Billets comportant le tag skating

Coach is back. Derby practice was wonderful, but exhausting.  I haven’t been sleeping much, so I can really feel it.  I shouldn’t have worn a white shirt today, since we worked on dog rolls.  I don’t want any dinner, so I think I’m going to drink 2 glasses of orange juice and pass the fuck out.  

Good:  I was on fucking fire tonight speed- and balance-wise.  I only got taken down in Last Woman Standing because the bosslady sez to me “MC, STOP RUNNING AWAY…SLOW DOWN AND LET HER TAKE YOU DOWN.”  I got several compliments from the vets on my performance as jammer when it was my turn during the practice jams.

Bad:  I tend toward leaning too far forward instead of going down when told to fix my derby stance.  I need an in-between movement to transition with, because I have bad habits in regards to muscle compensation and tend to bring my low back into things more than my legs, instinctively, which I know is a bad, bad scene.

Ugly:  bosslady said some wack racist shit tonight as a “joke” toward the one black woman in our group.  Said woman called her on it and asked WTF, I called her on it and said WTF DUDE PARTY FOUL, but I don’t think she was listening and she did the whole “hey, how come YOU can say it?” and “hey, you can call me cracker or honky any time you want, I won’t mind” thing and there was much chatter and I couldn’t hear what was going on and then it was back to practice and I felt like it got pushed away before it was actually addressed and ugh.  I know that’s a run-on sentence, but that’s how my brain was going at the time.  I have seen examples of this crap online sometimes, and heard tale of other people seeing this kind of thing happen, but it is honestly the first time I’ve been witness to it like that.  How anyone can honestly think the weight of “cracker” is equal to that of the n-word or other racial epithets is beyond me.  

(This is not the regular bosslady, but the lead skater who coaches when Coach is not available, which has been the case lately.)

Roller derby totally fucking ruled and I’m already going to buy a pair of skates, because all the loaner skates seem to be for gals with teeny feet.  Honestly, the only downside to the whole night was my poor toes being crushed to death in the boots—I wear a women’s 10, and the loaner skates were an 8.  Oof.

I was really, really wobbly at first, and I am not very good about stopping myself without the controlled fall techniques (fucking snow plows, how do you work?!), but I started to get the hang of it near the end.  Me and one of the other n00bs were told to go off to the side and work on basic skating while the rest of the women played a bout, so I just zipped back and forth on a straightaway working on confidence on my wheels and all of the falls.  I got complimented by one of the vets on my falls—she was surprised that it was only my first session—and in general, everyone was super friendly and welcoming.  

I had such a good time.  I can’t wait to go back, and I can’t wait to get better.  I’m sure I’m going to be sore tomorrow, as capoeira and running fitness do not necessarily equal skating fitness, but I’m still glad I went.  This could end up being something that really brings me up out of this rut I’ve been for the last couple of years.