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! 

Officially discouraged....

I had the second part of my testing with the personal trainer today.
Part of it was a test to see how my cardio fitness was.  So I hopped onto the treadmill, all the right buttons were pressed and I briskly walked up an increasing incline for 5 minutes.  
At the end of the test the treadmill screen gives you a number that indicates your level of cardio fitness.  I didn't see what my number was but I did see that the screen said 'below average'. 
Seriously??!  I've been doing over 8 hours exercise a week for nearly a year! And we don't just skate around slowly bumping into each other.  I sweat every single practice, usually to the dripping stage. How can I still be below average??  
I'm starting to think my body does the same thing with fitness as it does with tanning.  
I burn, I peel, I am lily white again.  
Maybe I also exercise, I collapse, I am still unfit.  

What do I have to do to get fit??
Looking for the silver lining I guess it means that I was in desperate trouble this time last year and without derby I would still be there.  I guess it also means that I haven't imagined that it's been really really hard work to get as far as I have already.  
The only thing for it is to keep going, keep exercising, and hope that before long the screen will read 'average.'  

The measure of a (derby wo)man

So yesterday I had some of my beginning stats done with the personal trainer. It was bad.
Even with skating 3 trainings a week my fat content is embarrassing, too embarrassing to even share here, and you know I normally tell you all the shocking details.  
Let's just say I looked it up on the chart and I'm O for 'Oh golly I really must do something about that'.  
I honestly don't give a crap what the scales say - losing weight is a destructive goal for me - what I weigh doesn't matter.  

How much of me is useful functioning muscle compared to how much is soft padding that is bad for my health - that I can care about.  So it's back to situps and lunges every other day at home for me.  
And getting some balance into my body too.  One thigh measures 3cm bigger girth that the other, I'll start walking around in circles everywhere if I don't do something about that soon!  
Next week I do some more testing - heartrates etc. - I'm really hoping that it's better since last time I did it...Confession from the derby heart.

Bouting not Blogging

Okay, I know - I've totally neglected the blogging.
For the best of reasons though...I've been too busy playing derby to have time to write about it!  
My first two Allstar bouts in three weeks have taken me on a big learning curve and apologies for anyone who's been waiting for me to blog how it went!
First up we had the triple header in Nelson.  To be honest I was almost as excited about a weekend away in Nelson without the kids as I was about the derby.  Friday morning saw me on a last minute emergency shop when I realised that the only 'handbag' I had to take was a nappy bag....that just was not going to happen....and yes I bought the smallest possible bag I could!
Saturday was bout day, I'd managed to stay calm and distracted (shopping!!) for most of the day but by the time the track was open nerves had reduced me to freshmeat grabbiness for the warmup.  Not the best start. I spent most of the pre-game lockdown trying to psych my confidence back up.
Desperately I tried to remember any great moves I'd managed to pull out at the last few scrimmages, trying to convince myself that I could bout at Allstar level.  Besides I had no choice, I had to bout at Allstar level! The actual games were a blur, I managed to do my part some of the time but, as usual for me, my head game was where the real battle was going on.  I just couldn't get in the space where I believed I could do it.  I was so convinced that I'd done badly that it was a pleasant surprise when the bout photos popped up, showing me doing all sorts of useful things....

I had to sort out my head fast before our next bout - in three weeks!
So I had a chat to one of our coaches about how to attack it.
The problem was I hadn't had to 'tryout' for the team.  Being a small league meant that all our bout-ready skaters were on the Allstars.
And I'm pretty smart, I know that if I belonged to a larger league I would not be bouting in their Allstars team....yet.  So when I tried to change my thinking and convince myself that I was good enough - I knew that I was full of it!  
Luckily my coach didn't try and convince me of that either or the same thing would have happened again.
Instead she agreed with me - that I wasn't good enough to play at that level (I know, encouraging right?). She pointed out that I was still going to bout and that I should see it as a chance to learn.  Perfect. Just what I needed to do.  So instead of fighting to feel good enough at our next bout I focused on learning....about my role in the team...about how not to get distracted by the crowd....about how to stay on my feet after a hit.....about how to be an asset to my team rather than a liability.
And it worked!  I had my best game yet, managed to stay on my feet for most of the time I was on the track and didn't get goated EVEN ONCE!!! This is huge progress for me!
More importantly I had an awesome time, instead of panicking about whether I would have to go on for the next jam, I couldn't wait to get called up next.
Which brings me nicely to my next goal.....to not only be awesome enough that there is no doubt that I belong on the Allstars team but to make it onto my team's 'Oh Shit' list. When the bout is going badly and the bench manager thinks 'Oh Shit' they pull out that list, and then rinse and repeat.  
Those players get all the track time they want....and I'm going to be on that list........

