Practice Started Yesterday!

How I acquired my gear:

Helmet: My friend Anthony promised he'd send me his old skateboard helmet in the mail. It arrived the day I returned from school, and I anxiously opened it- only to find that he had covered it in transparent porno stickers. He also took the time to include a money sign and the phrases "skate or die!" and "no fat dudes." I left the latter attached.

Knee/elbow/wrist pads: My awesome aunt bought me a set and sent a package to me which came just in time! I look goofy in everything naturally and I had some difficulty with my wrist pads (i.e. I had them on backwards for half of practice), but I'm really lucky to have such a great aunt.

Mouth guard: I stopped at Sports Authority and went home to boil my mouth guard. It was kind of weird because I've never actually owned my own; I used to play with my brother's when I was younger (i.e. stick it in dirt when he wasn't around) and I always sort of envied the fact that he had to have one. No longer: even after boiling that sucker it still fits me wonky and while I'm one of the shortest girls on the team I have one of the biggest mouth guards. Probably going to fix that sometime soon.

total cost (not including skates yet): $105.36
($5.36 for the mouth guard, $100 for the fees)



Practice began after all of the paperwork was in. We warmed up a bit and then started drills- which was the majority of what we did. We balanced on one leg, did the "grape vine" (which reminded me of intramural basketball practice when I was twelve), hopped on one foot, and walked while criss-crossing our legs- all on rollerskates.

The majority of the drills revolved around squats- you know, bending your legs in a chair-sitting position and holding it for a specific fragment of time. Urkin Jerkin', our coach, warned us in advance that our asses were going to hurt this week. If you think that squats are difficult to do without support for like, a minute, then I encourage you to attempt them while wearing rollerskates. It will open your eyes.

Urkin paired us each up with a derby alumna for a few of the drills. My Derby Sister was Iona Switchblade, who's been on the derby team since it began three years ago in Fort Collins. Iona helped me during some of the trickier drills, including one where we did "cross-overs" (crossing our right legs over on the turns) and formations (everyone is in single-file with their right hand on the person directly in front of her; it's like an Indian Run done backwards...and on rollerskates). Some of the exercises were confusing but after awhile I started to get comfortable.

At the end of practice we took off the skates and did jumping, more squats, jump-squat-push-ups and sprints. And yes, my ass hurts. But it's totally worth it.