Our two hours of weekly training has been extended to three. Somehow I managed not to be aware that this was going to happen, although I'm sure somebody must have mentioned it at some point. At any rate, it makes little difference to me as the fact that I go to church (fortunately in the late afternoon!) means I cannot stay for this extra hour and probably won't be able to for most of the year (the exception being summer when the church times will change to account for the lack of students).
Right now this extra hour is being used for 'Derby Brain', where we learn the rules and strategy of the game. This is kind of important stuff, and I need to learn it, so I have come up with a Cunning Plan.
On Thursdays the advanced skaters, including my housemate, have a practise in Leicester, and I've started going along as a trainee NSO (non-skating official). You'll normally see NSOs at bouts wearing pink shirts,which gives them their nickname of flamingos (see, I said it was relevant!) It's their job to do important things like keep the score, time the penalties and jams, and log the penalties of individual skaters. My plan is to learn the rules this way instead. I'm very much a visual learner anyway, so seeing the moves live should help me.
"But that's so boring because you don't get to skate!" I hear you cry. No! No, you are wrong! It's only been three weeks but simply watching the girls drill and play is pretty fascinating, and very instructive. On my first week one skater apologised because they hadn't done any scrims (practise games) so I'd had no job to do, but actually I'd been eavesdropping on their drills and had learned what constitutes a false start (any time that a jam begins with someone out of position. Pivots should be on the Pivot Line, Blockers should be clustered behind the level of the Pivots' hips, and Jammers should be behind all of them on the Jammer Line), and what you should do if a referee calls you on it (yield your position immediately, adding the classic 'I didn't do it!' hands-up to show your innocence while you correct yourself).
THESE ARE THINGS I DID NOT PREVIOUSLY KNOW, BUT CAN NOW USE!!! And this sort of vital game knowledge pops up every single week.
Why thank you, John. I thought it was a pretty good idea too :)
At first I couldn't figure out what the refs were yelling about half the time, but I'm gradually starting to recognise more whistle signals and spot some of the penalties as they happen. I'd also been standing with the girl manning the Penalty Box, helping her and watching the procedures. The following week she wasn't there, and I ended up manning the entire box by myself. I was all over it! I knew who sat where, how long they should stay in the box, how to manage the timings on a jammer swap, the proper language to tell them to sit, stand, and leave, and I even started picking up on what they'd done wrong. Each time someone came to sit in my box I asked them why, and gained a big list of things that can get you sent off, like cutting the track, failing to re-enter behind the person who knocked you off track, failing to try and reform the pack when it broke apart, and blocking people on/with the wrong parts of your body. My reign over the box wasn't perfect - there was once instance where I accidentally timed past the end of a jam because I didn't recognise the whistle signal (now I do!) and another where a skater left the box before I told her to and I didn't know how to get her back (now I do!) but otherwise it went really well.
On top of that it's interesting watching everyone's individual skating styles, both jammers and blockers. Some jammers play by darting around all over the place and trying to squeeze through gaps, while others try to barge their way through. Likewise some blockers will line up one massive hit for you, while others are more like bulldogs that get under your feet and attempt to slow you rather than knock you down. One thing I've learned is that if you see that one massive block coming your way and don't think you can dodge it, a good tactic is to meet it with an equal and opposite force of your own. For the jammers that prefer to prance and wriggle through the pack, that one big hit can be a disaster because they'll be knocked off track and come back on behind that same troublesome skater, only to have the same thing happen again and again. Hitting back means that at least you keep moving forwards, often causing a 'No Pack' situation that forces that pesky blocker to turn back, letting you get away. Sometimes their momentum will even give you a speed-boost!
KNOWLEDGE, Y'ALL!
Right now the newbies are just working on learning skating skills, but this extra know-how is all going to come in handy later one when we're ready to start playing the game. Plus I gain 'contribution' time, which gets put on record. That builds up to me being passed to NSO at actual games which, among other things, gets you a front row seat to the action!
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