New year, new season, new you!

Okay, okay, cliché title, I know. Seriously, though. It is the start of a new year and derby season is starting back up, so now is the perfect time to get a fresh start, make new goals, and get ready to play some derby again. Some great things you can do to prepare yourself for the new season include:

• Rereading the rules and taking note of all the rule changes that have occurred throughout 2013. Derby is constantly changing, and it can be hard to keep track of all the new stuff sometimes. The 2013 WFTDA rule changes summary can be accessed here, and I highly encourage going over it. However, this is just a summary of the major rule changes, so if you aren't familiar with the rest of the rules, I would recommend going over those, as well.

• WASHING YOUR GEAR. This should be done frequently anyways, but I know that it may be easy for some to forget about washing their gear once the season is over. The longer you wait, the worse the derby stank gets, and do you know what causes that
  derby stank? Bacteria. Yup. Totally gross, right? Think about the

  

  (Gotta love That's So Raven!)

  last time you washed your gear. Now think about how often you use your gear. Now think about how much time that gives all that nasty bacteria to spread and worsen. Now go wash your gear! Or as Raven would say... Go wash your gear, ya nasty!

• Checking your gear for major scratches, dents, rips, anything that might render it useless. I would say one of the most important ones to check would be your helmet. One or two big falls where you hit your head can be all it takes to ruin your helmet, though you may not even realize it. Just check that all your gear is working, fitting properly, and is clean! Don't forget to check your toe stops, too!

• Cleaning your bearings. I guess I wouldn't say this is absolutely mandatory, but I like getting a fresh start at the beginning of a season, which means clean pads, clean wheels, and clean bearings. I know I did a lot of outdoor and trail skating during this off season, and my outdoor bearings are definitely in need of a little cleaning... For those who use the same set of bearings for both indoor and outdoor skating, I would definitely recommend a good cleaning!

Believe it or not, those bearings are supposed to have red shields...

• Making some new goals for the new season. Maybe last season you told yourself that you would finally start cross training on your own, or you have a ton of workout updates from Roller Derby Athletics sitting in your email inbox that you've "accidentally" overlooked for the past month...or two...or ten... or you wanted to improve on your backwards skating, but you just never got around to doing any of those for one reason or another. Well, what better time to start new things than the beginning of the new year? No more excuses. Make a list of whatever goals you have for yourself this season and stick to them! Nothing feels better than looking at a list of all the wonderful things you accomplished throughout the year when the season is over, but if you want to be able to do that you'll have to start now. They can be goals like, "I am going to jam at least once in every single game," or "I'm going to have better attendance this year," or "I'm going to learn to tomahawk and T-stop in my weaker direction just as well as I can in my strong direction." They can be anything, no matter how big or how small. 

My personal goals this year include: jamming at least once every game (and maybe even getting lead every time?..), learning to jump the apex, learning to skate sideways, becoming a stronger hitter, learning to do a jumping 360, doing more off-skates training at home, and working on my endurance. What are some of your goals? I'd love to hear them!

How to clean your bearings

Green= wheel, black= hub, silver and red circle= bearing, silver hexagon= lock nut  Image

Before I begin the "how to" part of cleaning your bearings, you might want to first understand the structure of a bearing. What is a bearing? To put it simply, it's the little round thing in the middle of your wheel that makes your wheel spin. In this image the bearing is that little red circle underneath the lock nut. My apologies if it is unclear as to which part is the bearing; I will have my own images and a video uploaded by the end of the week (I hope...I can't make any promises but I will try!) to make this post easier to follow. I would have it up now, but I'm having some technical troubles... In the meantime, please bear with me (ha get it? Bear? Like bearing?).
Anyways, now what are the parts of the bearing? This picture may help answer that question:

Image

Some bearings do not have the rubber shield. The shield in the picture to the left is black, and the shield in the picture above is red.
Now that you know what a bearing is, I will show you how to clean it. Materials you will need include: 

• Pure acetone or another solvent or citrus cleaner (if you're using a harsh solvent like acetone, make sure to read the label and dispose of it properly!)
• thumb tack
• lubricant (I use Bones^® Speed Cream^®)
•  container or jar that won't be destroyed by your solvent (I use and highly recommend the Bones^® Bearing Cleaning Unit)
• towels
• compressed air (optional)
• gloves (optional)

Okay, so you have all your materials and you are ready to go. First, you'll want to set up towels on a table to lay and dry your bearings. Here we go:

