Week 5: Crossovers, Skating backwards, Transitions, Wheel Cleaning Demo

Unfortunately, the rainy season in Hawaii means that we often have to take what we get and become creative when the sky pisses on us. What was meant to be a productive practice turned into some quick review, followed by some skate maintenance when the clouds opened up enough to make the track slick.

Crossovers: We concentrated heavily on what both sides of our body are doing in a crossover. Please watch copious amounts of derby footage and watch as the jammers skate around the track. You will see in proper form that there is a top push and a bottom push. We are aiming to use both legs to maximize our power in each stride.

notice how long that "underpush" stays on the ground. 1/2 of her power comes from that stride!

Backwards skating: Work on the idea of leading with your ass, and looking under your shoulder. It's a sticky skating sort of skill, where your weight is shifting from one leg to the other, leading with your heels. Please continue to look up youtube videos on this important skill. It comes into play in many ways as you build into intermediate and advanced strategy. Keep your legs bent, sitting in your derby chair. As tempting as it is to stand up tall in an attempt to balance, this is actually the worst way to stay in control and prevent falling. You need your center of gravity to remain low in derby and concentrate on working from your core. Hence all of the off-skates core-work.

Transitions: Much like skating backwards, most of what freaks out new skaters about switching from forwards to backwards skating and vice versa is the mental idea of moving into a direction you can't see. This is easily remedied by remembering to lead the motion with your head, shoulders, and hips. If you are already looking the direction you want to turn, you're so close to there that your feet will know what to do. DO NOT LOOK DOWN. Find a spot on the wall or a girl in front of you to look at as you turn... a "spot," per say. This will help you stay grounded and level. Remember to stay low in your center of gravity. Watch the youtube videos on the previous blog post to refresh your memory about starting and finishing posture. Practice makes perfect! If you're really freaked out, get on the grass in your skates or on thick carpeting, and practice that way. You don't have to be rolling to work on this skill, but you do need to eventually be comfortable with rolling and executing the skill.

Wheel Cleaning Demo: 

You should clean your wheels and bearings when you notice an excessive buildup of dirt, debris, or if you have been caught in a torrential downpour while skating. If you keep your equipment in good shape, you will rarely need to replace it. It's like maintaining a vehicle.

To clean your wheels and bearings, you will need:

• a safety pin or button with a thin, sharp end (to carefully pop off the bearing covers)
• sewing machine oil (cheap) or quick lube/bearing lube (pricier). Both work the same
• water tight container to agitate dirty bearings in, or fancier contraption as shown
• rubbing alcohol (above 70%) or a citrus degreaser if you're fancy and have some time
• bucket of soapy water (dishwashing liquid okay) to soak wheels (sans bearings)
• towel to set your bearings and bearing covers on 
• fingernail brush or old toothbrush (fine wire brush ok, but not too abrasive or you'll wreck stuff) to brush your bearings and wheels if they are super crusty

I do not personally advise using canned air, as you can lodge debris further inside of your bearings after you've already done a fine job of cleaning them. If you use citrus cleaner you will need to thoroughly dry your bearings before continuing. This is why I like to use alcohol... does the job, super cheap, dries fast.

The one thing I like to stress is that there are a lot of different techniques and products to clean your wheels and bearings, but there are a few rules of thumb:

DO NOT use WD-40 or acetone. These aren't good choices and can deteriorate your equipment.
DO NOT put your bearings in water or in contact with water. They will rust and seize up.
DO NOT soak your wheels in alcohol. The wheel material deteriorates with prolonged exposure. Only wipe off wheels with alcohol occasionally, like during a bout to remove surface dirt  to create more traction.
DO NOT try to take the balls out of your bearings. You will ruin them. Don't do it.

If you follow the above, you'll be able to keep your equipment in good shape for a long time. Bearings are machined metal parts that require some sort of rust remover or solvent to clean them. Water will rust them. Please watch this video for a complete demonstration!

http://youtu.be/XeUyqHCI6Ms


I found another clip that I would like to add on to the skate maintenance talk... about rotating your wheels. Over time, your wheels will "cone" due to a wearing away of the urethane from prolonged use. It's hard to avoid, but you can even out the wear on your wheels by regularly rotating them. Here is a demo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elbzA9amtS0


See you next Saturday!

Week 4: Skating Backwards, Crossovers, the Magic Circle

This week the off-skates portion by White Dynamite started promptly at 9am and was only a quick 20min workout. We will continue this system to leave more time for on-skates work as more of you get your gear in and we start to build up skating skills. Please continue to do extra off-skates workouts throughout the week! Take responsibility for your fitness and you will see the results as your skating skills improve. You owe it to yourself to succeed!

