Just have to share this with you guys. Beyonslay is a girl that skates for the Gotham girls in the states and I think she is awesome! She has these really smooth looking blocks that hit like a locomotive at full speed at the end of the line.
Im not sure how versatile she is, but this signature booty bump is great!
Feb 27, 2011
Me big, me jammer. RAWR?
People that have met me and hear that I play Roller Derby usually assume that I play as a blocker. I myself have allways assumed I'm a blocker as well. I'm tall, I'm strong, I'm steady and i'm not super agile (as in fast direction changes and stuff). However, today another trait of mine showed it's face and proved to be very handy.
We did some game training with four girls on each team (so three blockers + one jammer) and swapped rolls after each jam. Just to see where people's talents lie and to see the game from different points of views. When it was my turn to jam and I started to aproach the pack I noticed that some of the opposing girls were deliberately not stepping in my way and one tiny voice even screamed: "Dutchess, du är läskig!" and then she moved aside. Also, when I have a bit of speed (which you are supposed to have when jamming) people marking their spots on me (soft tackling/blocking/nudging) didn't really have a big effect on me.
This experience has really opened up my eyes even more on bodytype vs RD role. All the different bodytypes and playing styles have different advantages in all the roles. Body type really isn't the deciding factor for if you will be good at RD or in which position you will play. Especially with jamming. Jamming is much more about seeing the paths through the pack and seeing how these paths change and anticipating on that. Knowing the postions of your own blockers and knowing how they play, how/where will they occupy that other blocker to open a path for you?
Heh, this kind of reminds me of a game I used to play when I was younger. I used to bike through the city center shopping area (pedestrian zone) and try to bike as fast as possible while still avoiding all the pedestrians. I felt so cool when I was on a roll. Because you know, it's an important skill for ... erm.. jamming later on in life!
Today's training was awesome! I've learned so much. I love this sport!!
Derby kisses,
Dutchess
We did some game training with four girls on each team (so three blockers + one jammer) and swapped rolls after each jam. Just to see where people's talents lie and to see the game from different points of views. When it was my turn to jam and I started to aproach the pack I noticed that some of the opposing girls were deliberately not stepping in my way and one tiny voice even screamed: "Dutchess, du är läskig!" and then she moved aside. Also, when I have a bit of speed (which you are supposed to have when jamming) people marking their spots on me (soft tackling/blocking/nudging) didn't really have a big effect on me.
This experience has really opened up my eyes even more on bodytype vs RD role. All the different bodytypes and playing styles have different advantages in all the roles. Body type really isn't the deciding factor for if you will be good at RD or in which position you will play. Especially with jamming. Jamming is much more about seeing the paths through the pack and seeing how these paths change and anticipating on that. Knowing the postions of your own blockers and knowing how they play, how/where will they occupy that other blocker to open a path for you?
Heh, this kind of reminds me of a game I used to play when I was younger. I used to bike through the city center shopping area (pedestrian zone) and try to bike as fast as possible while still avoiding all the pedestrians. I felt so cool when I was on a roll. Because you know, it's an important skill for ... erm.. jamming later on in life!
Today's training was awesome! I've learned so much. I love this sport!!
Derby kisses,
Dutchess
Feb 25, 2011
Minimum skills updated
The WFTDA has set up a text that discusses minimum skills that a rollergirl must posess before she is allowed to participate in a WFTDA bout. I think most of the stuff on that list is very good so I've taken a version of it and posted it here as an updatable file (see "Minimum skills" to the right).
When you train for something you want to be able to measure the results to make sure your training is actually helping you progress in the direction you want to go. And since we don't really have enough bouts yet (and during bouts your result is of course also depending on the other players), I decided to have this checklist of minimum skills which I can adjust as I go.
So this list is mostly for myself to keep track of my fresh meat skills, but I figured it might be interesting to some of you to see what minimum skills are involved.
Derby kisses,
Dutchess
When you train for something you want to be able to measure the results to make sure your training is actually helping you progress in the direction you want to go. And since we don't really have enough bouts yet (and during bouts your result is of course also depending on the other players), I decided to have this checklist of minimum skills which I can adjust as I go.
So this list is mostly for myself to keep track of my fresh meat skills, but I figured it might be interesting to some of you to see what minimum skills are involved.
