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!!!
Monday, June 21, 2010
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...
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