I'm back!

I haven't been posting recently. Not because I haven't been skating, but I guess because I haven't felt like I've had a lot to say. I've been attending practice each week, but while recovering from a tendon injury in my knee that I incurred over two months ago, I haven't been able to push myself as much as I would have liked. Add to that the fact that I was on a pretty strict diet for the last two weeks and kept feeling light-headed, and you might start to see why I haven't felt particularly enthusiastic about my blogging.

Whinge over.

My knee is now much better, and my diet has moved onto the next phase, meaning that I can have vegetables on Fridays alongside the protein that I have been subsisting on so far, and tonight's practice was triumphant.

The scrimmages that form the last section of most of our practices have changed format slightly now, in that the scrimmaging teams alternate between the top group (ie those who don't mind getting bashed around and are approaching passing Basic Skills) and everyone else. Watching the newbies' and intermediates' jams is really interesting and impressive, really, because those girls are fearless where we can sometimes be over-cautious, and are beginning to skate in really tight packs.

In the top group we have been working on strategy a lot more recently, learning basic formations and using the time when the other girls are doing their jams to organise ourselves, reflect on our last jam and prepare for our next, testing our strategies and seeing what works when (and what doesn't). This has made a huge difference to us and it really feels like we're making a lot of progress now. We are even preparing to take part in our first ever bout - looking likely to be a closed door affair with my personal second favourite team (after the Cows, of course), the Norfolk Brawds, who have been going about the same amount of time as we have, and have a similar level of skill and the same kind of attitude that we do. While this was a terrifying proposition for a long time, I'm starting to feel like we can handle it now, and am actually pretty damn excited.

Now, to one of the most immediate reasons that I have regained so much enthusiasm for blogging this week: I wanted to boast because tonight I jammed and it was AWESOME. For my team's third jam of the night, I took jammer against the formidable Diamond D'Ville, and through a combination of pure luck and the support of my amazing team (tonight, my derby wife Dutch, Joni Joking, Brodie Gnarl, Angel, Bedfordshire Roller Girls' Sweet-Petite and new girl Holly), I got through the pack quite cleanly every time, using fake-out tactics and whips to slip past the blues and score points. On my last pass through I realised time was running out so really pushed myself to get through one last time and call off the jam before Diamond could get her last four points. The blues' defence was strong though, and they left very little space to get through, so I took the outside line, where there was less than a foot of track, and just as Rik 'n' Roll went to blow his whistle to call me for being out of bounds (- I'm really proud of this bit -) I lifted my right skate and glided through the slim gap on one leg before calling off the jam as planned. AND THE CROWD WENT WILD!

Ok, no crowd, but I was absolutely loving it anyway and am now brimming with renewed enthusiasm to improve and keep getting that feeling of surpassing my previous standards. Back to the roller disco this Sunday after a month or so off, and Monday I'll be heading to Bedford with Dutch to get some more practice in with some different skaters, and on a different surface. Add to that our upcoming (16th October) Fundraiser and things are looking pretty damn exciting on the derby front!

CF x