Derby kisses,
Dutchess
Feb 24, 2011
Leg whipping faceplants
Only four girls at the training tonight. What the hell has happened to every body!? Yes, a few are injured and a few are away, but we have more than 30 members in our league, where are they?
Having the hall to our selves did give us enough room to try out some fun stuff. We did som pushing and tackling and some different kinds of whipping. During the last 15 mins we even tried out a bit of leg whipping. Want an explanation? Any whip is one skater giving their momentum to another skater. I can whip myself off of another girl's hips and pull myself past her. It can leave the other girl standing still or if Miss Maniac is the one grabbing the hips, the other girl might even end up on the other side of the track (on her butt if she is unlucky), but all that doesn't matter. What matters is that the one taking the whip is getting more speed. Another whip is a simple arm one. The front girl holds out an arm and the girl aproaching from the back gets slingshotted forward when grabbing that arm. There are several ways of whipping, but the leg whip is the most spectacular version.
As this vieo shows, the girl in front lifts one leg to the back. The girl-to-be-whipped grabs the foot and gets propelled while the foot gets drawn back to it's owners body.
When you're less prepared for the decelleration that follows (as the one giving the whip), chances are you'll end up in a full prostitute! (called a "super man" in this video)
If you then only just recovered from a knee injury and are still unwillingly protecting your knee when falling and therefor don't bend your knees, it turns into a full chest slide that will leave you breathless for a minute or two.
But it was an awesome training! Really, it was! :D
Derby kisses,
Dutchess
Having the hall to our selves did give us enough room to try out some fun stuff. We did som pushing and tackling and some different kinds of whipping. During the last 15 mins we even tried out a bit of leg whipping. Want an explanation? Any whip is one skater giving their momentum to another skater. I can whip myself off of another girl's hips and pull myself past her. It can leave the other girl standing still or if Miss Maniac is the one grabbing the hips, the other girl might even end up on the other side of the track (on her butt if she is unlucky), but all that doesn't matter. What matters is that the one taking the whip is getting more speed. Another whip is a simple arm one. The front girl holds out an arm and the girl aproaching from the back gets slingshotted forward when grabbing that arm. There are several ways of whipping, but the leg whip is the most spectacular version.
As this vieo shows, the girl in front lifts one leg to the back. The girl-to-be-whipped grabs the foot and gets propelled while the foot gets drawn back to it's owners body.
When you're less prepared for the decelleration that follows (as the one giving the whip), chances are you'll end up in a full prostitute! (called a "super man" in this video)
If you then only just recovered from a knee injury and are still unwillingly protecting your knee when falling and therefor don't bend your knees, it turns into a full chest slide that will leave you breathless for a minute or two.
But it was an awesome training! Really, it was! :D
Derby kisses,
Dutchess
Feb 21, 2011
The hip-whip-snake
Party has come and gone (was absolutely awesome!), danced most of the night on high heels, thought I was gonna have to pay for that with my knee the next day, but no. I am fully recovered. Yay! Well, still the tiniest hint of pain in my ribs, but those I don't have to skate on ;). Practiced all falls in pack formation today, even the double knee and the prostitute. Because of my ribs I stayed away from the barrel roll though, gonna give that at least one more week to fully heal.
Then we practiced some fast turns and running on toe-stops/fast starts as well. No real contact tonight. Well ok, a little in the snake with hip whips and the waitress whip. Really liked tonights training, lots of technical stuff. I kinda miss the contact, but so far I've gotten hurt every single time we did some contact excersizes. We have a lot of new girls (myself included) and it feels safer to take lots of technique first.
And.. there was talk of a bout around easter some time (insert excited puppy sounds here). I will of course keep you posted on the details as soon as I know them.
Derby kisses,
Dutchess
Then we practiced some fast turns and running on toe-stops/fast starts as well. No real contact tonight. Well ok, a little in the snake with hip whips and the waitress whip. Really liked tonights training, lots of technical stuff. I kinda miss the contact, but so far I've gotten hurt every single time we did some contact excersizes. We have a lot of new girls (myself included) and it feels safer to take lots of technique first.
And.. there was talk of a bout around easter some time (insert excited puppy sounds here). I will of course keep you posted on the details as soon as I know them.