1. Remove the rubber shield from your bearing using a thumb tack. Lightly slide the end of the tack under the shield on the inner part of the bearing (where the shield touches the inner race) and carefully pry it upwards. The shield should pop right out. You do not want to poke the tack into the shield. You are sliding it between the inner race and the shield. Once the shield has popped out, lift it out with your fingers, being careful not to bend or damage it. Some bearings have a shield on both the front and the back of the bearing. If this is the case for you, make sure to remove both of them, or they will likely get damaged by the solvent. Do this for all 16 of your bearings. You can clean this with soap and water, but make sure they are completely dry before you put them back on your bearings at the very end.
2. Place one bearing on the axle of your Bones^® Bearing Cleaning Unit (I will post additional instructions if you do not have the cleaning unit). Place one of the spacers that comes with the unit on the axle, then continue alternating your bearings and spacers until there is no room on the axle. It should fit eight bearings and there should be a spacer between each bearing. Screw on the little end piece to keep all the bearings and spacers in place.
3. Pour a little bit more than an inch of your solvent into the container.
4. Screw on the lid that contains your bearings and spacers.
5. Shake the container to agitate the solution for about a minute.
6. Unscrew the lid and spin your bearings on the axle. If they aren't spinning correctly or you do not feel they are clean yet, repeat step five as many times as you see fit.
7. Remove your bearings and let them dry. This is where you can use compressed air, but this can get messy. Make sure you are wearing glasses or goggles, and you may want to do this outside so your solvent isn't being sprayed all over your table. I just use a lint free towel to dry mine.
8. Once you have cleaned and completely dried all 16 bearings, add your lubricant. Never skip this step!! It can cause your bearings to freeze up and that is no fun. If you are using the Bones Speed Cream, put one drop of lubricant on one side of your bearing and another drop on the other side (not one drop on the front side and one on the back side, I mean one on the left side and one on the right side)
9. Place your shields back on the bearings by lightly applying pressure to the insides and outsides of them and they should pop right back in. If they are bubbly looking, take them out and try again until they are smoothly back in your bearing.

There you go! You just cleaned your bearings! I will be posting an instructional video and additional pictures by the end of the week I hope. I know it's super lame that I'm posting this now and then I have to edit it later, but this is a blog for school and this post was due by midnight on November 22nd, so I had to at least get something posted, and I am having some technical difficulties at the moment. Thank you! I hope this at least helped a little. Feel free to ask any questions.

Whip It: Is it a good portrayal of roller derby?

"do you think whip it portrays roller derby well? do you think it's a good or bad thing"

A couple of weeks ago I received this question on another blog of mine, and I thought it would be a fantastic discussion topic for this blog. I feel like Whip It did a pretty stellar job of portraying the life of a girl falling in love with roller derby. I don't know if I can speak for everyone here, but my own experience was almost exactly like Bliss’s. I even found out about derby almost the same way Bliss did, but that is beside the point. The whole “putting on skates every moment you can, sneaking around skating when you’re not supposed to, blowing all your money on gear, practicing nonstop until you can get things right, trying to look tough in the mirror and practicing your derby pose, making sacrifices to play derby” stuff that Bliss did in the movie perfectly describes my best friend, who joined derby with me, and me.  

Maggie encouraging Bliss to join the team. Image here

     Whip It is probably one of the best representations of roller derby that the tv/movie industry has come up with so far (in my opinion at least…which may be a little biased because I am absolutely in love with every single thing about this movie, and I actually like it waaay better than the book by far). I have seen derby in a few shows, all of which, of course, portray it very poorly and they only used the typical derby stereotypes. Which is fine I guess, because hey, it sells, but it is in no way representative of the sport. Whip It shows the reality of derby. It consumes your life, it is addicting, and it is something that most people fall in love with instantly, like Bliss did. It also really captures the essence of the derby community and family, which is a MAJOR part of derby to me. This is especially shown in Bliss and Maggie’s relationship, and when Bliss tells the team that she is underage. Maggie completely takes Bliss under her wing when she is a newbie, and is immediately there for her when things are rough for her at home. When Bliss tells the team she is underage, they aren't angry. They are concerned and right away they start figuring out how to get Bliss to be able to play. Roller derby is not just a sport, it’s a lifestyle. Whip It definitely captured this idea well.
     One of the only things the film didn’t exactly represent accurately is the rules. They show lots of

You might want to check that rule about elbows, ladies... Image here

punching, tripping, fighting, elbowing, and overall some pretty bad sportsmanship, which is definitely not how derby is played anymore. Now that I think about it, I do wish there was a bit more gameplay in the movie, but I understand why there isn’t. A derby game is fast-paced and hard to follow for people who don’t understand the rules, and this movie was not necessarily directed toward derby players and people who know the game, so it makes sense that they didn’t show a ton of pack action.
     Anyways, to put it plainly, yes, I do believe Whip It portrayed derby very well, and I would love to hear the opinions and views of other skaters on this topic, as well!

