The birth of a coach?

A year ago I became the one responsible for training at Luleå Roller Derby. My qualifications? Not much:

• Knowledge gathered during a then half completed physiotherapy degree (now almost done). Aside from all the anatomy in relation to movement there was also a PT like course and some motivational courses. 
• A certificate that (in Holland) allowed me to teach sports in primary school + plus some experience of "illegally" teaching sports in high school.  
• 6 months (!?) of derby practice.
• I was willing (and driven) to take the responsibility.

If I'm being honest, it was probably mostly the last point that landed me the position and I have to admit that that willingness has been tried during that first season. I had to catch up fast on how to coach and motivate a group of alpha ladies. Now I know better... it's not ME that is supposed to motivate them. But it took me a full year before I learnt that highly valuable lesson. And now that I've learnt it, I will have to find a way to balance it into my coaching style for the next season. 

Coaching style you say? Oh yes. There are many philosophies out there. Most of them directed at coaching major league football teams in the states. But you know, some of the main principles still apply. Autocratic vs democratic, selling vs sharing etc. And from the jungle of wishy-washies vs straight-shooters I pick the things I like. Not because they suit my personality, but because they will most likely resonate well with the players on our team.

I have made so many mistakes during my first year of being trainer, but luckily I have learnt a lot from them. I will surely make many more mistakes this coming season, but hopefully they will be new mistakes and I'm looking forward to learning from them. 

Out of breath...

It's funny in way... when you get to train at least three times a week, you don't particularly appreciate being out of breath when doing something. At least I didn't used to. I just kept blaming myself for having a bad enough fitness level to even be able to get out of breath. Which of course is completely stupid, because no matter how well your fitness levels are, there is always some intensity of activity that can get you out of breath.

The last few months though, getting out of breath was not as easy. My legs couldn't walk fast enough to get my heart rate above 120. I still don't really have the flexibility in them to take steps that are fast and long enough to get me panting. But now..... I have my new bike!

Carefully chosen from the jungle of bikes that are out there. 1. It lets me sit with a completely straight back in stead of leaning forward (requirement for my back). 2. It has three gears, so I don't have to get all Hulky on the slight slopes we have here (also in regards to my back). 3. It came with an optional luggage carrier at the front (perfect for my training bag, once I start skating again, and looks cool!). 4. It comes with a highly flexible and springy leather saddle (both fashionable and a good shock absorber for my back). 5. It kinda looks like a specific type of Dutch bikes that I really like from home (the "grandma bike"). 6. It wasn't super duper expensive. 7. It looks super duper cool!

So today I went for a short test drive to the store and back and it was awesome! I almost shed a happiness tear. Why? Because while riding this bike I don't feel ANY of the limitations that I do feel in every other activity. My body feels like it is completely healthy, has full range of motion and has full strength! It's the best feeling of freedom ever. The only danger sits in that feeling making me forget that I do actually have these limitations by the time I have to step off the bike. I have to remember to stop and get off carefully. ;)

Now I'm gonna go out and have another go! See ya!

Going insane, need to babble...

So today it's been six weeks since they operated on my back which means that the damage done by the operation will have healed. That also means that I can start lifting and carrying things again. It's weird.. for some stupid reason I kind of expected this day to be a magical one. I expected to suddenly feel all healed and normal again, but of course I don't. Yesterday was a very bad day, but I think today will be back to the normal levels of handicappedness I have been at lately.

I have one more week off and then I actually have to do a full week of internship and my examination patient. Not sure how I'm gonna do that, but we'll see. I'll probably just work and sleep and work and sleep.

After 6 weeks at home not doing anything (well, handed in some school work and coached a few trainings) I am SO ready to lead a normal, active life again. Just wish my body was as ready as I am.

My professors approved my thesis ideas so I got the first go on writing a quantitative study on roller derby injuries. They were really enthusiastic and even expressed curiosity for the results. I'll be spending the summer designing the questionnaire which will then be sent out in the second half of september after approval from the professors. I'm so excited! I explained my ideas to both Euroderby.org and WFTDA and they agreed to help me spread the questionnaire. I've written to CWRDA in Canada but not heard back yet. Now I just need to create a list of australian leagues to send it too as well. I had a look around in Asia and Africa but roller derby doesn't seem to have exploded there in the same way as it has in North America, Europe and Australia. South America I haven't really checked yet. Will get to that next week.