Derby kisses,
Dutchess
Feb 17, 2011
Tk-tk-tk-tk-tk say my skates on LTU's tiles
Today was awesome! Who doesn't dream of being allowed to skate in their school? Well.. maybe there are many that don't dream of that, but I have when I was little and today I got to do that in full Derby outfit! Met some classmates and even a teacher... Yes... erm. Was interesting.
Rolling a lap through the university's lunchroom at lunchtime was also a fun experience. People looking up from their food going: WTF!?
Someone said: put a pair of skates on a girl and she starts to smile. But even guys respond very positively to girls on skates. I had so much fun riding up and down the tiled hallway (tk-tk-tk-tk), going low, pretending to charge in on people walking in my direction and everybody smiled at it and played with it. It was great! BadAss Babuska kept saying how I was beaming with joy and I really did have a lot of fun.
So excited for the fundraiser on Saturday! It's gonna be a blast! (call me if you don't have you ticket yet)
Derby kisses,
Dutchess
Rolling a lap through the university's lunchroom at lunchtime was also a fun experience. People looking up from their food going: WTF!?
Someone said: put a pair of skates on a girl and she starts to smile. But even guys respond very positively to girls on skates. I had so much fun riding up and down the tiled hallway (tk-tk-tk-tk), going low, pretending to charge in on people walking in my direction and everybody smiled at it and played with it. It was great! BadAss Babuska kept saying how I was beaming with joy and I really did have a lot of fun.
So excited for the fundraiser on Saturday! It's gonna be a blast! (call me if you don't have you ticket yet)
Derby kisses,
Dutchess
Feb 15, 2011
New trick mastered!
One of the many reasons why I love this sport is because you can easily see yourself progress. Not every month but every week! Most of us have skated as a kid, wether it was on roller skates, inlines or iceskates (or all three) and when we were younger we tried new tricks all day. Who would dare to jump over the biggest ramp, the hole in the ice (oh yeah, I did that), who can turn the fastest or do the longest spin, who can perform the coolest stop, skate the longest on one leg or do the coolest onelegged trick? Having tried all those things over and over again when you were young has created a form of physical memory. I wouldn't call it muscle memory just because I'm not sure if that would hold that long (at least 20 years in my case), but it's at least very similar to it. That type of memory kicks in when you try new tricks that you were able to perform in ancient history. You still need to practice to get the trick down. I mean, you grew quite a bit since you were 10 and it's been a while, but the basics are there for you to adjust to the current situation by practicing. At least that's my little theory about this.
A few weeks after I started practicing with the awesome Slaughters Daughters I could hardly skate half a lap on only my right foot while being pushed. Yesterday I could easily do two and now the distance was no longer limited by balance difficulties but by muscle endurance in my right leg. Yay!
I also managed to get the feeling back for doing crossovers while skating backwards. And I'm pretty sure that I managed to get this done because I used to do it on my hokeyskates when I was little. Of course I also managed to fall on my pretty little behind *cough* again, but at least I have less pain of that now than I did the first time round. Yay again!
I can really recommend this sport to any girl who is just slightly curious. Try it once. It will be hard, but you will also find that your body recognises some of it and after the first hour you will already have improved immensely!
Derby kisses,
Dutchess
A few weeks after I started practicing with the awesome Slaughters Daughters I could hardly skate half a lap on only my right foot while being pushed. Yesterday I could easily do two and now the distance was no longer limited by balance difficulties but by muscle endurance in my right leg. Yay!
I also managed to get the feeling back for doing crossovers while skating backwards. And I'm pretty sure that I managed to get this done because I used to do it on my hokeyskates when I was little. Of course I also managed to fall on my pretty little behind *cough* again, but at least I have less pain of that now than I did the first time round. Yay again!
I can really recommend this sport to any girl who is just slightly curious. Try it once. It will be hard, but you will also find that your body recognises some of it and after the first hour you will already have improved immensely!
Derby kisses,
Dutchess
Feb 12, 2011
Painkillers hmmm...
So last night I took a high dose of slow release perscription painkillers which I have to say are doing their job quite nicely. Will definitely take another dose of those tonight. I mean, it still hurts, but so much less than yesterday.
Tomorrow's training is a dedicated fresh meat training and I think I will take part in it. I'll try and stay away from falls, jumps and tackling exercizes and just do some easy rolling, some agility, to not lose the tiny amount of "feeling" I have at the moment and to slowly start training up the muscles around my knee again.
