Like I mentioned a few posts ago, I joined a roller derby team in September 2014, so I'm probably going to be talking a bit about that as well here. Hey, I said I'd talk about things I like, not just pop culture, and derby is a thing I like very, very much.
Except when I get a cramp in the middle of assessments and can't move my right leg and, as a result, fail completely.
If you're guessing that's exactly what happened at last night's assessments, you've nailed it. I got off to a rough start in derby because I decided that the middle of my last semester of school was a great time to add something else to my plate on top of newspaper editing duties, my senior capstone project and the classes from Hell. But sure, add in a sport where you have to drive an hour three times a week for practice, that makes sense.
In hindsight this was not the smartest idea, but at the same time derby kept me from going completely insane and maybe physically harming my classmates from Hell. We'll never truly know but I'd bet on it.
Anyways, because of my schedule in school, I had to miss several practices and my skating suffered for it. I got three points on my first assessment, didn't complete my second because I was late and I got sick halfway through practice (eat before exercising, kids!), eight points on my third assessment and I'm almost positive I got a zero or a one on last night's. For reference, I'm on level one and you have to have 23 points to pass.
It's just frustrating because I know I can do these things, I know I have these skills, but my legs wouldn't cooperate and actually do the things. I've done 20 laps in five minutes, I can do a killer plow stop, I'm great at falls, but that didn't show last night and it was embarrassing. Most of the rest of my boot camp class has passed their level two assessments, and I'm afraid I'm going to be the last one stuck on level one.
I want to be good at derby, I really do. I want to be able to play in bouts and have a derby name and paint my face and be part of the team for real. Thankfully the other girls are super helpful and supportive, which is still just incredible to me. I did swim team for years and you didn't get nearly the same level of encouragement from your teammates.
In other news, we have our first bout this month and I'm really excited for it. I joined the media team and volunteered to do pre- and post-bout write-ups, so I think that'll be fun.
If you haven't been to a roller derby bout or if you've never even heard of roller derby until now, definitely go check it out. Find a team close to you and watch one of their bouts; it's so much fun and everyone - rollergirls and fans - is super cool and helpful if you need explanations of what's going on. It's different, but it's awesome.
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