his team had the job of getting into the pack and just blazing holes in their lines or causing havoc to let Speed through. Turns out that adding just one blocker makes a noticable difference, but by then we had made decent headway in working together, so it wasn't a complete slaughter.
Practice ended with some of the team going to skate the Springwater trail. Since my legs had long since turned to mush by then and my left skate was trying to forcefully divide like a single celled organism, I was not amongst them. Gonna be sore tomorrow, but I am happy as a clam with the team progress.
Goal for the next two weeks (no practice next weekend):Skate lower, apparently I need to be dragging my sack to avoid being yelled at...
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Pack Skate FTW!
So after missing last week's practice to go to CA to compete in the HPVC contest (PSU team took second, best in college history to date) I spent a week hacking and coughing up chunks of lung. When Sunday rolled around I felt more or less like I was ready to skate again, so naturally this would be our first 2-hour practice.
The Whip was late arriving after attending an RCR board meeting just before practice, so Faux Paul took whistle duty and had us doing combinations of pyramid sprints and other general warm-up drills. After about 20 minutes of thinking I might not die The Whip showed up and any foolish hopes of survival were dashed against the rocky coast of her merciless rule.
Apparently in the practice I missed they did more pack drills and I was sorely jealous. This was wasted jealousy. We were handed pennys, and practiced 4 vs 4 for what to do when one side's jammer was in the box. Initially this meant a messy free for all of those who could hit trouncing those who could not. While I still don't feel great hitting, it turns out I can soak up a decent hit without too much effort (thx gravity!), so I really enjoyed this. If your team's jammer was called out in the box your side had to get out front and speed the pack up, and the other team tried to catch one and slow things down. After a couple pile-ups Susan had us just use positional and booty blocking rather than laying each other out. Good times...
Another new drill was what I dubbed the conga line. first we were spaced out at arms length and the rearmost person weaves to the front. After a couple cycles the rear person did self-assists off each person. Then we finally got to do whips. Alternating inside and outside we slung our teammates ahead of us until it was our turn. While I'm a bit heavy to properly get a significant boost from most of my teammates, it works great in reverse. Even The Whip said I was good at giving whips, which I considered a huge success for the day.
Goal for next week: Skate lower so I'm not constantly being told to stay low all practice.
The Whip was late arriving after attending an RCR board meeting just before practice, so Faux Paul took whistle duty and had us doing combinations of pyramid sprints and other general warm-up drills. After about 20 minutes of thinking I might not die The Whip showed up and any foolish hopes of survival were dashed against the rocky coast of her merciless rule.
Apparently in the practice I missed they did more pack drills and I was sorely jealous. This was wasted jealousy. We were handed pennys, and practiced 4 vs 4 for what to do when one side's jammer was in the box. Initially this meant a messy free for all of those who could hit trouncing those who could not. While I still don't feel great hitting, it turns out I can soak up a decent hit without too much effort (thx gravity!), so I really enjoyed this. If your team's jammer was called out in the box your side had to get out front and speed the pack up, and the other team tried to catch one and slow things down. After a couple pile-ups Susan had us just use positional and booty blocking rather than laying each other out. Good times...
Another new drill was what I dubbed the conga line. first we were spaced out at arms length and the rearmost person weaves to the front. After a couple cycles the rear person did self-assists off each person. Then we finally got to do whips. Alternating inside and outside we slung our teammates ahead of us until it was our turn. While I'm a bit heavy to properly get a significant boost from most of my teammates, it works great in reverse. Even The Whip said I was good at giving whips, which I considered a huge success for the day.
Goal for next week: Skate lower so I'm not constantly being told to stay low all practice.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Derby Weekend
I got to enjoy a nice weekend of derby the last few days. On Friday I watched the broadcast of the Wheels of Justice vs Charm City, then Saturday went to cheer on the High Rollers as they took on the Break Neck Betties, and finally on Sunday I got to realize how far I have to go during men's practice and seeing the Rosebuds play the I-5 rollergirls. On the bright side, all the teams I was pulling for won their game!
The Whip, or General Anarchy as she seems to prefer, was at the helm once again this weekend. More fall drills (which are becoming more automatic), laps, and sprints this week while constantly looking around/behind you incase the rumors about the boogeyman not being real are suddenly disproved. I enjoy her coaching style and hope that she runs the team for a while. She coaches the Rosebuds and seems to do a good job there, and I think the non-PG13 environment of adult men's derby suits her motivation style well. After seeing her run the rosebuds team in the close bout with I-5 she certainly has good strategy and understands what she can expect her players to do under pressure.
