Wednesday, March 24, 2010

derby knowledge bomb!

Last Sunday, my derby team La Racaille, trekked down to Vermont for the afternoon/evening to drop a derby knowledge bomb on the Green Mountain Derby Dames (and then scrimmage with them a wee bit.) Usually, our 2 travel teams (the New Skids on the Block and the Sexpos) do all the derby roadtrips, but this was a home team bonding experience. As the destination was only 2 hrs away, almost the entire team was able to make the trip.

We basically showed the GMDD girls how we run our regular Sunday Racaille practices. I'd describe to you in detail what we showed them, but I don't think the team would appreciate me divulging our team secrets to the entire internet. So i'll just say that we showed them our stuff and they seemed to get a lot out of it.

Now, the important part (on a personal level) was the scrimmaging. There are a few noteworthy things I noticed about my own performance in the scrimmaging against GMDD. The first was that, although i was on the track every 2nd jam, I did not get over-exhausted at any point. And that is a huge accomplishment because I was definately pushing myself, so not running out of breath means that my endurance has greatly improved recently. BIG FUCKIN DEAL!!!

The second thing worth mentioning is that I found myself working really well with my line. My mind often switches to automatic when I'm on the track, so I've been putting a lot of effort into being aware on the track and working with my teammates and communicating. In that scrimmage, it was noticeable that my efforts have not been in vain. There's still work to do, there always is, but I like feeling that improvement has occurred.

And the third thing is that a teammate gave me some constructive criticism that felt a lot more like a veiled compliment than anything else. There are some people whose advice comes rarely and usually when they see something good going down and they can imagine it being even better. Such was the case. I felt like I was seen as a valid member of the team (as opposed to the recovering injured girl).

Only 1 month until Beast of the East!!!

Also, i'll be playing a game with the Sexpos in Michigan in 2 weekends. SUPER EXCITING!

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