Bringing my best to my Allstar Debut!

Only three more sleeps until the triple header in Nelson.  I figured this was a good time to pull together some sports psychology tips on being at your best for the big game.
Most of it is just good old common sense.  Look after yourself.  Eat well and sleep well. You can't ask your body to perform awesomely on the day if you haven't been treating it awesomely during the buildup.  
Take care of as many details as possible before the day arrives.  Know where the game is and how you will get there.  Make sure your gear and boutfit are all ready to go.  The less energy you have to spend on these things on the day of the bout the more energy you will have to put towards playing.  It also reduces the chances of a last minute crisis happening, leaving you feeling drained and stressed out.
A lot of people I have talked to have prebout rituals that they use to help get them in the right frame of mind to play.  Music, makeup, movies, there are many ways to do this.  
Because I am not a naturally aggressive or competitive person I have decided that I need to get my Bee-arch on before the game.  I will put my 'warpaint' and boutfit on and visualise landing great hits, stopping the opposition's jammer and fiercely protecting our jammer and helping her through.  

Two surprising 'don'ts' came up again and again in my reading though - and they are certainly mistakes I would have made before my research into it.
Don't focus on winning or losing.  If you worry about how the game will end you won't be focusing on the moment at hand.  You actually have very little control over what the scoreboard will read at the final whistle.  If you focus on that you run the risk of panicking if you get behind or getting too cocky if you get ahead.  And you stop paying attention to what you do have control over...how you play this jam NOW!
Don't focus on your opponent.  It doesn't matter how awesome the other team looks, how big their blockers are or how fast they skate in the warm-up.  None of these factors will change what YOU have to do to play YOUR best game.
Stay positive, focus on you strengths and what you have to do to play your best.
Most importantly, focus on being a part of an awesome team, and smile!  

ROLLER DERBY WITH OUR FRIENDS!!!

More Boosting from Bonnie

The confidence boosting statements are working, well some of them anyway.  

The short and specific ones have been the most useful, these are the ones that pop into my head right when they are needed and change my usual response.

Like 'I recover so quickly' jumping into my head as soon as I hit the floor, rather than the old disempowering thoughts of being annoyed at myself for being down again.

And suddenly remembering 'I can take big hits' when I see that scary blocker headed my way and knowing that I'm up for the challenge.  

My other statements just weren't catching on in the same way though. Some of them were too broad...like 'I can improve my jamming' and 'you shall not pass'. There was no specific skill for me to focus on and do differently.  

Especially the jammer one - I just couldn't find a way to put any confidence into my jamming attempts.  It was like I was trying to convince myself of something but I had already decided it wasn't true.  Clearly, I needed a different approach for this one.  

Then I watched a story on Sarah Walker, NZ's world champion BMX rider. 

Sarah Walker Interview

She starts talking about working with a sports psychologist at about the 7 min mark on the video but it's just after the 12:45 mark that really hit a note with me.  

I knew I needed to do this for when I was jamming.  Some steps to check through - a thought process to focus on that would get my head in the right, confident space for taking on the pack.  

I watched this a few weeks ago now and I've just been waiting - waiting for the right info to fill in the blanks.

Cue weekend of derby awesomeness with the legendary Bonnie D. Stroir. Motivation and confidence boosting are a big part if her bootcamp teaching so of course I soaked that all up as much as I could.  

It was also incredibly encouraging to me how much I had improved since my last bootcamp experience...Derby firsts...and just spending that much time on skates in one go hugely accelerates your usual learning curve.  

But the best part was that I came away with a thought process for jamming. This is what I came up with from Bonnie's awesome teaching on jamming -

1. I am Hunting   2. Find the blindspot  3. Move my feet  4. Stay shallow  5. Keep moving

My phrases will probably be different than what you would use, and they will probably be different than what I will use in a year's time.

I haven't had the chance to try them yet in scrimmage but for the first time ever I am looking forward a little to giving jamming a go!