Just Me and My Skates Against The World
Well, not really… but sometimes it feels like it. Some aspects of life outside of Derby
The worse scenario is, my currently contract is terminated… and my employer has nowhere else to place me; and besides not having an income to, you know, eat… pay bills… drive… have a roof over my head… etc I will also lose my health insurance. League Policy requires me to have insurance, else I can’t skate.
I know, it sounds like my priorities are skewed… but really they’re not. The lack of income = lack of basic necessities weighs incredibly heavy over my head. Skating is a very important part of my life now, tho… the physical activity and sheer joy of skating keeps me active, keeps me fit, keeps me from thinking too much… keeps me sane. Sure, I could still do open skate—oh wait, that whole “lack of income” thing…
Anyway, so that’s one stressor weighing heavily. There are others, but I’m choosing to not go into them right now. Rather, let’s get back to Derby Talk!
My journey towards becoming a referee is progressing, I have been getting some good feedback and lately I have been feeling much less inept. In fact, one of the refs assured me that aiming for being Bout-Ready by May is not an unrealistic goal.
So, for some updates (since it has been a month of Sundays since I last posted)
Ø Bought a new pair of skates. My motivation behind it was skating in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade on the 12th… I have outdoor wheels, though I’d yet to actually roll them. My justification for the new skates was that I really want to start skating the Canal Path at lunch time once the weather is nice… and I know I’m too lazy to swap constantly between outdoor & indoor wheels. If I skate on a day that’s kinda crappy (or if parade weather were crappy), then I’d trash my boots even with swapping wheels.
So, I ordered a pair of Riedell Dash skates in White. These are different from my R3s but reviews said the boot fit pretty much the same… and frankly for my budget and level of skating I like the R3s. The biggest difference is that instead of the “over the ankle” Velcro strap of the R3, the Dash has a grommeted tab on either side that you lace together. This has been a neverending adventure in boot-lacing. I’m still experimenting with this; because there is a lot of space and play in the ankle/Achilles heel area… which is disconcerting when I’m running on toe stops… my feet slide around in the boot and I feel unsure of my footing.
But, I’ve got my Atom Poisons (and a set of Bones Reds bearings), and added a pair of Gumball Toe Stops. Definitely will take some breaking in… it took 5 months for the R3s to get broken in; so I’ll deal. Worst case, I go to a pair of White R3s and pass off the Dashes to someone else.
So, I ordered a pair of Riedell Dash skates in White. These are different from my R3s but reviews said the boot fit pretty much the same… and frankly for my budget and level of skating I like the R3s. The biggest difference is that instead of the “over the ankle” Velcro strap of the R3, the Dash has a grommeted tab on either side that you lace together. This has been a neverending adventure in boot-lacing. I’m still experimenting with this; because there is a lot of space and play in the ankle/Achilles heel area… which is disconcerting when I’m running on toe stops… my feet slide around in the boot and I feel unsure of my footing.
But, I’ve got my Atom Poisons (and a set of Bones Reds bearings), and added a pair of Gumball Toe Stops. Definitely will take some breaking in… it took 5 months for the R3s to get broken in; so I’ll deal. Worst case, I go to a pair of White R3s and pass off the Dashes to someone else.
Ø Two weeks ago at practice we did a “just for grins” time trial… the WFTDA 10 Laps in that’s required for Ref Certification. I almost didn’t skate it; too intimidated by the man-packed skaters (face it, there’s Muffy, there’s Kim, and there’s me… and an army of menfolk). So I almost bowed out; but in the end all of us at practice that night (I think except 1) skated. And you know what? I didn’t do too badly for my first trial. I finished in . I didn’t expect to be anywhere under 2 minutes. Granted, I was exhausted and my lower legs went ice cold during Lap 8… and when I let myself collapse after my recovery lap I had a very difficult time getting up (I wasn’t joking around, I literally could not move my legs for about 2 minutes). I think the cold legs thing was a combination of unexpected exertion on my legs’ part… and knee pads that were too tight. The Pro-Tecs don’t quite fit, and I have to pull the Velcro strap pretty tight across the upper knee to get it to fasten. I wonder that I might have actually cut off circulation.
I ended up buying a pair of Triple-8 Pros, tho now I’m not sure I like them… they slide around a lot… but that could just be because I’m wearing slippery leggings under them and not regular tights, or skin. I’ll keep skating on them for a bit longer and if they make me unhappy I’ll have to replace them.
I ended up buying a pair of Triple-8 Pros, tho now I’m not sure I like them… they slide around a lot… but that could just be because I’m wearing slippery leggings under them and not regular tights, or skin. I’ll keep skating on them for a bit longer and if they make me unhappy I’ll have to replace them.
Ø I skated in the Rochester St. Patrick’s Day Parade on 3/12. That was so much freakin’ fun, can’t wait until the next Parade. I’d forgotten how different skating on asphalt is, I only fell once and that was because I didn’t see the road joint until I tripped over it :P It was great to work the crowd… I took a bunch of pictures (which I still need to upload to Flickr), and in general just had fun. Very good for the soul, I think.
Ø After that I rushed home to change, swap out my gear, and then another Ref in Training and I drove out to Syracuse
The ACRD Bunker is an unused store-space in a mall. The track just fits corner to corner… and makes for an interesting time for Outside Pack Refs… they basically skate back and forth between corners 2 & 3 and 1 & 4 respectively. The skaters’ benches were between 1 & 4, and the Penalty Box was between 2 & 3. Let’s just say it was a great opportunity to practice dodging skaters and Tomahawk stops while keeping an eye on the Pack!
There is another RCRD vs ACRD closed scrimmage this Saturday, but I already have plans to make dinner for a friend so I had to bow out. I do look forward to playing with ACRD again, tho. There’s another Scrap scheduled for April 2nd, so I’m going to see if I can make that one.