Summer has finally hit Luleå and I just want to strap on my skates and get outside. But my physiotherapist wants me to get more strength back in my hip abductors (those you push off with when taking a stride) so that I'll be more stable. A few weeks ago I had no strength in them at all. Not just weak because they weren't trained, but weak because of nerve damage, half paralyzed. Also, one of my calves is very very stiff, so I can't really get into derby stance with that leg. There are more problems, but I think it's mostly those two that keep me from rolling at the moment. Core strength I have, just no endurance in those muscles at the moment. But I really think that both core endurance and the stiff calf would benefit from skating outdoors... long, easy strides. But then again, my physiotherapist is a really good one with years of experience and I haven't even finished my degree yet, so I trust her opinion more than my own.

Oh well... back to creating that email address database and searching for similar research so I have something to go on.

If you actually stuck through and read this entire post with no pics I commend you. ;) Just needed to vent some stuff and share it. Thank you for reading it all. :)

Back on track

Ok ok ok, maybe not on the track, but tonight I will be back on the infield and start coaching again. Just five weeks before our summer stop. I'm very excited about being actively involved with our girls again instead of just behind the scenes on the board of our league.

Also, this saturday we will be part of the On Board Festival. Which means we get to mingle on skates and play some jams on our old make shift outdoor track. It's basically a basketball field on asphalts which never gets used for basketball, so we want the city to poor us a concrete track there in stead. It's right next to the new concrete skatepark that opened last summer. It's where we belong!

I smell fresh meat!

Last saturday was great! It was the first time since my operation that I was standing on the infield coaching others again and it felt good. What made it even better was that it was our try out day and we had a whole bunch of freshies on wheels. They were amazing! Throwing themselves at the floor on command, trying out the feeling of crossovers, skating a pace line, they were just great! I really hope that many of them will continue (if not all, that would be even better!).

Unfortunately I don't have any pics. Someone was there taking pics, but I haven't seen them yet.

Science behind roller derby?

Hello derby world! I want your help!

In a previous post you could read that my ultimate dream (professionally) is to become the link between roller derby and medical/movement/sports science. No better time to start with that than now. Now is the time in my education where I have to start sketching the thesis that will help me to get my degree in physiotherapy.

The world is covered in thousands and thousands of flat track roller derby players and I would like for that community to come together and help me still our hunger for knowledge. Right now most of the knowledge we use to base our trainings and rules on is based on sports medicine based on other sports. We are not 19 year old hockey athletes, nor extreme marathon runners. We are a unique mix of well trained, less trained, highly motivated or recreationally playing women (leaving merby out for this purpose) with or without other sports in our backgrounds. We play on quads which demands different things of our bodies than ice-skates, running shoes or inlines.

At some stage during the next 6 months I will send out a (anonymous) questionnaire and I sincerely hope that every single one of you will fill it out. This questionnaire might contain questions about your athletic past, how long you've been playing derby, how often and how you train but most of all injuries you might have suffered during your derby career and possibly before.

Most common derby injury?

To make this more interesting for everybody I'd like some input on which question you think my thesis should answer. Possible questions include:

* What is the main type of injury sustained in FTRD (flat track roller derby)?
* Which player has the highest risk for injury in FTRD? (could correlate to background, age, body type, training hours, type of training, position she plays, etc)
* When in a derby career exists the highest risk for injury? (fresh meat period, first bouting season, top national/international level skating) (why then? what's different to the other periods?)
* What is the average recovery time for derby injuries? (additional questions could be, why so long/short?, how to define "recovered"?)
* ???

I understand that many of these questions seem unnecessary, because we know the answers either by using common sense or by looking at what's happening in your own league or country. But to be able to answer the more interesting questions we need to create a scientific base line first. We need to have proven that a certain statement is true before we can use that statement to do research on why that statement is true, if you get what I mean.