Two big new drills this week, one incredibly fun and the other something I think The Whip borrowed from a DIY Gitmo instruction manual. First up, sprawl drills. Imagine doing a jumping jack with rollerskates except that the moment your wheels hit the ground you drop to knees, elbows, wrists, and then chest. Now do that 5 times in a row and then sprint 3 laps. Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot... Easily my new least favorite drill, but I can certainly see the multiple benefits of doing them. Getting up faster, the overall aerobic and muscle workout, and training to take the worst fall possible in a controlled manner. Seeing these benefits does nothing for how much the drill sucks though. I'll ask to do more next practice.
The big winner of the day though was that Speed Bump was there once again and we got to do actual pack skating with a jammer on the track. Lots of nervousness and worries as we tottered about the track while Speed Bump ninja'd his way past everyone without showing any signs of real effort. Only Carpe Demon & Kill Nye were able to put up much of a showing of actual defense, using some positional & booty blocking as well as Demon forcing him outside the line with a light shoulder block. I really enjoyed that the drill more closely resembled actual derby, and that despite some hiccups we were able to skate packed up and moving together. Gotta work on that side-to-side mobility to get in those little jammers' way faster. Slippery buggers...
The Whip, or General Anarchy as she seems to prefer, was at the helm once again this weekend. More fall drills (which are becoming more automatic), laps, and sprints this week while constantly looking around/behind you incase the rumors about the boogeyman not being real are suddenly disproved. I enjoy her coaching style and hope that she runs the team for a while. She coaches the Rosebuds and seems to do a good job there, and I think the non-PG13 environment of adult men's derby suits her motivation style well. After seeing her run the rosebuds team in the close bout with I-5 she certainly has good strategy and understands what she can expect her players to do under pressure.
Two big new drills this week, one incredibly fun and the other something I think The Whip borrowed from a DIY Gitmo instruction manual. First up, sprawl drills. Imagine doing a jumping jack with rollerskates except that the moment your wheels hit the ground you drop to knees, elbows, wrists, and then chest. Now do that 5 times in a row and then sprint 3 laps. Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot... Easily my new least favorite drill, but I can certainly see the multiple benefits of doing them. Getting up faster, the overall aerobic and muscle workout, and training to take the worst fall possible in a controlled manner. Seeing these benefits does nothing for how much the drill sucks though. I'll ask to do more next practice.
The big winner of the day though was that Speed Bump was there once again and we got to do actual pack skating with a jammer on the track. Lots of nervousness and worries as we tottered about the track while Speed Bump ninja'd his way past everyone without showing any signs of real effort. Only Carpe Demon & Kill Nye were able to put up much of a showing of actual defense, using some positional & booty blocking as well as Demon forcing him outside the line with a light shoulder block. I really enjoyed that the drill more closely resembled actual derby, and that despite some hiccups we were able to skate packed up and moving together. Gotta work on that side-to-side mobility to get in those little jammers' way faster. Slippery buggers...
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Floorburn FTW!
Went to Open Skate for general skating and working on endurance. Things went well for the most part, got to practice plow stops, some light backwards skating, some of the weakest attempts at a tomahawk this century. I felt good and warmed up and worked on whatever fundamentals occurred to me with my friend and was having a good time getting in a decent workout.
Later in the session (Wednesday afternoons are the best time to go btw, very few people there) people cleared out so I figured it was time to speed things up a bit. I had sprinted a few laps throughout the day whenever I had the room to safely do so, but hadn't done any back-to-back so I decided this was the time. Laps 1 & 2 felt good, crossovers were smooth and I was holding good speed through the turns leading to faster straights every lap. Had lap 3 continued like the first two I would have been content to call it good there, but obviously, it didn't. The second turn a crossover became a cross-up and I stumbled. Having been working on and discussing proper falls recently I had the perfect opportunity to put the theory to the test rather than fight the fall and end up going down like a felled tree. So I took a knee, which, given I was at the apex of the turn and had some serious radial forces going on, went very well. No bruises, and only floorburn on my thumb where it was exposed just past my wristguard. Floorburn so deep I might not have a thumbprint there again...
