So I have found a new league close to home!! I am so excited to be learning from Rosie and Tex. They are awesome and we have a great bunch of new girls. The Yellow Rose Derby Girls are just starting out and I am so excited to be a part of this brand new league. There is much to do and lots to learn. It is awesome to have new girls that are so enthusiastic and who actually think I am so good, which is only because I have been doing this a couple of years now. After a few months they will be just as good or better and I love to be there to help them along.
Having a lot more one on one attention and bringing them up as a group is an exciting and rewarding experience. I can remember the first time I went out on the track with the “Big Girls” of the recreational league and feeling so intimidated and inadequate and unsure of what to do or how to do it. I can relate to the frustrations of not being able to keep up, or do the drills correctly or even know if I am close to doing them right. Our little group of newbies that started at the same time bonded together. It was good but we needed a not so newbie to take us aside, show us things to do, what to work on, how to work on it, and why it was important.
Until you skate in that first scrimmage, everything you learn seems to not relate to the actual game of roller derby. Then that big day comes and you are thrown out there to skate without knowing what on earth to expect, what to do or even able to keep up.
Everything you do in the beginning is what gets you to be scrimmage ready. You do have to play to learn, it is the best and fastest way, once you are comfortable on you skates and have built up your endurance and passed you basic skills, it is time to jump in and start doing.
But take the time to learn the drills, practice the drills, master the drills. Put all your effort into doing everyone, getting better at them each time. Push yourself a little farther at every practice. Set mini goals, such as count how many laps you do for the 1 to 2 minute sprint during warm ups and try to improve on that each time. Take the time to work on building up your body outside of practice. It doesn’t have to be extreme just work on doing more sit ups, lunges, squats and things like this that will translate into core strength while on the track. And skate every chance you get, nothing makes up for time on skates, even if it is skating around the rink with friends. It will pay off.
Derby Love to all on my new team and those who got me here!
Melody Kool's Blog 