Scrimage Sundays

So now that I've passed my Yellow Star assessment, there's this little world of fun that I and the other Yellows have been admitted to. It's called Scrimage Sundays, and it's basically taking all the skills and drills we've been working on for the past 5 months, and using them in the game they call Roller Derby!

Today was the first time we got to give it a go, and it was soooooo much fun! I'd heard a rumour on Facebook that we were gonna be scrimmaging today, and I was a bit worried about it. We'd done this Blood and Thunder drill a few sessions ago, which is basically like a 'last man standing' type game, where it's every woman for herself on the track and you gotta take down others to win. My response to this was to be like a deer in headlights and be taken down straight away, or to just run away and end up out of bounds (automatic out), so I was a bit hesitant about what I'd be like at actual scrimaging.

Turns out it's LOTS of fun. And now, I actually feel like I do play roller derby, instead of just pretending. Obviously none of us was particularly outstanding this first time through (ok, except for this chick Terror Bonesaparte, and another called Violet van Slam, who are pretty frickin awesome jammers and blockers respectively, but we'll leave them for the time being!), but I feel confident that my skills will improve.

Oh, and as a prelude to the scrimmaging we did Blood and Thunder again, and this time I made myself stay strong and stable, and though I didn't exactly hunt people out and dispatch them, I withstood enough hits from others to end up in the last five or six standing, which was quite an achievement. The next step is to become more aggressive, and bring the fight, rather than just withstanding it!

I came away from today's session feeling really pumped, and really positive about the whole derby thing. I'm glad I pursued it through that initial period of doubt and kept pushing myself. I'm sure there'll be another wall or plataue to get through in the future, but for the moment I'm just gonna relax and enjoy the eight-wheeled ride!