Good workout though.
Later in the session (Wednesday afternoons are the best time to go btw, very few people there) people cleared out so I figured it was time to speed things up a bit. I had sprinted a few laps throughout the day whenever I had the room to safely do so, but hadn't done any back-to-back so I decided this was the time. Laps 1 & 2 felt good, crossovers were smooth and I was holding good speed through the turns leading to faster straights every lap. Had lap 3 continued like the first two I would have been content to call it good there, but obviously, it didn't. The second turn a crossover became a cross-up and I stumbled. Having been working on and discussing proper falls recently I had the perfect opportunity to put the theory to the test rather than fight the fall and end up going down like a felled tree. So I took a knee, which, given I was at the apex of the turn and had some serious radial forces going on, went very well. No bruises, and only floorburn on my thumb where it was exposed just past my wristguard. Floorburn so deep I might not have a thumbprint there again...
Good workout though.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Practice: Round 3!
So this week Demon's significant other ran the show for today and Speed Bump was there. She is from NJ, has played and currently coaches derby, and is awesome. Also, she will be referred to as 'The Whip' in future practices, or at least will be by me... Drills were more aggressive with a strong emphases on looking around you, staying in 'derby stance', and pushing yourself at all times. More one-knee falls, but The Whip added 5 sprinting strides after getting up to the mix and required constant looking around to maintain awareness, at one point requiring we say how many fingers she was holding up at various times. This was to become a theme for the day. Some one foot drills whistle change-up drills followed, also with requirements of paying attention to your surroundings. Finally, today introduced pushes and self assists or 'hip-whips', partnering up and leapfrogging around the track, alternating between pusher and pushee. At one point I was paired with Demon which meant every other time I was hurled forwards at speeds approaching the sound-barrier and then the other times possibly bored him to tears with a comparatively feeble push. We changed partners after a while and proceeded to the hip-whips which really made me nervous when towing another skater to steal momentum. The Whip gave lots of constant encouragement and constructive criticism which I think was well received by all. Definitely the most physically demanding practice to date, but I would be happy to see her there again in the future.
On to the 8-wheeled wonder that is Speed Bump. So my friend that got me interested in the first place told me that the first practice he attended, Speed Bump showed up complaining of a hangover and proceeded to go bouncing across the floor like an olympian. Seeing him in motion was inspiring. Tons of energy, very fast, and making it look easy the whole time. He offered advice and suggestions before/after/during drills that was always relevant and useful and was a nice guy. Hoping to see him again in the future, his being there also added something to the practice and made it a more valuable experience.
I definitely need to step up the fitness and skate time outside of practice, but am continuing to have a great time learning the basics and getting to know the team.
On to the 8-wheeled wonder that is Speed Bump. So my friend that got me interested in the first place told me that the first practice he attended, Speed Bump showed up complaining of a hangover and proceeded to go bouncing across the floor like an olympian. Seeing him in motion was inspiring. Tons of energy, very fast, and making it look easy the whole time. He offered advice and suggestions before/after/during drills that was always relevant and useful and was a nice guy. Hoping to see him again in the future, his being there also added something to the practice and made it a more valuable experience.
I definitely need to step up the fitness and skate time outside of practice, but am continuing to have a great time learning the basics and getting to know the team.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Trail skating sucks the big one...
I've been trail skating a couple times this last week just to get in free time on the wheels and it is less than fun. Four miles on the trails feels like more work than 2 hours in the rink. Add in rocks, the threat of falling on asphalt, bicyclists, and people who feel that their dog is an exception to the leash law and you have a fairly stressful workout environment. On the bright side, it is outdoors and a change of scenery from the endless left turn of the rink. I think it will prove to be a valuable endurance building tool and will ultimately make me a better skater, but until then it feels like work. Demon suggested narrower wheels to make it a bit faster and less tedious, but I am tempted to leave the wide ones on for now simply for the resistance and increased workout. Also new wheels costs new money.
On the indoor front...
Went to open skate on Wednesday with a friend and was able to pound out 2.5 hours of skate time with minimal breaks, after having gone outdoors for 45 minutes only 2 hours before that. Afterwards I looked like I had been swimming with my t-shirt on and my crash pads cause some rather strange sweat lines on the shorts, but it was a good workout. Crossovers are becoming silent and natural, and when I find myself with plenty of open lane ahead of me, acceleration and control at speed are significantly improved. If the Wednesday skate trend continues, which it likely will since Wednesdays 3-5:30 are fairly open at Oaks Park, I'll start working on backwards skating and other activities that I just can't do on the trails outside of practice.
