i'm back and i'm bad-ass

2 weeks of lethargy, congestion and a general feeling of unwellness have come to an end. I'm still coughing a little but i'm back on my skates. Yesterday, we had a wonderful newbie practice. We found a nice outdoor rink and monopolized it for a couple hours. There were only 6 of us, most of whom are still working at getting comfortable on their skates. So we kept it informal. A lot of skating round and round, practicing crossovers and sticky skates. I was breaking in my new skates, using them at a decent pace for the first time. And I love them. I feel more confidant with them on. Honestly what I need to work on most is getting myself in shape and building up my endurance. My endurance is shit. Even in high school when I played hockey or soccer 3 times a week, my endurance was poor. Now its beyond poor. But I'm working on changing that. 

Towards the end of our practice, we decided a little structure would probably help us a good deal. So we practiced skating in a pack, watching our surroundings, communicating within the pack. Once we got the swing of pack-skating, we threw a jammer into the mix. As the person there who is the most confidant on skates, I got to be jammer. I skated through the pack a couple times. My fellow newbies definately need to work on their blocking skills, but after a couple runs, it got more difficult to find holes in the pack to weave through. We're all learning. I honestly never wanted to be jammer, but after my little stint at jamming with my fellow newbies, I can see how its a super fun position. However, with my endurance being what it is and my experience with bodychecking, I think I'd make a much better blocker and I'm sure I'd love it. Jamming has got to be retardedly stressful.

I used my indoor wheels on the outdoor rink yesterday. I wanted to switch to my hybrids, but removing the bearings from my indoor wheels was proving to be too great of a challenge for the time being. Mae hooked me up with a set of bearings that her cousin had given her. They need to be cleaned and lubricated, but once that's done, I can put them in my hybrid wheels and then I'll be ready for more outdoor skating. 

In all honesty, I need to skate more often if I want to be ready for team try-outs in the fall. I was given a list of skills we need to be able to perform. I need to work on pretty much everything before my skills will reach a decent level, but there are a few things that I need to work on more specifically: endurance, stops, falling (and getting up without using my hands), squatting, and hopping. So these are the things I'm going to start focusing on. It would probably also be a good idea for me to brush up on the rules. I tend to read on public transportation all the time, so once I'm finished my current bus-book, i'll start lugging around the WFTDA rules with me.

On another note, post-practice yesterday, the 6 of us gathered at Mae's house for a vegetarian BBQ. I think its great that we're getting some quality newbie-bonding time in. Its good to have people to talk to who are just as new to this whole derby world as I am.