First day of freshmeat bootcamp

"The first day of fresh meat boot camp is tomorrow. Do you have any advice for me?"

This post is in response to an anonymous "ask" I received on another blog of mine (shown on the right).
Well I am glad you asked! First of all, congratulations!! You are going to have an absolute blast.

• Make sure you’re really paying attention to what the coaches are teaching you, and make sure you’re trying your best to do it. Practice is the time to really push yourself and make lots of mistakes, because it’s how you learn. When you’re learning something new, I know it can be easy to get embarrassed or discouraged, but there’s no need for that! You will be with a group of skaters struggling with the same thing as you, and you will be with coaches who remember exactly what it was like to be in your shoes.



Whoo look at me falling! Photo by the wonderful russellrenophotography

• If you’re falling a lot… GOOD! That’s what it’s all about- falling down and getting right back up. It’s awesome when you fall, because that means that you’re trying your hardest, and that is what derby is all about. 

• Stay low! Keep your knees bent as much as you can, and keep your back straight- don’t bend forward at your waist, because that doesn’t help you much at all. This is called derby stance, and you want to keep it pretty much the entire time you’re skating. It helps to get used to this early on, because when you start scrimmaging you’ll be able to take and give hits better, and it also helps to stabilize you. Also, if you fall, you’ll be closer to the ground so it’ll hurt less. It will burn the hell out of your thighs at first, but it will gradually get easier and easier. After a while it may also start hurting your back, but try to stick with it and push through it, as that will go away too… I’m not sure if that’s good advice medically speaking, but that is what my coaches have told us, and no one has injured their back yet, so there’s that…
• Usually, your coaches will explain and demonstrate something to the group (at least in my

  

  Bliss from Whip It knows what I'm talkin' about. Ask questions!

  league), and then they let everyone go onto the track to try it out. If you are totally lost when they’re explaining what you’re doing, ask questions. They’re there to help you, so don’t feel nervous approaching them or asking in front of the group, because I bet there is at least one other skater in the group with the same question that’s just too nervous to speak up. Also, when you try out what they’re teaching you, you can always call a coach over to watch you do it and see if you’re doing it right (I still do this), and they’ll be able to troubleshoot with you and let you know what you need to fix (or they’ll tell you that you’re doing it perfectly, which is always awesome).
• Look ahead of you at where you are trying to go, not at your feet. My coach told me this on my first practice and it helped soooo muuuuuch.
• When you fall, pick a cheek. Butt cheek that is. Yeah it sounds funny, but it’s what you have to do. You never want to fall right in the middle on your tailbone, because that hurts. A lot. So pick a side (left or right) to land on when you’re falling, rather than falling on your tailbone.
• This isn’t so much for your first day of camp, but in general you should try to get in some extra rink time if possible. If your rink has public sessions, go to them! The more time you spend on your skates, the better. You’ll be more familiar with how everything works, and when you’re at practice you’ll be able to spend less time on keeping your balance and more time on learning how to stop, do crossovers, etc. It’s also a great time to get extra practice trying to do the things you learned at training. It is really hard to improve if you don’t put in extra time on your own. Also, watch some derby! Go on youtube or derbynewsnetwork, watch some gameplay, and learn the rules.
• I had something else to say but I can’t remember so it probably wasn’t that important
• Finally, just don’t compare yourself to others. Everyone learns at their own pace, and I promise there is always that one newbie that makes you wonder if this really was their first practice because they just learn everything so quickly (and that might even be you!). 

Basically, just don’t get discouraged, get back up when you fall, don’t quit, talk to the other skaters (newbies and veterans), and have a blast! This may feel like too much to process, but the most important thing you can do is remember that you are there to learn and improve and have fun while doing it. Any other skaters have some advice?

How to give constructive criticism

Constructive criticism? What does that even mean?

(Give helpful feedback! Image found here. Original video.)

