Roller Derby
Oh my god, my life's gone a bit bonkers recently. Roller derby was always just something I kinda did on a Tuesday night just to get out of the house and do some semblance of exercise that didn't involve going to the gym. This year it's all kind of taken off on some kind of crazy exponential curve. Of awesomeness.
Went to two games in February over the Valentine's weekend, one in Glasgow and one in Edinburgh. Scotland beat their English opposition in two very close high-scoring games. Woop!
Friday 12th nipped down to Edinburgh for a mixed scrimmage session with girls from all the Scottish leagues. It was sooo much fun. I only nipped in on the games that didn't have full-contact hitting cos it was my first time playing with other girls. It probably wasn't a real indication of my skills and performance, but the jams I jammered in I got lead every time. Even the last one when I went superman-flying over this lass who hit the ground at my feet, smashing my hip off the floor. Still managed to get up, still managed to get lead jammer! Hip is still sore :P Got some really good comments off some really good players, so went away sore but happy.
Went to London this past weekend for a boot camp run by the Texas Hustlers. Couldn't have been more useful. They had workshops on track skating, off-track skating, exercise, skate maintenance, league management, bout analysis... Followed by a double-header bout on the Saturday evening. Glasgow's Irn Bruisers vs London's Brawl Saints ended with Glasgow getting skelped 79-13 :( Then the Texans took on the mighty London Brawling for an hour of nail-biting, edge of the track (no seats :P) excitement. Speaking to some of the Hustlers the following day they were expecting to have lost but were surprised with their 84-63 win. It was neck and neck up until the final 10 minutes, teams scrounging one or two points off each other but Texas clinched it when jam after jam the London jammers clocked up their 4th minor penalties and were sent to the sin bin for the cumulative major. If you're sitting down ladies, you're not scoring :( But oh wow, what a stunning weekend. Managed to coax a few folk over to watch with me; Bruce was a pro on the rules after only a few jams, Kittiah ended up spamming his networks with how much more awesome derby is than every other team sport and Bai is already looking into skates and pads and local teams ;)
Next weekend is gonna be scary. Saturday not so much - double game with Glasgow and Central City's A and B teams against each other looks to be really exciting, followed by good ol' Granite City's first ever bout against Edinburgh's team Celtic Chaos on the Sunday. Halp D:
*breathe*
I've always been pretty apathetic towards exercise. I need to enjoy what I'm doing, and a lot of standard exercise thingies are seriously boring. I know I should probably lose weight, but being thin just hasn't been enough motivation. I'm happy enough. In the past few years I've improved my diet and my weight has stayed the same. Went to the gym for a little bit a year or so ago, and it was alright but I hated not being able to get on the machines I wanted and the showers were awful. So I stopped going. And I don't think I'll ever go back, despite the new and shiny sports village.
But the last few months I've been really getting into derby, and despite it pretty much taking over my life at the moment, I'm really happy riding the wave. So it's in my best interests to improve my fitness and stamina so I can be a better player. I'm trying to do two or three things apart from skating every week... the last few weeks I've done some wii fit, walked to work and these extra derby classes. I'd like to rely less on the car and walk to work every day but I'm a crappy morning person and much prefer my bed. Taking the car is an extra half an hour. But I'll work on it. Even if it's just one day a week for a start.
Went to two games in February over the Valentine's weekend, one in Glasgow and one in Edinburgh. Scotland beat their English opposition in two very close high-scoring games. Woop!
Friday 12th nipped down to Edinburgh for a mixed scrimmage session with girls from all the Scottish leagues. It was sooo much fun. I only nipped in on the games that didn't have full-contact hitting cos it was my first time playing with other girls. It probably wasn't a real indication of my skills and performance, but the jams I jammered in I got lead every time. Even the last one when I went superman-flying over this lass who hit the ground at my feet, smashing my hip off the floor. Still managed to get up, still managed to get lead jammer! Hip is still sore :P Got some really good comments off some really good players, so went away sore but happy.
Went to London this past weekend for a boot camp run by the Texas Hustlers. Couldn't have been more useful. They had workshops on track skating, off-track skating, exercise, skate maintenance, league management, bout analysis... Followed by a double-header bout on the Saturday evening. Glasgow's Irn Bruisers vs London's Brawl Saints ended with Glasgow getting skelped 79-13 :( Then the Texans took on the mighty London Brawling for an hour of nail-biting, edge of the track (no seats :P) excitement. Speaking to some of the Hustlers the following day they were expecting to have lost but were surprised with their 84-63 win. It was neck and neck up until the final 10 minutes, teams scrounging one or two points off each other but Texas clinched it when jam after jam the London jammers clocked up their 4th minor penalties and were sent to the sin bin for the cumulative major. If you're sitting down ladies, you're not scoring :( But oh wow, what a stunning weekend. Managed to coax a few folk over to watch with me; Bruce was a pro on the rules after only a few jams, Kittiah ended up spamming his networks with how much more awesome derby is than every other team sport and Bai is already looking into skates and pads and local teams ;)
Next weekend is gonna be scary. Saturday not so much - double game with Glasgow and Central City's A and B teams against each other looks to be really exciting, followed by good ol' Granite City's first ever bout against Edinburgh's team Celtic Chaos on the Sunday. Halp D:
*breathe*
I've always been pretty apathetic towards exercise. I need to enjoy what I'm doing, and a lot of standard exercise thingies are seriously boring. I know I should probably lose weight, but being thin just hasn't been enough motivation. I'm happy enough. In the past few years I've improved my diet and my weight has stayed the same. Went to the gym for a little bit a year or so ago, and it was alright but I hated not being able to get on the machines I wanted and the showers were awful. So I stopped going. And I don't think I'll ever go back, despite the new and shiny sports village.
But the last few months I've been really getting into derby, and despite it pretty much taking over my life at the moment, I'm really happy riding the wave. So it's in my best interests to improve my fitness and stamina so I can be a better player. I'm trying to do two or three things apart from skating every week... the last few weeks I've done some wii fit, walked to work and these extra derby classes. I'd like to rely less on the car and walk to work every day but I'm a crappy morning person and much prefer my bed. Taking the car is an extra half an hour. But I'll work on it. Even if it's just one day a week for a start.