Tomorrow, practice. Hopefully some blocking, falls, the ever-popular squats, and maybe some toe-stop sprint-starts. That would be fun...
On the indoor front...
Went to open skate on Wednesday with a friend and was able to pound out 2.5 hours of skate time with minimal breaks, after having gone outdoors for 45 minutes only 2 hours before that. Afterwards I looked like I had been swimming with my t-shirt on and my crash pads cause some rather strange sweat lines on the shorts, but it was a good workout. Crossovers are becoming silent and natural, and when I find myself with plenty of open lane ahead of me, acceleration and control at speed are significantly improved. If the Wednesday skate trend continues, which it likely will since Wednesdays 3-5:30 are fairly open at Oaks Park, I'll start working on backwards skating and other activities that I just can't do on the trails outside of practice.
Tomorrow, practice. Hopefully some blocking, falls, the ever-popular squats, and maybe some toe-stop sprint-starts. That would be fun...
Monday, April 5, 2010
You know you want to...
Are you a guy in Portland, over 21 years old, kept up late at night wondering "Could I play men's roller derby?"
The answer is yes. Yes, you can.
Go to the Portland Men's Roller Derby website to find out information about practices, skill and equipment requirements, and more.
The answer is yes. Yes, you can.
Go to the Portland Men's Roller Derby website to find out information about practices, skill and equipment requirements, and more.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Second Practice
Second practice this week, only 5 of us skating, but also attended the board meeting to be better informed/involved. Learned a lot about our relationship with RCR and got to voice my opinion (despite it's newness in the group) on open questions of interest and goals.
Today Demon asked if we had any special requests for the day and I wanted to do some basic hit drills. Though before we did that I asked about practicing falls and doing squats since they're generally related. So after squats and falls (which I am happy to say I have gotten MUCH better about getting up into motion using my toe-stop from a knee after a single knee fall) we paired up and did basic contact drills. Since many of us had never put a hit on anyone we started with just making legal contact. Not bad, but doing so with any coordination is harder than it looks for sure. A person on the outside was designated the hitter and their partner, conveniently gliding along in the 'derby' position, the one taking the hit. Once we all had a few runs through barely bumping into each other Demon changed it up so the hitter would continuously push their opposite until they were forced out of bounds to the inside, changing up to do it again in opposite roles on the next straight away.
Taking the hit, no problem, sit there and be a trauma sponge until you're forced across the line. Dealing the hit was a real challenge for me. First, I don't feel terribly confident on my skates in close proximity to others just yet so I was quite cautions about accidentally clipping someone's wheel during the line-up and approach. Second, these were my teammates and that always makes me a bit nervous when potentially causing injury. Long story short, I liked the contact drills, but thought my hits/contact was crap. Perhaps this week along the Springwater trail I'll farm a jogger or two for practice... probably not.
Overall, feeling better about the skating, but really need the weather to clear up so I can add outdoor skating to the weekly routine and start building some endurance to prep for the 2-hour practices we hope to move to. I have a nice section of the trail picked out that is a 6-mile round trip from the apartment which should start to really help build up those oddball skating muscles and give me more general skate time.
Today Demon asked if we had any special requests for the day and I wanted to do some basic hit drills. Though before we did that I asked about practicing falls and doing squats since they're generally related. So after squats and falls (which I am happy to say I have gotten MUCH better about getting up into motion using my toe-stop from a knee after a single knee fall) we paired up and did basic contact drills. Since many of us had never put a hit on anyone we started with just making legal contact. Not bad, but doing so with any coordination is harder than it looks for sure. A person on the outside was designated the hitter and their partner, conveniently gliding along in the 'derby' position, the one taking the hit. Once we all had a few runs through barely bumping into each other Demon changed it up so the hitter would continuously push their opposite until they were forced out of bounds to the inside, changing up to do it again in opposite roles on the next straight away.