After the off-skates, we laced up and began with a standstill crossover to get the feel of how getting lower increases our ability to effectively cross our right leg over our left. We then hopped on the track and practiced them, concentrating on getting low, keeping our eyes looking towards the center of the track around the corners, and turning our shoulders in towards the center. We went to the hockey circles on the rink in three groups and practiced our continuous crossovers on a smaller radius to understand the rhythm of continuous crossovers, then did it the opposite way just for kicks. It's good to practice in both directions because it helps with your agility and balance. We did a small review of T-stops and Snow plows, just to be consistent.

We went back on the big track and practiced keeping our left leg planted on the ground and just using our right leg to push straight out to the side to gain power and speed, then we added in the crossover (still with our left leg planted). This is half of your power, and is super important to get the most out of each push. We watched a demo of the "Magic Circle" by Weewah, who showed us how to turn the oval of the track into a circle by cutting to the inside on the corners and the outside on the straightaways. This shaves a lot of time off of your laps and makes you get back to the pack as fast as possible in gameplay. Whenever we do time trials/laps, you should be using this magic circle trick. We practiced it a bit, then launched into the 60/100/squat drill where we skated at 60% of our speed for 30 secs, 100% (sprint) for 30 secs, then squatted in a sticky skate for 30 secs. We did this for 5 minutes. Good for endurance and technique, as you were working on your crossovers during the sprint laps.

We then lined up the short way in the rink, got in derby stance and marched in place, slowly began to lift our heels and roll backwards. We learned to keep our eyes up and fix on a spot in front of us. After getting the hang of it on the short distance, we went the length of the rink and added in putting our right hand on our butt to look behind us as we sticky skated backwards (so we could see where we were going). It's important to lead with your butt and look UNDER your shoulder, not over. This keeps you in a low stance that is more stable and efficient. Your elbow should be straight up in the air so you can see behind you, or if you would rather, you can tuck your arm behind your back like a figure skater. Whatever works. The point is to look behind you and skate low. Backwards. We will build on this next week and add in backwards crossovers, which actually sound a lot trickier than they actually are :)

We did some cone work next, starting with jumping over low cones. We stayed low in our derby stance and used our core to stay forward on the landing, concentrating more on bringing our knees up to our chest instead of elongating our bodies upwards. This skill is a lot about core and a lot less about height. Maintaining good balance and being able to jump over obstacles like hands, feet and bodies on the track is critical. Next we staggered the cones and practiced leading with each foot in a zigzag pattern. We learned to point at our next target, leading with our left skate around the right-sided cones and our right skate around the left-sided cones. The point of this skill is to eventually bridge you into learning how to hockey stop. We will get there in time, but for now it is great agility practice.

We  stretched out as a group and had some discussion about helping out at the bout that evening, and we also talked about other Hawaii derby leagues a little bit. Someone voiced up that ACR has fresh meat practice 3x a week, which I'm actually glad they brought up. Since there are three leagues on-island, it is important to be able to know the difference between the three leagues. Some leagues are more interested in recreational-style derby where there is less competition, some leagues pay their trainers to train them, some leagues have very few policies and rules. Different leagues appeal to different skaters. Our island league is the only WFTDA-sanctioned league that competes nationally at competitive WFTDA tournaments. Our Fresh Meat program puts a concentration on building up your derby skills from the very beginning in a fun and safe atmosphere that will decrease your chances of potential injuries, and the money you pay goes towards your first month's dues, not my pocket. I cannot vouch for the structure of other leagues and how they train their new skaters, but I personally believe that slowly building up your skills while still allowing you time for your own rookie bonding and training outside of Saturdays is critical to making you a safe and dynamic skater, and a team player.

We must all determine what is best for ourselves and our personal fitness goals. PRD follows a star system program that graduates fresh meat skaters into White Stars, which are skaters deemed safe enough to attend regular PRD practices at a minimal contact level. After 3 months of fresh meat skating, we believe most of you will be able to assess and become White Stars. After several more months of being White Stars at league practices, we assess you again to determine if you can become an Orange Star, which is a skater eligible for drafting to one of three home teams that bout locally (Sirens, Thunder, and Dolls), the B-Team, or "Biznass" that bouts against neighbor island leagues, and makes you eligible to scrimmage at all PRD practices. After Orange Star comes Green Star, which is the level you must achieve to be eligible for our travel team Hulagans roster. Hulagans travel to play neighbor island and mainland tournaments at a WFTDA sanctioned level, a very structured and competitive level of gameplay. All of this is important to help you progress safely and to help you achieve derby greatness in a non-threatening structure that is achievable and effective. If you feel you would rather skate with a Rec league, I will not discourage you. Competitive derby is not for everyone, but those of us that like the challenge of competitive derby appreciate having it as a viable option. You must earn your way in PRD, but if you work your ass off, you will get on our teams!! Personally, I would love to skate with all of you and hope you continue to train with us.

I hope this clears up any questions or misconceptions about Hawaii derby. I have friends on all leagues and teams all over the islands (and the world), and don't think it's good sportswomanship to ever bash another league for what they are trying to achieve. I hope you agree. We all love derby!

Hearts,

Calamity