Sean and the roller derby - 2 sleeps to go!
Tonight I actually skated. What I've been doing thus far could be classed more as staying upright on skates. But tonight I did it properly.
Me and the girls went to the Thursday night roller disco at Vauxhall Renaissance Rooms. We got there as soon as it opened at 8pm, and had the skating area to ourselves for a while. I was bumbling around, doing my thing, when an instructor came up and decided to show me how to do things properly. Well, she kind of got in my face, so there wasn't any backing out :-) It was nice to get someone to observe how I was actually skating and give me some feedback.
Firstly I was still standing up and leaning forward too much, so she got me to imagine I was skating from my chest, with my head up and looking forward. Then she showed me how to pick up my feet properly, which I wasn't doing. And a couple of refinements once I had that going, not keeping my foot tense and straight when I picked it up, but allowing it to relax, and making sure I picked up my feet straight up and didn't roll my wheels when I did.
Once I was doing this kind of stuff, it helped me with my balance, oddly enough, and being on one skate was OK. Also looking forward and counting out loud the number of times you picked up your feet correctly helped me not think too much of what I was actually doing, if that makes sense.
All this made a huge amount of difference to my mode of progressing forward on wheels, and by the end I was just about able to go around the rink along with everyone else at the same speed and not feel like I was getting in the way.
And when I got home I realised I hadn't fallen over once!
I'm feeling a bit more confident about Saturday now. I think some of us are going to meet up beforehand and go down together. I spent last night at Decathlon getting a new kit bag, shorts, socks and shirt, so I'm not skating in jeans and T-shirt on Saturday!
And if you want to watch the game, come down to Brompton Hall, Earls Court, at 4pm. It's going to be a great day.
Me and the girls went to the Thursday night roller disco at Vauxhall Renaissance Rooms. We got there as soon as it opened at 8pm, and had the skating area to ourselves for a while. I was bumbling around, doing my thing, when an instructor came up and decided to show me how to do things properly. Well, she kind of got in my face, so there wasn't any backing out :-) It was nice to get someone to observe how I was actually skating and give me some feedback.
Firstly I was still standing up and leaning forward too much, so she got me to imagine I was skating from my chest, with my head up and looking forward. Then she showed me how to pick up my feet properly, which I wasn't doing. And a couple of refinements once I had that going, not keeping my foot tense and straight when I picked it up, but allowing it to relax, and making sure I picked up my feet straight up and didn't roll my wheels when I did.
Once I was doing this kind of stuff, it helped me with my balance, oddly enough, and being on one skate was OK. Also looking forward and counting out loud the number of times you picked up your feet correctly helped me not think too much of what I was actually doing, if that makes sense.
All this made a huge amount of difference to my mode of progressing forward on wheels, and by the end I was just about able to go around the rink along with everyone else at the same speed and not feel like I was getting in the way.
And when I got home I realised I hadn't fallen over once!
I'm feeling a bit more confident about Saturday now. I think some of us are going to meet up beforehand and go down together. I spent last night at Decathlon getting a new kit bag, shorts, socks and shirt, so I'm not skating in jeans and T-shirt on Saturday!
And if you want to watch the game, come down to Brompton Hall, Earls Court, at 4pm. It's going to be a great day.