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Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Into the Meat of it


Practice two on an unseasonably warm November day I feel a little more like I am supposed to be here. I strap on my skates and pads with the other fresh meat, slightly segregated from the vets.   My legs, thighs and buns aware and prepared this time for the pain they soon will experience.  We are expected to warm up with the group which actually scares the bejesus out of me, and I join them skating slowly and cautiously on the outside.  I do not attempt any of the transitions, knee pops, butt kicks, knee raises as I struggle right now with simply staying upright.   After stretching and introductions we head to the coned off area at the end to practice our falls. 
For anyone thinking of joining a fresh meat class you are going to learn basic skating skills, how to stop and fall properly.  This is to get you ready for your level 1 assessment where you have to demonstrate all these skills before you are cleared to hit.  (I am mildly disappointed that I don’t get to hit people right away.)  Skating and hitting –that’s why I signed up for and you actually get to do very little of either to start. Katherine Hipburn, our esteemed trainer, is actually teaching her first fresh meat class.  We would be Hipburn’s first students. (Thank you Hipburn-you really taught me how to kick ass with attitude!)  I am not going to bore you with much detail YET but here are the basics.  We need to master single knee falls, double knee falls (also called rockstar), baseball slide, 180 slide, toe stops, tstops, sticky skate, crossovers, and gliding on one foot.
The first of 4 these all involve going to your knees while skating.  I feel like a fool of course but you can’t imagine how hard it is to throw yourself on the ground on skates.  You have to tip forward and literally force yourself to go to the knee.  It’s entirely mental at first.  Your mind does not want your body to pitch itself to the knees.  If I did this without pads I know this would be extremely painful and so does my brain.  Until you learn that your knee pads will protect you, your instinct is to resist that falling motion and you end up with an awkward bump to the floor. (And a sore back)   Overall I think the Rockstar slide is the easiest as it takes less balance than the one knee fall.  I also cannot imagine where I will ever use the baseball slide? I am certain it is illegal to kick someone with my skates even though I have not read the entire WFTDA rule book.  Yet I really feel like I am about to kick someone every time I attempt this slide.   The 180 is more like a 90 turn when you start out.   After practice, I spend a lot of time on YouTube watching videos of other derby girls fall with ease and wonder if I will ever get there?    

From a Fresh meat perspective- Jaime

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