Ouch...

Man, do I ever hurt! 

I hurt bad enough that I went and had my 1st derby related x-ray today.  Rock on.

How did that happen, you might ask?  Well, now...in case you have forgotten, roller derby is a full contact sport and I am now starting to make some contact.

I am now starting to drill with the pack.  This is both exciting and terrifying to me.  It's nice to feel like a part of the team but I am also very much aware of the fact that I am not yet possessing the skills I need to perform up to par with them.  I'm like the fat kid in gym class that's forced to climb the rope...class is over but the teacher won't let anyone leave until we all get up the rope and my fat ass simply cannot do it in a timely fashion.  I feel as if someone has thrown me into the deep end before teaching me how to tread water first...not that I haven't been taught the basics.  I have learned a lot from Mouth but there are a lot of things that will only come with time and practice.

I know that the only way to learn is by doing and I am trying my best.  But, damn...these girls skate fast and hard and I am floundering along behind them like a gangly puppy trailing behind it's mother.  It's very humbling.

I know I am faster than I was but I still have a long way to go...and when I get tired I get ugly sloppy.  I can only imagine what the others must think of my skating then because I know I look like a total retard.  I think I need even grippier wheels than what Mouth lent me...I still feel like my wheels are sliding out from beneath me when I push for speed.  I know that a grippier wheel will slow me down even more but I think I need more control now so I can get better form and just have to work a little harder for the speed.

Did I mention that I am getting new gear for my birthday next month?  CANNOT WAIT!

Anywho, we did some drilling to try and push an opponent out of bounds on the curve first.  I sucked at that.  I am still so afraid of totally wiping out that I am not allowing myself to skate close enough to the opposing player to take them out effectively.  I have to get my head into the game of rough and tumble and find some killer instincts.  We also did some blocking wall drills and I think I did okay on those.  I did some blocking and hitting and I think I somewhat held my own.  But when I got knocked down I had a hard time catching back up to the pack to get back into position.  I also have to fix my form and keep better control of my arms...were it a bout I would have been in the penalty box A LOT for forearms and back blocking.  Whoops.

We did some pace lines and line passing drills too.  I sucked even harder on those.  Wanna know what embarrassing is?  It's being so damn slow and clunky that two of the best players on the team are pushing and pulling you along in order to keep you with them.  While I appreciated that kindness I felt like a complete schmuck for needing it.  Ahhh...to have an 'instant ability' button to push...

So, we did a drill where all the girls line up two by two and a bit staggered to form an aisle for a jammer to skate through.  We all took turns jamming through the aisle while the girls on either side hip bumped us.  Surprisingly enough I made it through the aisle unscathed and managed not to fall.  It was when the drill was nearly over and one of the last girls was coming through that I got jacked up.  Rather than me bumping her in passing she kinda came at me straight on and just knocked me flat on my ass.  Hard.  Welcome to derby, biotch.

My ass, by the way, still hurts like a champ.  But since I can still walk and sit I am not too concerned about a tailbone injury.  It hurt but I got back up and shrugged it off and went back to the business of practice.  By the time we ended the practice with a modified version of the game Red Rover I had pretty much forgotten about my fall.  But when we reconvened at the center of the track for our end of practice ab routine it was brought to my attention that I had also hurt my wrist when I fell after I took my wrist guards off.  My left wrist definitely took a nice knock, guard or not, when I fell. 

By the time I got home it was really tender to the touch, but I still had full mobility so I figured I would sleep on it and see how it felt in the morning.  And by this morning it still hurt like a mother so off to the doctor I went.

It's tender on one side and mildly inflamed so we did x-rays.  The doctor suspects that I probably have a very small hairline fracture but I'll have to wait on x-ray results...if it needs treatment he'll call me tomorrow, otherwise I am to rest it and stay off skates until the next practice on Tuesday.  Unless it's a very visible fracture he's not going to wrap it or cast it since I can grasp and move it yet (although squeezing with that hand hurts like mad).  I kind of figured the doctor would tell me derby was too rough and that I should find a new hobby but he actually thought it was really cool and told me to have fun and be more careful. 

So I guess this long weekend I will lay low and work on plyometrics to strengthen my skate muscles and some core routines.