You can reach me with anything you'd like to tell me concerning this thesis (question to answer, research that's been done already (derby specific), your personal story, email addresses to send the questionnaire to, etc) on Facebook, via e-mail: m.pauelsen@gmail.com or just by leaving a comment here.

Thank you so much!

Tagged by Swede

So... Yeah... I don't normally like these types of things, BUT some of the questions that Swede posed are actually interesting and fun to answer. Apart from the first one.. that's a hard one..


Who inspires you the most?
See, I don't really get inspired by people. Not because I think they are crap, but just because I realize they have a very different life from me and different circumstances before I even get a chance of thinking: I want that too. I can admire them, but not get inspired to go in a same direction or do something similar. As an example Bonnie D.Stroir. I admire her for being able to turn derby into a living. But I don't want the same thing. 
In stead I actually get inspired by myself. Not in the arrogant "I'm great so I want to be me" way, but I often take time for myself. I am one of those people that need and crave that. You know, moments in which you just sit and let your mind wander, have conversations with yourself, convince non-present people of your ideas, that sort of thing. It's in those moments I get my ideas, my inspiration and my drive.

What is the wildest thing you have done?
I think that what ever counts as wildest kind of depends on where you are from. Not counting coffee, alcohol, nicotine and meds I have done three different kinds of drugs (loooong time ago), but when you're from Holland that's not that wild. I've been kicked out of a club in Florence for making out with a girl. Again, not so wild in most countries, but apparently really wild and illegal in Florence. I think the wildest has been my move to Sweden, strangely enough. I was a single mom with a girl of 5, gave up my rental place, packed everything I could fit in a large van, put my daughter on a plan with my mother and drove by myself in one go from The Hague to Eskilstuna. It was great! Empowering, free and scary as hell at the same time. It's a difficult decision when you don't just make it for yourself but for your child as well. It turned out to be the absolute best I could have ever done both for her and me.

Relationship to rollerderby/rollerskating?
Very much a love-hate-one at the moment. I want to play! But I can't just now and the question is if I ever will play at the level I want to play. Because I love the sport and the people I'm staying involved anyways, but it's hard. It's like when I worked at a horse riding school. You're in constant contact with it, because you love it, but you can't do any of the fun stuff yourself. 


What about kids?
I have one daughter who is 11 years old but acts as if she's 14 years old. She already picked her derby name for when she gets old enough to be allowed to play: strawberry killer!! And then she assumes derby stance and does a cute litle growl. In the mean time she wanted to have inlines instead of quads because that's what her friends have. She moved to Sweden with me when she was about to turn 6 and just yesterday her teacher told me that you wouldn't believe that Swedish is not her mother's tongue. We're getting into the stage of her life that I have been most scared of ever since she was born. She's a lot like me, which freaks me out. Yes I turned out ok, but the way there wasn't over roses.

Love or money?
Love, always. And not because that is what you are supposed to say. It's how I live my life. It's why I don't have the money to travel around Europe all the time and play derby everywhere. ;)

City or mountains?
Ocean! 
In The Hague I lived a 10 minute bike ride away from the sandy beach to the Northsea. It's the only thing I miss from Holland. A sandy beach with salty waves and tides. No matter the season, there's always something nice to get at the beach.

Future goals? 
I want to become a doctor in philosophy, with the direction of physiotherapy. That's my goal. My dream is to then become THE link between movement/sport science and roller derby. Most sports have a scientific base behind them where you can find information on how to improve even more and how to prevent injuries. Whilst some (!) in roller derby have that knowledge, that knowledge is based on the science which is directed at OTHER sports. I want to create that knowledge based on science about roller derby.


And now it's time to be lame: I really like these questions, so I'm not gonna create any new ones. I will also not go out and actively tag people. I think that about 7 people might be reading this blogg, so if you've read it, consider yourself tagged. Unless You're Swede, because I won't tag back. ;)


Thanks for tagging me Swede, as I said, these were great questions to answer! :)

Rules:

- Each tagged person must answer the 7 questions given to them by their "tagger” and post it on their blog.

- Then, choose 7 new people to tag and link them in your post.

- Create 7 new questions for the people you tag to answer.- Go to their page and tell them they’ve been tagged!
- Do not tag back to the person who has already tagged you.