Good advice from a recent Fresh Meat graduate

Acute Mangler, new derby girl for Pacific Roller Derby, gave some solid advice today Keep this in mind:

"Hi! I was just telling some of you yesterday about the importance of being comfortable on one foot. Most of the beginner skills and like all of the later ones are gonna be requiring you to pick up your feet. When you pick up a foot, you have to be okay with being on one foot until you can put that first foot back down, right? I mean, it makes sense. 

If you are struggling with T stops, turning around, crossovers, shuffle stepping sorta stuff we've been doing, or just regular balance and coordination while skating, I believe you would be doing yourself a huge favor by practicing lots and lots of one-footed glides in your nearest driveway, empty street, or basketball/tennis court. Skate forward, pick up one foot, and leave it picked up for as long as you can. Practice on both sides until you feel super rad and confident about being on one foot. 

You can also practice just standing around on one foot whenever you have to stand still, like in a check out line. I will tell you that this is something I personally had to do for a couple weeks before I got the T stop down. I believe it is a really good fundamental thing to be practicing on your own for a lot of you who are struggling with those skills."

Week 4: Conditioning, Strength Training, Cone Weaves, Jumps, Agility

Great work today! 

It was a day of fitness and building up derby muscles through strength training. We started off-skates with Knocks leading some light cardio followed by wall sits, then a squat marathon of 6 sets of 10. Then led proper lunges and made your legs feel like jello! We got on skates and reviewed snow plow stops, t-stops, modified snow plow-hockey stops, then Mohawk/tomahawk/180 toe stop stops. We really broke down that stop today to try to understand the mechanics. 

We very briefly brushed on knee taps and 4-point falls, but I mentioned that we won't be concentrating on that much more since most if our time should focus on agility and skating skills. 

We moved into cone weaves and then hopping over cones. We hopped on the track to do agility work shuffling back and forth from the inside track boundary to the outside track boundary. Practice wrapped up with a leg burner 60/100/squat drill for 5 minutes, then we stretched it out.

Again a reminder that practice next week requires a MANDATORY 9am start time!! Please be early so you ensure you are there in gym shows and ready to go. You will be extremely sorry if you arrive late :( 

Love you all, have a great week and get in some cardio! 

An Online Derby Game, For Mental Gain!

So good!!

http://www.rollerderbyrules.net/whereisthepack/instructions.html

Derby Names: How To Pick One, Link To Find Inspiration

For inspiration on a derby name, check out this page. Then start picking a name for yourself. Just make sure it isn't too similar to any of the ones that are from leagues on the islands/West Coast, or wherever you plan to skate. Once you've been assessed and make it into the league officially, the league member assigned will submit it to this database to register you. Have fun brainstorming! 

Derby names help people like me remember you on the track. Some people choose to go with their real name, but a majority of skaters worldwide continue to choose a derby name. Think about how it will be abbreviated. For instance, my derby name is "Calamity Crush," but people only call me "Calamity," or "Calam" if they're really lazy. BUT. If anyone calls me Clam, I will throat punch you. Been warned! ;)

International Rollergirls' Master Roster (all flat/banked-track leagues and rollergirl names)

www.twoevils.org

All US, Canadian, and International Rollergirls

Week 3: Stops, Falls, Recovery, Crossovers, Intro to Paceline

Today we worked on snow plows, t-stops, hybrid version of a snow plow/hockey stop, turn around toe stop (or Mohawk stop). We did single knee taps and 4-point falls, recovering as quick as possible. 

We worked on our stride around the track and learned about the "jammer line," which is the shortest distance around the track (basically it's the outside on the straightaways, then you cut to the inside of the track on the corners).

We worked on crossovers and did "space invaders" to work on our footwork/agility without rolling, and we did a lot of grapevines during that to practice crossovers. We then took the track and did 60/100/squats, going at 60% speed for 30 secs, 100%/sprint, then 30sec squat while "sticky skating." We did that for 7minutes today and it was hard! We then skated in the non-derby direction on the track to stretch out our legs and tried crossovers (also hard!). Next we skated derby direction again and got on the inside line to make a "pace line," and skated within arms reach of each other. We had to adjust our speed to go faster or slower and still stay near the other skaters. The last skater in the line sprinted to the front of the line until everyone had gone. Our backs were sore from all of that hard work sitting in our derby chairs! Good skating form is super important.

We did a "dynamic stretch" cool down as we skated around the track, stretching out our various body parts. Then we did some stretches on the side and called it a day.

Week 2: Derby Homework! Written Quiz

The second day of Fresh Meat was rained out by a seriously threatening storm on the radar that ended up missing our side of the island entirely. It was really disappointing. If I'm going to go through the trouble of canceling a practice, I wanna see a show!! Hahaaaaa

Anyways, here was the homework assignment, that I put some thought into. We do have to tend to the rules portion of roller derby, so this was a good excuse to get started on some basics:

View pdf on google docs here.