I got word from our Head Ref (REFLMAO) that their Head Ref (Otto Alignment) had been in contact after the Scrap, and had some positive words for me and C3PO’d, and said that we were welcome to come back and skate at ACRD anytime.
The ACRD Bunker is an unused store-space in a mall. The track just fits corner to corner… and makes for an interesting time for Outside Pack Refs… they basically skate back and forth between corners 2 & 3 and 1 & 4 respectively. The skaters’ benches were between 1 & 4, and the Penalty Box was between 2 & 3. Let’s just say it was a great opportunity to practice dodging skaters and Tomahawk stops while keeping an eye on the Pack!
There is another RCRD vs ACRD closed scrimmage this Saturday, but I already have plans to make dinner for a friend so I had to bow out. I do look forward to playing with ACRD again, tho. There’s another Scrap scheduled for April 2nd, so I’m going to see if I can make that one.
I got word from our Head Ref (REFLMAO) that their Head Ref (Otto Alignment) had been in contact after the Scrap, and had some positive words for me and C3PO’d, and said that we were welcome to come back and skate at ACRD anytime.
Ø Practice this past Tuesday could best be described as a Ref Lab. Some of the league skaters were invited to come in and be our “pack,” and we focused on some specific aspects of being an Outside Pack Ref. For me, this was fantastic. This was an opportunity to apply the theory of hand signals, vocal projection, figuring out who to follow in the pack and how to follow the pack, etc without the pressure and pace of it being an actual Scrimmage. It was truly a practice scenario vs a “learning on the job” scenario… an I absolutely LOVED it.
I do know that at the very least… I’ve got the voice thing down ;) I can make the calls, my calls are of acceptable volume and clarity… now if only I can remember the hand signals… or like, actually see the penalties :P Actually, I did receive some positive comments throughout the night about placement next to the pack as well. Then again, most of the time the pack wasn’t skating at game speed so it wasn’t that hard to be in the right position… and I also wasn’t dodging flailing and sailing skaters, coaches in the ref lane, etc (tho I did skim the wall while signaling to the Jam Ref at one point, that was a scary moment).
Seriously though, Tuesday’s practice left me feeling much more confident about where I am in my training, and pointed out specific things that I need to focus on. It was a little glimpse at my place on the roadmap—and it was something I very much needed.
The biggest personal challenge for me right now is getting off my ass and upping my physicality. Laziness is a part of it, but having too much in my schedule is also a part of it. I usually have so much going on throughout the week that Sunday Mornings are the only time I get to sleep in. Work has been leaving me so exhausted that by the time I get home, get housework done, come up with something for dinner… all I want to do is “stop” for a little while before bed.
Thing is, this leaves me hovering at a plateau. The skating and warm-ups that I do at practice/scrimmage have gotten me much further than I was a year ago today, but to truly see improvement I need to up the effort… shoe-horn some workout time into my schedule; work through the exhaustion (which really is probably just an extension of my depression to begin with). Forego the Lazy Sundays (~sniffle~) and drag my ass to Sunday Practice… and try like hell to NOT hurt myself, thereby rendering myself useless for work the next 3 days. I need to get over my core revulsion of running, or at least not let it keep me from doing more of it. Gods I hate running. I really and truly do. But running will make me a better skater, right? Hell, if job and finances level out maybe I’ll break down and join another gym… tho really, “Spunk! Fitness”? Really?
I do know that at the very least… I’ve got the voice thing down ;) I can make the calls, my calls are of acceptable volume and clarity… now if only I can remember the hand signals… or like, actually see the penalties :P Actually, I did receive some positive comments throughout the night about placement next to the pack as well. Then again, most of the time the pack wasn’t skating at game speed so it wasn’t that hard to be in the right position… and I also wasn’t dodging flailing and sailing skaters, coaches in the ref lane, etc (tho I did skim the wall while signaling to the Jam Ref at one point, that was a scary moment).
Seriously though, Tuesday’s practice left me feeling much more confident about where I am in my training, and pointed out specific things that I need to focus on. It was a little glimpse at my place on the roadmap—and it was something I very much needed.
The biggest personal challenge for me right now is getting off my ass and upping my physicality. Laziness is a part of it, but having too much in my schedule is also a part of it. I usually have so much going on throughout the week that Sunday Mornings are the only time I get to sleep in. Work has been leaving me so exhausted that by the time I get home, get housework done, come up with something for dinner… all I want to do is “stop” for a little while before bed.
Thing is, this leaves me hovering at a plateau. The skating and warm-ups that I do at practice/scrimmage have gotten me much further than I was a year ago today, but to truly see improvement I need to up the effort… shoe-horn some workout time into my schedule; work through the exhaustion (which really is probably just an extension of my depression to begin with). Forego the Lazy Sundays (~sniffle~) and drag my ass to Sunday Practice… and try like hell to NOT hurt myself, thereby rendering myself useless for work the next 3 days. I need to get over my core revulsion of running, or at least not let it keep me from doing more of it. Gods I hate running. I really and truly do. But running will make me a better skater, right? Hell, if job and finances level out maybe I’ll break down and join another gym… tho really, “Spunk! Fitness”? Really?
Tonight is League Meeting night in lieu of scrimmage, and next week will be non-scrimmaging practice because we have a bout on the 26th. I’m not going to bother with bringing my skates tonight; and I will make more of an effort to drag my sorry ass to practice on Sunday Morning. I just don’t have the strength or endurance to keep up, and it frustrates me… but I’ll try to keep up the positive internal dialog, and I will do what I am able and acknowledge and adhere to my limits. I will make an effort. I can’t get to “I am” until I survive “I will.”
