NZ Tournament - part 1

Today I get to double my bout experience.
Today I get to play against some of the best players in New Zealand.
Today I get to be a tiny part of New Zealand roller derby history.

But first I have to get up stupidly early.  I've set my cellphone alarm to Rooster and it wakes my room obnoxiously at 6.30am.  
'Wow that's one big cock', teammate Hammer mumbles from her pillow.
I drag myself out of bed and force down some breakfast.  I hate eating this early but I know I'll need all the fuel I can get.  
Down at the venue I resist the urge to immediately throw my skates on to see how the floor feels, and take a moment to soak it all in instead.  
Two tracks...two!  13 teams - so much derby to play and watch in one day!  
I know that's no big deal to a lot of my overseas derby readers but for New Zealand this is awesome, and I'm here.  
We make our way upstairs to the team room - 13 teams all allocated a small space in one lounge - it gets a bit whiffy by the end of the day but you overhear some classic one-liners....
'I'm so glad I bought a new bra'
'We scored 3 points against Richter!!!'
'Have you pooed yet?'
'At least I can drink now!' this one from a freshly injured skater.
Finally it's time to get gear on and warm up, skate off some of the nerves.  
Our first bout was against The Coasters.  We got a healthy lead early on which allowed us to jam some of our second string jammers. It was good to give them the experience as well as rest up our main jammers for our later games.  

We won the game with a score of 113-34.
Our next game was against Whenua Fatales.  These ladies were hard hitters! Luckily regular scrimmage with the likes of Crash and Knox had us all well conditioned for this and we won 174-18.

It was awesome to feel our teamwork getting stronger with each jam played but we still had our toughest pool bouts ahead with Richter City and Swamp City, both strong possibles for taking out the whole contest.  
Our first two wins also guaranteed us a place in the quarter finals, where we would most likely play against ARDL - another likely to make the final.  Bouting three of the top four teams in New Zealand in one day, not bad experience for a two year old, one team league!
To be continued.......

Off to tourney!

So I've started many blogs lately - one on discovering my hamstrings, one on rediscovering the penalty box - but they are all sitting there unfinished.  

Instead I've been focusing on getting ready for the first ever New Zealand derby tournament!  Yep - crosstraining my ass off and mastering all those techniques and strategies that I need to be at my best.....

Hang on...nope, that's not what I've been doing at all......instead I've been fighting off the worst cold ever, missing way too much training because of it and still not able to do more than a few laps without having a coughing fit....arrrrgggghhhh!
Far from the ideal build up.  But it's happened and I'll have to roll with it. 
I will play the best I can and have an awesome time.  
I will nearly double my bout experience in one day!  So much learning and so many great people to meet from other leagues. 
On top of that I get three whole days break from housework and childcare (yes I do love my children and no I don't feel guilty for looking forward to a few days away from them.  No matter how much someone loved their job they wouldn't be expected to love doing it every hour of every day...end of feminist rant....), a day shopping in Wellington (where I'm sure I will nervously avoid all tall brickish buildings) and just generally hanging out with some of my favourite people.

Bring it on!