Week 1: Fresh Meat Fun Day! Packet to Overview New Girl Training

We Challenge You To

Be Your Own Hero.       

Dear potential skater,

We would like you to participate in the next Fresh Meat Clinic.

Training begins today on

April 6th

Please join us in our passion!

Roller Derby Fresh Meat Clinic

The purpose of Fresh Meat Clinic is to provide female skaters of at least 18 years of age who wish to join Pacific Roller Derby the necessary training to be “derby ready” for league practices involving skills and drills. Fresh Meat Clinic will work to improve your physical skating abilities and knowledge of the most recent WFTDA Rules as well as expectations of league members and familiarity with the sport of Women’s Flat Track Roller Derby.

Participants are required to have signed a PRD waiver of liability and to hold a personal health insurance policy before the start of Fresh Meat Clinic. A one-time $45 clinic fee will be collected at the beginning of the session, the Saturday following Fresh Meat Fun Day (April 6th is free to get you hooked). This fee will be put towards your first month of dues when you successfully pass your WHITE STAR ASSESSMENT and become an official PRD skater. If you drop before testing, PRD will keep your fee. Clinic coaches try hard to get all skaters to pass their STAR ASSESSMENT and may make special arrangements for extra sessions if there are rainouts.

Skater training will be approximately 2 hours each in duration, 1x per week. We fully expect you to skate on your own outside of Saturday sessions. Please use caution and NEVER practice skills that we have not yet learned in the clinics outside of Saturdays, where you will be supervised by your instructors. We don’t want injuries!

One session is reserved for administration of the WHITE STAR ASSESSMENT, which we will go into later. All clinic days will consist of both on and off-skates work. Please come prepared to every practice with gym shoes and skates.

Days & times: Sat @ 9-11am at Kamioloiki Park outdoor Hockey Rink in Hawaii Kai

Once a skater has completed Fresh Meat Clinic and passes her WHITE STAR ASSESSMENT, Pacific Roller Derby will be informed that she has done so and appropriate contact information will be delivered to the necessary committees. The skater must then: Purchase USARS insurance (separate from personal insurance); pay monthly dues; attend a minimum of eight (8) practice hours per month; abide by the policies, bylaws, & code of conduct of PRD; sign all required league documents and waivers; wear all required safety gear whenever she is on skates; read, understand and agree to the league’s Constitution and Bylaws.

The training material for Fresh Meat Clinic is roughly as follows, with variation based upon class progress:

Basic Skating, White Star Assessment Material

Stride and Stance

Straight-aways

Corners

Fluidity of movement

Stops

T stop

Plow Stop

Falls

Single knee

Double knee

4 point

180 Degree turn

Balance and Agility

Weaving

Maneuvering around obstacles

Stepping/Lateral Movement

Turning backwards (Transitions)

Skating backward

Recovering from Wheel-Locks

Intermediate Stops

Mohawk Stop

Hockey Stop

Endurance

Laps - working towards 27/5 minutes

Single Lap time trial - 1 lap (from a standstill) in under 13 seconds

Speed and general fitness

Introduction to Game Play and Contact

Whips

Pushes

Positional Blocking

Checking/Hits (demo ONLY and basic understanding)

Special skills/ Intermediate skills Introduction

  Crossovers  
- Front  
- Back

Jamming

Working with teammates

Packwork

Basic derby strategy 101

Review performance improvement/ needs

WHITE STAR ASSESSMENT PREVIEW

Assess each skater to give last minute critique and feedback

Review performance

Discuss weaknesses/challenges

WHITE STAR ASSESSMENT

Demonstrative

Written Rules Test (please review examples on www.wftda.com

Checklist

Equipment needed for Fresh Meat Clinic:

___ Athletic Shoes

___ Quad roller derby skates             

(Derby skates are different from speed skates and the old skool, hightop boot skates. Ask questions before you buy if you are unsure)

___ BMX/Derby Helmet

___ Wrist Guards

___ Elbow Pads

___ Knee Pads

___ Mouth Guard (“Boil-n-bite” fine)

___ Band-Aids

___ Positive Mental Attitude

Helpful Links:

www.wftda.com

http://wftda.com/rules/wftda-rules.pdf (RULES)

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0zun_cIyBwnYVdRVkpHZkdNb0E/edit

(PRD White Star Assessment criteria)

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0zun_cIyBwnY29tREd1Q1N6X1k/edit

(PRD Orange Star Assessment criteria)

Gear:

www.sincityskates.com (check it out, email them with questions-they’re great)

http://www.sincityskates.com/rookiepackages.aspx

(cheapest option: R3 skate. Package discount code PACIFIC for 10% off)

www.wickedskatewear.com

(10% off with code BTRAIN)

SEE YOU ON THE TRACK!!!