Skill update: Week 10

I think it's week 10.  I really have no idea any more, but I'm going to say it's week 10.  SO...

This week's training was directed by us newbies!  We picked what skills we most wanted to work on, and our two senior Dollies would drill us through it.  It was a really good way to break up the flow of learning something new every week, and everyone was able to tackle their problem areas with one-on-one advice from the Dollies so we all made great strides in some of our most challenging new skills.

My feelings about what I achieved today are kind of akin to playing a video game:

Crossovers: unlocked!

I have some mental blockage on crossovers.  It takes me a while to remember that I know how to do them, and then to make myself do them at speed.  By the end of the session I was able to do them at a steady pace under my own direction, rather than on command.

Things to remember:

• Don't think of the track as straights and corners.  By skating the diamond formation you are always turning left, and therefore can always pull off a left-ways crossover as long as your balance is correct.
• Get low.  You're never as low as you think you are, and a crossover is impossible without a nice low derby stance.
• Lean!  When I didn't feel able to pull off a crossover, it was often because I wasn't leaning hard enough.  As soon as I started hurling my body recklessly to the left was I able to make the big step of one skate over another.  (It felt like hurling recklessly, but in reality it probably worked out as leaning slightly!)  I knew I made that 'Jason Says' poster for a reason!

Laterals: unlocked!

Turning left is my happy direction, and turning right is my sad direction... Sad, but not impossible!  I'd forgotten how to do the leg position, with one leg staggered forward and one dropped back, almost in a straight line, and with my weight centred.  I had a tendency to favour leaning on one leg too much, which made turning difficult and it took a while to figure out how to do it again.  By the end of the session I'd done some pretty good laterals, and my future challenge is to do them faster and tighter.

No no, that's a 4-point slide.

Things to remember:

• When practising this in the future, don't throw yourself straight into the lateral cut and hope your feet will sort themselves out.  Get your feet in position FIRST, then lean into the turn.  In time I'll be able to do this without even thinking about it, so while I am thinking about it, it's worth taking the tine getting it right.
• Laterals Catchphrase: ASSUME THE POSITION!

Transitions: unlocked!

My transitions are coming along nicely.  I've realised than when I turn clockwise I step round, but when I turn left it ends up as more of a swivel and my feet don't really leave the floor.  Honestly I have no idea how I'm doing it, but it seems to work :)  Now that I've figured this out I can work on doing them well rather than trying to do them by the prescribed method (everyone does them slightly differently, and most skaters transition differently depending on which way they're turning). 

Things to remember:

• Stand on your support foot to initiate the transition, but once your action leg has swivelled round, DON'T FORGET to put a little more weight on that second foot.  This makes it your new supporting leg so that your first foot can follow you round.
• EXPECT to keep moving backwards once you've turned.  My impulse is to turn and stop, but going into the transition with the intention of continuing into backwards skating seems to make my recovery a little more stable.
• If you're stuck, have a go at side-surfing in both directions.   Our Dollies coaches had us randomly attempt to side-surf, and I found it really helpful.  You get used to being in that weird sumo-wrestler stance for a couple of seconds, so when it happens during a transition it doesn't feel quite so alien and you don't feel the need to rush the manoeuvre.

Laps: unlocked!

19.5 laps!  I'm really pleased with this, as I've been improving my time by at least a lap every week we've attempted them.  I've already gone from 15 laps (a lap every 20 seconds) to almost 20 laps (one every 15 seconds) and I can feel why.  My derby stance was good, (my butt was down!) making me much more stable with fewer wobbles, my pushes were strong, I skated the diamond formation, and I took the corners well.  I did good!

HOWEVER, next time we do laps I'm not going to try and improve my score.  This week I was really starting to get the hang of crossovers, so I need to start using them for what they're meant for - helping me maintain speed and stability on my corners so that I can start integrating them into my laps.  I don't have the confidence to do them at speed yet.
One of the other newbies decided to use our laps time to simply skate five continuous minutes with crossovers.  It didn't matter how many she did or how fast she went, only that crossovers were achieved on both corners.  I think this is a great idea!  It'll help get crossing my feet into my muscle memory, and the five minute stretch will give me time to build up my speed gradually as I gain confidence.