I’ve never happily worked so hard for something I loved so much.

On Wednesday I finally did my 25 laps in 4 minutes and 59 seconds!

I honestly could not have done it without all the support and derby love from the skaters. Since my last skills test there was a month gap before the next freshie boot camp started and I figured if I could trim off about 3 minutes off my time in 3 months then 40 seconds in one month should not be a problem.

Stella Blue and I would meet up for one on one practices at 2 or sometimes 3 times a week, she told me to jog everyday for to build up my endurance, I was wearing my skates at home and working on my crossovers, and going to the local skate park every chance I could. As my second skills test came around the corner Stella let everyone know that I needed some help with contact drills since I was used to practices with just one or sometimes 2 other skaters. And to my surprise 13 girls came out to help me! Some were Vets and some were FAST girls. These girls are at the practice space 3 or 4 times a week and they came out yet another day to help me out. When they could be doing a ton of other things and they took time out of their day to help me out. That actually felt really awesome.

My second skills test I passed everything except the 25 laps in 5 minutes! We even did it again but I had the entire travel team skating behind me encouraging me, pushing me, and telling me when to crossover and it was intense! Still didn’t quite make it though. Almost! I thought I would be bummed after busting my behind to pass and still not making it. But I got a lot of words of encouragement from the travel team and who is better to give advice? Plus since many of them were so excited I had come so far it was hard to leave sad. I was actually pretty pumped to keep working at it!

I worked on my 25 in 5 some more and at one practice I had Anya Marx leading and Susan B. Bruisin behind me pushing me and yelling “How hard have you been working on this?! This is nothing, Claudia! How bad to you want this?!” But then I hit 5 minutes and 12 seconds and that was my best time!

Earlier this week Stella told me to try “speed skating” instead of derby stance a little and I don’t know if that was just it or something more but it shaved off those 12 seconds I had been lacking and I made it! I even texted my big DVS Dicer before I called my mom. Blasted it on facebook and got so many girls responding to how excited they were. Oh man. It feels great. GREAT!

I even had my first FAST girl practice last night and I know that most girls are nervous and I had been told that some girls went home feeling like they weren’t prepared for that and are pretty down about it. But I had worked WAY to hard to feel that I didn’t deserve to be there and even though I have a lot of learning to do nothing is going to get me down.

I’m finally a fast girl. I am finally Party Poison!

It can be intimidating. The last ‘all girls’ sport I had played was 10 years ago with a typical small town soccer team.  Once you get past everyone getting on the same cycle and cat fights have been let loose, you find yourself bonded, secured, and teammates. Derby takes all of that to a whole new level and for the first time ever, the learning doesn’t stop there.  For a lot of the girls, this is their first time on quads.  This was definitely my first time on quads, let alone any sport with wheels. The most interesting part of transitioning from a human who just uses her legs to walk on land to a human who becomes a derby skater is the transition of trust in yourself.

You have to trust the skate’s gear, that it won’t break beneath you, that you picked the right equipment and you’ve taken care of the things that take care of you on the track.  You have to trust your instincts.  This one is tricky, since you’re learning new instincts every day at every practice.  You have to really trust that you CAN do this. It may take weeks, months, or even years.  I’m known to the league now as saying ‘fourth’s times a charm’ and this season, season seven, it will be my ‘fifth’s times a charm’ for trying out and sticking to the program. I’m openly admitting that I have failed the simplest of tests when it comes to derby – I had to figure out how to trust myself enough to get the courage to keep coming back for more until I get it.  I also had to learn to trust that becoming an athlete in a new sport takes but one thing: TIME. (you can add determination, dedication, all that jazz in there too, but to think that I had to be perfect at this FIRST before showing up to practice was just silly..)

Out of everything that I learned about Derby, the coaches, the skaters, the staff- I’ve learned that trusting in yourself will make you train harder, faster, and get that derby fever in a way that feels different from just signing up for a fresh meat camp.  It’s a mental challenge that takes a lot of time and patience and it may be something more than what you’ve signed up for. It’s a challenge that’s taken me a year to understand, but nonetheless, Derby will teach you these things, open new doors for you, and give you a shit load of awesome new friends who give you pointers on learning trust at every crossover and plow stop.

So here’s to the next session of FRESH MEAT training, the new year, the new group of girls to train with! Trust in yourself and kick ass! Oh, and PEE ESS: Learned how to T-stop with non-dominant leg in one skate date Saturday! WOOOOOOT! Trust in baby steps yo!

-NiKKi:D-

I’ve been a “freshie” in SCRG for about 2 and a half months now and even I feel like I have come such a long way.
In the beginning I felt a pretty behind because I basically bought my skates and went to tryouts. I didn’t make it the first round (and had no right to, I knew that) and came back after taking a few beginner classes at Crystal Palace with Warren Peace and was invited back to Freshie practice.
Right away I noticed that everyone else generally knew how to skate and I was still extremely goofy footed. But even after just 2 hours of practice I could always feel how much better I had gotten. I refused to let the fact that I had the least experience get to me. It wasn’t a bad thing it was just a thing, a fact.  And soon I could hold my own with the other girls. The only things I really struggled with were crossovers, 25 in 5, and stopping (t stops and plow stops right now).
The first time I did the 25 in 5 it was more like 25 in almost 9 minutes and it was so embarrassing to finish so far behind everyone else but the the harder I worked the faster I got and I would just shave 1 whole minute off the time and then now I am down to 5 minutes and 40 seconds. That seems to be where I am stuck but I know once I nail that crossover it won’t be any trouble at all.
I finally started breaking through when Bone Eata told me to do crossovers in my shoes when I am walking. Instead of  turning a corner normally, do a crossover. So I started doing that and the next practice I finally could lift my skate and place it in front of the other. Unfortunately, this was a week before skills and I hadn’t improved my time yet so I knew that I most likely would not be passing. But I also didn’t expect to be the only one not passing. I mean there is no way that I wanted anyone else to “not pass” with me and I was so excited for everyone but I was surprisingly upset when I got in my car.
But anyway, Stella Blue (our Freshie coach) has been still having practices for me and inviting FAST girls and anyone who wants to get a good endurance practice in so I’ve been skating with different girls. DVS Dicer (who happens to be my big and also happens to be super rad) has also lead a practice or two since skills.

But today was super awesome because it was just Stella and I having a one on one practice at the Fab Lab. A few other girls were supposed to come out but ended up not making it. So I did some laps and warm ups ad Stella showed me a video tutorial and demonstrated what it went over. So I went for it and actually did and and STELLA STARTED CRYING! I didn’t believe it at first but I skated over to her and tears were literally coming down from her eyes. I was/am so so so so touched! She even posted this on facebook “Shared a GREAT one on one practice session with Claudia PartyPoison Ramirez. I’m SO PROUD of those crossovers Girl!”
Ahhhh! It makes me so happy!

Skills test, here I come!