"[Constructive criticism is] critique or advice that is useful and intended to help or improve something, often with an offer of possible solutions" (Dictionary.com). That basically means that you aim to help someone with something they are having trouble with and explain how they can improve, rather than just pointing out what they are doing wrong. It is best to let them know both what they are doing well, and what needs some work. For example, if you are having a particularly hard time with your T-stops, would it be helpful if someone skated up to you and said "Wow, you really suck at T-stops" or "You do know that you're not doing that right, right?" The answer is no. You may think that that is a silly example and that no one in the derby community would say something like that, but you would be surprised at how many times I have heard those comments on the track. It is horrible, it destroys self-confidence, and it honestly isn't helping anybody.  So, what can you do to help?

1.) For starters, make sure your tone isn't super patronizing or condescending, as that will likely only make the skater that you are helping feel worse about themselves. You are their teammate, their equal, not their superior. You are not trying to prove that you are better than them, you are trying to help them.
2.) Do not get frustrated if they are not understanding what you are explaining. Getting frustrated with someone who is having trouble with something will make them want to stop trying all together and give up. The same goes for making fun of them for not understanding. Remember that people often get embarrassed when they can't do something and have to get help. Encourage them to speak up if they aren't understanding what you are explaining. When it is time for them to try it out for themselves, ask them if they would rather you stay with them to continue coaching them through it and troubleshooting as they go, or if they would prefer to be on their own for a little while and try to work it out for themselves.
3.) Explain the problem. Show the skater what they should be doing, compare it to what they are doing, and ask them if they can see the difference. Make sure that after you do this you also explain the difference, otherwise this can be seen as merely pointing out their flaw, and you are no longer being helpful with your criticism. It is also important to explain how it should feel if they are doing it right and if they are doing it wrong. Should they be skating on their inside edges or outside edges? Should their feet be pointing inwards, outwards, or forwards? Should their balance be focused on one foot or both? Talk to them and have them explain what exactly they are having trouble with.
 
4.) Be empathetic. This really is key, because it can help you, as the criticizer, to actually give helpful feedback. Remember what it was like when you were standing in their skates. Remember what helped you to finally understand how to fix what you were doing wrong, and try teaching it to them.
5.) Finally, give them time. They most likely will not get it right away. They need time to experiment, and figure out                (Finn from Adventure Time teaches empathy)
 what works for them. Make sure you let them know that if they ever need help or have questions about what you have just taught them, that they are more than welcome to approach you, or introduce them to someone else who is able to help them.

Constructive criticism is a topic that I will most likely be touching back on, as I find it crucial to derby and everyday life. Too often I'll hear people giving negative feedback to others, and not trying to help them. Another thing to note is that if someone is trying to give you some feedback, do not reject them! Don't just dismiss their advice and try to really listen to what they are telling you. There is always room for improvement. Also, if someone is just giving you negative feedback, try not to take it the wrong way. Ask them to show you what you can do better. This will allow them to help you out, and in turn you'll have taught them a bit about giving constructive feedback! 

Who am I and why am I writing this?

Hello all! My name is Lucy and I have been playing junior roller derby for two years. My English teacher assigned us a yearlong project (though I will definitely continue to update this blog even after the school year is over) to write a blog about something we are passionate about, so what did I choose? Well, roller derby of course!  I have created this blog to discuss all things derby. Before I get started, I feel that it is important for you all to get to know me and where I am coming from when I blog. Below is a list of random things about me that may or may not relate to derby:

• I am 15 years old
• I have fractured my arm and broken my leg and my ankle (at the same time) playing derby
• I enjoy watching Supernatural, Doctor Who, American Horror Story, Hannibal, and The Walking Dead
• I love anything Batman related
• I am typically very optimistic but also very realistic
• I tend to not sugar coat things (I am a little too honest sometimes)
• I am non-judgmental and very open-minded
• I have played the violin for four years
• Halloween is my favorite holiday
• I love puns and bad jokes
• I played four years of softball
• I am loud and obnoxious
• I have never skated on a banked track
• I love horror movies
• I lived in Reno, Nevada until I was five
• I now live in a pretty small town in Northern California
• When I visit family in SoCal I absolutely LOVE skating at the Holiday Skate Center. The atmosphere is great, and I even met some of the Renegade Rollergirls, who are fearless and awesome. I wish I could be there more often.
• Most of my free time is either spent roller skating or blogging on tumblr

Now that you know a little bit about me, how about you all tell me a bit about yourselves? How did you find derby? How long have you been playing? Maybe we have some common interests that aren't derby-related, or maybe we are complete opposites. I want to know! I  love when my readers interact and discuss things with me, so please feel free to contact me through my email or leave a comment on my post. Later, skaters!