Derby kisses,
from a slightly better feeling Dutchess
Tomorrow's training is a dedicated fresh meat training and I think I will take part in it. I'll try and stay away from falls, jumps and tackling exercizes and just do some easy rolling, some agility, to not lose the tiny amount of "feeling" I have at the moment and to slowly start training up the muscles around my knee again.
Derby kisses,
from a slightly better feeling Dutchess
Feb 11, 2011
AAAaaaargggghhhhh!!
I'm gonna cry soon. I really hope that this period of injury after injury will pass at some stage so that I can just train and play the game. Now that the pain in my knee has started to go down (I still couldn't do more than half an hour of training on it) the pain in my ribcage is getting more obvious. I hurt it on the same night as my knee by rolling over my arm during a barrel roll fall. So far it was an annoying pain that came up with heavy breathing, coughing and stabalising activity in my stomach and back muscles, but now it's hurting continuously, I hear clicks when I roll around on to my other side and the pain is almost unbearable when I move about or cough. I don't think the rib is broken but even if it is, the doc wont do anything. So all I can do is wait.. wait.. and then wait some more. I'm going nuts and fat due to not training (tried 45 mins of low intensity biking at the gym, but that left my knee hurting like crazy afterwards) and being in pain is so tiring!
This was the moment I stopped training full contact karate all those years ago. I was getting some form of minor injury as soon as the previous one was almost healed and decided I didn't want to live in pain on purpose. Why would I want to do this to myself? Back then the only pro I ended up finding was "because it's cool/tough to be good at this as a girl!"
I'm not giving up yet.. but man I'm feeling very down about this all. I really hope that this is just a beginners period of shit. The other beginners don't seem to get injured as much though. So what is this? I'm not generally a cluts.. or am I.. *looks at the previous post about all the broken bones while growing up*
Meh.
PS Sorry about all the whining. But this is a blog about the journey of becoming a player in a full contact sport. Journeys go up and down. If not they are nothing to be proud of in the end. ;)
This was the moment I stopped training full contact karate all those years ago. I was getting some form of minor injury as soon as the previous one was almost healed and decided I didn't want to live in pain on purpose. Why would I want to do this to myself? Back then the only pro I ended up finding was "because it's cool/tough to be good at this as a girl!"
I'm not giving up yet.. but man I'm feeling very down about this all. I really hope that this is just a beginners period of shit. The other beginners don't seem to get injured as much though. So what is this? I'm not generally a cluts.. or am I.. *looks at the previous post about all the broken bones while growing up*
Meh.
PS Sorry about all the whining. But this is a blog about the journey of becoming a player in a full contact sport. Journeys go up and down. If not they are nothing to be proud of in the end. ;)
Feb 9, 2011
Mothers
When growing up and even a bit after that I attracted a lot of a injuries playing outdoors, amongst which a fractured pinky, heelbone, wrist and elbow, but also lots of scrapings and sprains. The wrist and elbow needed operations to prevent the joint from becoming disfunctional (some of you have seen the under arm length difference). After a while of coming home crying and in pain a lot it almost came as far as me not daring to go home when I had injured myself because in the end my loving mother would just get angry in stead of expressing pity: "what did you do now!?"
The elbow was the most recent one at age 21 (by then I wasn't living at home anymore). I had fallen off a horse and while I was coming down head first-ish I somehow decided it would be a good thing to catch myself on a stretched out arm. Needless to say that was not one of my best ideas ever. When I came home from the hospital that same night I was seriously doubting if I should call my mother to inform her that her one and only duckling had once again hurt herself. In the end I did and the expected sighs came instantly. I remember saying something like: "but really mom, it feels like this has been the last serious injury in my life now. I'm done with getting injured."
Now try and imagine me explaining to her that I joined a Roller Derby team.
She wondered why on earth I would want to sabbotage my nice life by getting a broken leg and I of course answered with the non-argument of the possibility of getting hit by a bus when crossing the street the next day. I also admitted that it is indeed a risk. It's a full contact sport so injuries can be a part of it, but then I went on to say that it is because my life is working out so nicely since a few years that I would be able to take a broken leg without any major problems. And I truely believed that.
