This practice was a little chaotic due to a few brief rain delays. We did the best we could to maximize the time we had and make it worth your while.
Practice started with White Dynamite's 20 minutes of cardio and strengthening. He does a great job of getting your heart rates up and making you sweat which may suck at the time, but it's conditioning you to have better endurance on skates and a stronger core. Make sure you thank him for bringing the pain... he doesn't get paid to come kick your ass, you know!
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| White Dynamite says, "Give me 20!!" |
After gearing up, we did a dynamic warmup on skates and also did a new one where we sprinted and then on the whistle squatted (without sticky skating) until we came to a complete stop. I think we did it four times, but it's a thigh burner. I know I groaned... I think you did, too. We got on the white line and did some Space Invaders to work on agility, footwork, transitions and crossovers. There was side stepping, side shuffling, single and double knee falls with no hands, jumping from back to front and front to back, and balancing on one foot. We got water, and then it started raining.
After it poured for a hot minute, I broke out my emergency activity and we had a wheel/bearing cleaning demonstration. Please make sure to clean your equipment prior to the review day we will have leading up to your assessment. The review day is scheduled for Saturday, November 30th. If you did not make practice and you would like a comprehensive breakdown on how to clean your wheels and bearings, please go to this link:
http://www.sincityskates.com/images/downloads/sincity_cleaning_bearings_and_wheels.pdf
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| Remember, don't put your bearings in the soapy water! Wheels only ;) |
After the track was dry, we buddied up and did a couples skate to have one person skate backwards while their buddy held their shoulders for a little support. This drill was meant to help your confidence as you work on skating backwards with more speed. Hopefully it allowed you to push your comfort zone just a bit and go faster than you were used to. We worked on our backwards crossovers a little bit, then worked on the rink circles to do our backwards crossovers in a tighter radius with Peku and I giving feedback. Weewah worked with some of our newer skaters on backwards skating techniques.
We then introduced some new skills, starting with Wheel Locks. Wheel locking happens when you are skating in close proximity to another skater, and the wheels of your skates accidentally jam with another girl's skate. The catchy phrase to remember what to do is SHIFT YOUR WEIGHT, LIFT YOUR SKATE. It's as simple as that. Don't panic... just shift the weight of your body onto the other leg and lift your foot to break out of the lockup. We practiced it carefully at first, then intentionally made it harder on our buddy by trying to trip them up a bit. Watch your elbows and body positioning for this drill... this is not about hitting or pushing your buddy, it is about finding your balance when you lock skates. Practice this carefully.
Next, we got in a large pack on the track where we were able to touch two people, and we did one of my favorite drills called Pack Molestation. We started skating forward on the track (sticky skating as to not trip our teammates), and on the whistle everyone switched positions on the track without leaving our derby stance. We moved to the outside, inside, front and back, filling all the holes as we saw them. When I called out a body part, you had to turn around and touch that body part behind you. This is a fun drill. When you do it, make sure to get low when maneuvering and not stand straight up! We sped up together, slowed down, moved as a big amoeba to the outside and the inside, and then I added in having Weewah or Peku fall small within the pack so we had to quickly amoeba around them, too. You did great!
We stretched it out and had some announcements. I hope you can all organize some skating outings this week! See you Saturday.
Calamity
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