Up Till Now....

My last post was a thrown together introduction to this blog. My thought for today was to give a rundown to events leading to the present.  


I have been practicing for about three months now. Since school was also out for summer vacation at the time, my attendance was sporadic. At the beginning, my goal was to stay upright.  I had many falls, mostly when not in motion. I found out that keeping the skates from going out from under me was a skill I needed to master.  Having just had a baby, my balance sucked and I was extremely out of shape.  Before anyone is allowed to compete in a bout, they must be able to pass a skills test.  This is a long list of things, none of which I was able to do.


Since I had some experience skating, many many years ago, getting the hang of skating in circles was not to hard. Even getting crossovers down wasn't so bad.  What made me realize just how badly out of shape I was, was practicing falls.  I could fall, no problems there, but I couldn't get up! My legs just would not lift me off the ground. I had to use my hands every time and that is something you just don't want to get in the habit of. It could result in your fingers getting run over by another's skates. In the skills test you must be able to get up with out using your hands. This was probably the most frustrating thing. I would practice at home without my skates. Trying to build the strength in my thighs to lift me. At practice I would attempt to keep up with my teammates. I would do every fall called out, no matter how long it took me to get up. It payed off.  I am now doing falls in motion and can do more and more every practice. I think I am just about ready for that part of the test!


Crossovers, falls, T-stops, hip whips, weaving are all things I was getting down. Feeling like I was starting to accomplish some improvement. I was even starting to practice some contact drills with the others. Confidence was growing, falling was becoming less traumatic. I knew I was making progress, even better, so were my fellow skaters. Then it happened.


We had a small group show up for practice. We decided to work on some hits, getting pointers from our most experienced girl. Then we started on whips, whipping each other from one skater to the next. Trying to stay in motion with out pushing ourselves. I came up behind her, reached out for her arm, grabbed hold, and then I was face first on the ground and could not breathe. Instead of being propelled forward, I was slammed chest first into the concrete. I must have not let go in time, I tripped over my skates and was thrown across her path, landing hard. Breathe knocked out of me I felt no other pain, except embarrassment. A week later I would find out that I had some separation in my ribs. This brought my practicing drills with the others to a halt. 
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So for at least another week, I just skate. No contact with others. No working on skills that my land me on the ground hard. I will say that I skate hard. I am working on my speed since I am still lapped quite a bit by my teammates. I am doing two minute sprints, lots of squats, working on my agility. I am now only 19 secs from my 25 in 5. Making progress but falling behind. 


One week, then I will be back to the drills. I can't wait. I have taken my first damaging fall. It won't be the last. I think it made me braver. Tougher.