After going around with a sprained knee for less than a week I am not so sure of that statement anymore. I've only missed two Derby trainings and some inbetween activity of strength training and walks, I can still bike, I can even walk! Well, I walk very slowly and after about 100 meters it starts to hurt. But still, this is nothing compared to 6 weeks in a cast and I'm going nuts already!
Now I'm just nagging. Gonna see how my knee takes some low resistance biking at the gym today.
PS Haven't called my mother since I hurt my knee.
The elbow was the most recent one at age 21 (by then I wasn't living at home anymore). I had fallen off a horse and while I was coming down head first-ish I somehow decided it would be a good thing to catch myself on a stretched out arm. Needless to say that was not one of my best ideas ever. When I came home from the hospital that same night I was seriously doubting if I should call my mother to inform her that her one and only duckling had once again hurt herself. In the end I did and the expected sighs came instantly. I remember saying something like: "but really mom, it feels like this has been the last serious injury in my life now. I'm done with getting injured."
Now try and imagine me explaining to her that I joined a Roller Derby team.
She wondered why on earth I would want to sabbotage my nice life by getting a broken leg and I of course answered with the non-argument of the possibility of getting hit by a bus when crossing the street the next day. I also admitted that it is indeed a risk. It's a full contact sport so injuries can be a part of it, but then I went on to say that it is because my life is working out so nicely since a few years that I would be able to take a broken leg without any major problems. And I truely believed that.
After going around with a sprained knee for less than a week I am not so sure of that statement anymore. I've only missed two Derby trainings and some inbetween activity of strength training and walks, I can still bike, I can even walk! Well, I walk very slowly and after about 100 meters it starts to hurt. But still, this is nothing compared to 6 weeks in a cast and I'm going nuts already!
Now I'm just nagging. Gonna see how my knee takes some low resistance biking at the gym today.
PS Haven't called my mother since I hurt my knee.
Feb 7, 2011
No skating.. just watching
So.. here I go on sunday and now tonight on monday again, to the skatehall. Not to skate, no, to watch *grumble*. We got a few more new girls and two of them have size boat, just like me, so I figured as long as I can't roll in my lovely skates myself, I might as well give the new girls a chance to roll in them. We don't really have that much stuff to loan out yet.
To not get bored I took my camera with me on sunday. Next time I should bring my tripod as well, because this was damn hard in the bad lighting.
Still no footage of me on skates! I have some from my very first training, but that is top secret material with a need-to-know label and you do NOT need to know. Once the first learning curve starts to flatten out a bit I'll try and get some new pics or maybe even a vid.
Derby kisses,
Dutchess
To not get bored I took my camera with me on sunday. Next time I should bring my tripod as well, because this was damn hard in the bad lighting.
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| The sisters doing some light tackling. |
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| Yay! Thorey's first time on skates since childhood. The skates are mine. |
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| Whip it! |
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| Not just fun and games. Strength training is important to take and give the hits as well as to take a fall. |
Still no footage of me on skates! I have some from my very first training, but that is top secret material with a need-to-know label and you do NOT need to know. Once the first learning curve starts to flatten out a bit I'll try and get some new pics or maybe even a vid.
Derby kisses,
Dutchess
Feb 5, 2011
Slaughters Daughters fundraiser
Woohoo! Our flyer is finished! Check it out:
For the moment the tickets are only up for presale at Hardwear in town, but I'm still waiting for info on wether or not I will get some tickets to sell as well. Either way there is only a limited number of tickets available. Let me know if you are planning to join us and if you got your ticket yet!
Derby kisses,
Dutchess
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| Click here to go to the Facebook event |
For the moment the tickets are only up for presale at Hardwear in town, but I'm still waiting for info on wether or not I will get some tickets to sell as well. Either way there is only a limited number of tickets available. Let me know if you are planning to join us and if you got your ticket yet!
Derby kisses,
Dutchess
Feb 4, 2011
Dutchess gets terminated
So... twice to the doctor in 48 hours. Both times because of Roller Derby. The first time to make sure that all the hits on my spine and pelvis hadn't caused a more serious injury and then today because of last night's training:
We got to do a couple of jams again. Yay! In the first jam I got to try out the position of Terminator again, this time against a more experienced rollergirl and dang! it's a fun position. I didn't expect to be able to catch miss Monkey at all, since she's good at jumping from side to side to fool you and then sprint past you on the other side. She's very agile on skates where as I am mainly trying to hold my balance while doing checks and trying to find tricks to stay balanced when an expected impact doesn't happen (see earlier post). But I managed to tackle her once and block her a few times. It felt awesome!