Taking the hit, no problem, sit there and be a trauma sponge until you're forced across the line. Dealing the hit was a real challenge for me. First, I don't feel terribly confident on my skates in close proximity to others just yet so I was quite cautions about accidentally clipping someone's wheel during the line-up and approach. Second, these were my teammates and that always makes me a bit nervous when potentially causing injury. Long story short, I liked the contact drills, but thought my hits/contact was crap. Perhaps this week along the Springwater trail I'll farm a jogger or two for practice... probably not.
Overall, feeling better about the skating, but really need the weather to clear up so I can add outdoor skating to the weekly routine and start building some endurance to prep for the 2-hour practices we hope to move to. I have a nice section of the trail picked out that is a 6-mile round trip from the apartment which should start to really help build up those oddball skating muscles and give me more general skate time.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Getting Started
I apologize in advance for my lack of blogging skills. This is my first and thought it might be an entertaining subject. That said...
Starting things off I should explain that I hadn't seen roller derby on TV as a kid (Anchorage listings didn't seem to include it) and I was relatively unaware of its growing popularity in Portland until I went to a women's bout (Go High Rollers!) and was hooked. Fast forward a few months and a friend asked if I wanted to come to the men's practices for a team trying to form up. I hadn't been skating since I was 18-19, and that was on 'aggressive' in-lines, which it turns out is similar and mildly useful. I figured I needed to get some sort of physical activity going again and team sports are usually fun so why not.
So I bought gear. Gear is not cheap. Skates, pads (knee, elbow, wrist), helmet, mouth guard, and toe covers were around $300 after the discount for buying derby stuff. One hip-bruising fall later and crash/butt pads were added to the list to the tune of another $50. But assuming everything survives, no new purchases... except spare bearings and outdoor wheels for training (another $65). Now yes, some of the items I bought could have been cheaper, the majority of the stuff I got was middle of the road since I find you get what you pay for, but it seems that $400ish is more or less the buy-in price.
Once I had the initial stuff I got out on the floor and started puttering around. Turns out my legs remembered how to skate to a degree and I was managing chunky cross-overs by the end of the first day. Unfortunately, in-lines left me with some bad habits.
1. I wanted to only use the inside set of wheels too much. No big deal, just have to force myself to skate 'flat'.
2. in-lines feel MUCH more stable and go behind your heel a touch, quads do not. Makes you feel unstable upright, which I need to not be skating anyways...
I managed to get a couple open skates in before my first team practice. They helped... sort of. Practice was only an hour, but since my endurance just isn't there yet I could tell it was going to be rough. It was. Falls, squats, laps, some light pack skating, god awful pigeon walks and skate walks. I was sore the next day, and happy. Mostly sore.
No where to go but up...
Starting things off I should explain that I hadn't seen roller derby on TV as a kid (Anchorage listings didn't seem to include it) and I was relatively unaware of its growing popularity in Portland until I went to a women's bout (Go High Rollers!) and was hooked. Fast forward a few months and a friend asked if I wanted to come to the men's practices for a team trying to form up. I hadn't been skating since I was 18-19, and that was on 'aggressive' in-lines, which it turns out is similar and mildly useful. I figured I needed to get some sort of physical activity going again and team sports are usually fun so why not.
So I bought gear. Gear is not cheap. Skates, pads (knee, elbow, wrist), helmet, mouth guard, and toe covers were around $300 after the discount for buying derby stuff. One hip-bruising fall later and crash/butt pads were added to the list to the tune of another $50. But assuming everything survives, no new purchases... except spare bearings and outdoor wheels for training (another $65). Now yes, some of the items I bought could have been cheaper, the majority of the stuff I got was middle of the road since I find you get what you pay for, but it seems that $400ish is more or less the buy-in price.
Once I had the initial stuff I got out on the floor and started puttering around. Turns out my legs remembered how to skate to a degree and I was managing chunky cross-overs by the end of the first day. Unfortunately, in-lines left me with some bad habits.
1. I wanted to only use the inside set of wheels too much. No big deal, just have to force myself to skate 'flat'.
2. in-lines feel MUCH more stable and go behind your heel a touch, quads do not. Makes you feel unstable upright, which I need to not be skating anyways...
I managed to get a couple open skates in before my first team practice. They helped... sort of. Practice was only an hour, but since my endurance just isn't there yet I could tell it was going to be rough. It was. Falls, squats, laps, some light pack skating, god awful pigeon walks and skate walks. I was sore the next day, and happy. Mostly sore.
No where to go but up...
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