Then the second jam we had to change roles and BadAss Babuska thought that I should try out the position of jammer. Now, if you've read the other post on practice jams and watched the vids I posted, you can figure out that the jammer is the one that gets the highest speed and is also the one that everyone of the opposing team is trying to block/tackle. Miss Monkey, who I previously drove out of bounds and who then ended up on the floor, was now going to be a blocker concentrating on me... And then the opposing jammer was Scary Mary, a girl with nice speed and good overview on who is where and how to react to that. I felt so out of place!
But there the pack takes off, I get on my toestops and on the second "GO!" I try out the toestop running that we just tried for the first time a week ago. I am sure Scary Mary took it easy, cause I made it first into the first turn. I can't for the life of me remember what everybody else in the pack was doing, but Miss Monkey looks back, stares me straight in the eye and tenses up, ready to skate into me. I brace myself and lo and behold, I can take the hit and make it past her. I can't really remember any of the other stuff happening, but the result was that Scary Mary made it through the pack first. I didn't care, I made it past Miss Monkey! On the second lap the same situation more or less gets set up, but this time the outer bounds of the track are made up by a wall and I get plowed into it by Miss Monkey. The next .5 sec is what made me go to the doctor today, I get scared, come out of derby position (ie stand up straight) and land in a front to back split, sandwhiched between the lovely Miss Monkey and the stupid wall. The foot I had backwards, was 'nicely' rotated out so that my knee only just didn't snap like a boiled chicken leg.
The doctor told me that I should take it easy on my knee for a while but that there is no serious damage done. So no torn ligaments or fractured bones. The ligaments have just been stretched in an extreme way. When I asked her if I could be part of this sunday's training, she laughed. I hope to be back on skates soon!
We got to do a couple of jams again. Yay! In the first jam I got to try out the position of Terminator again, this time against a more experienced rollergirl and dang! it's a fun position. I didn't expect to be able to catch miss Monkey at all, since she's good at jumping from side to side to fool you and then sprint past you on the other side. She's very agile on skates where as I am mainly trying to hold my balance while doing checks and trying to find tricks to stay balanced when an expected impact doesn't happen (see earlier post). But I managed to tackle her once and block her a few times. It felt awesome!
Then the second jam we had to change roles and BadAss Babuska thought that I should try out the position of jammer. Now, if you've read the other post on practice jams and watched the vids I posted, you can figure out that the jammer is the one that gets the highest speed and is also the one that everyone of the opposing team is trying to block/tackle. Miss Monkey, who I previously drove out of bounds and who then ended up on the floor, was now going to be a blocker concentrating on me... And then the opposing jammer was Scary Mary, a girl with nice speed and good overview on who is where and how to react to that. I felt so out of place!
But there the pack takes off, I get on my toestops and on the second "GO!" I try out the toestop running that we just tried for the first time a week ago. I am sure Scary Mary took it easy, cause I made it first into the first turn. I can't for the life of me remember what everybody else in the pack was doing, but Miss Monkey looks back, stares me straight in the eye and tenses up, ready to skate into me. I brace myself and lo and behold, I can take the hit and make it past her. I can't really remember any of the other stuff happening, but the result was that Scary Mary made it through the pack first. I didn't care, I made it past Miss Monkey! On the second lap the same situation more or less gets set up, but this time the outer bounds of the track are made up by a wall and I get plowed into it by Miss Monkey. The next .5 sec is what made me go to the doctor today, I get scared, come out of derby position (ie stand up straight) and land in a front to back split, sandwhiched between the lovely Miss Monkey and the stupid wall. The foot I had backwards, was 'nicely' rotated out so that my knee only just didn't snap like a boiled chicken leg.
The doctor told me that I should take it easy on my knee for a while but that there is no serious damage done. So no torn ligaments or fractured bones. The ligaments have just been stretched in an extreme way. When I asked her if I could be part of this sunday's training, she laughed. I hope to be back on skates soon!
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