Scrimmage @ practice

So last night was my first night back after a week long break imposed due to family being in town. There was enough drama that I think I should've skipped and gone to practice though. LOL At any rate practice last night was fantastic!!! I'm starting to work my way into shape, although that could be accomplished faster if I had a steady work schedule that allowed me to have a set routine and my skating skills are improving. I live in WNY and having grown up in TX am very used to everything being air conditioned. I'm starting to think that Yankees don't believe in a\c!! So no a\c, three hours, and lots of skating. Even I was feeling kinda wiped by the heat after a while. But the rink owner was handing out popsicles at the end of practice cause he's a cool guy like that! I still can't go backwards worth a damn, but I have started to figure out the motion behind it and had it kind of going for about 20 feet before I lost it again. Also we played several scrimmages last night and when our coach picked teams he numbered us off 1 and 2 and from what I can tell was trying to put weaker skaters and stronger skaters equally on each team, but it was still cool when he numbered me a 1. It was like middle school only waaay more fun! I planned to only skate two or three then let one of the girls who doesn't have a helmet yet borrow mine and skate but she was like nope I'm not up for a jam yet. So I skated five jams in a row and to be very honest was about ready to puke after they were done. Granted, a month ago I couldn't have skated five jams in a row so yay me! Once I get wheels that are a bit grippy I will try jamming, but for the moment I'm having an absolute total blast being a blocker!!! It's what I'm good at and while I need to work on my speed, which I know will come when I'm not sliding across the floor on slippery wheels I scored a couple of nice hits on an opposing jammer several times. Shoulder checking people into a wall is awesome! As is whipping someone around your back when you realize that she needs to go outside, but is grabbing at your inside hand. If my arms weren't so long there's no way I could've pulled that off. We also had a hellacious spill at one point that involved someone checking my jammer and me getting caught up in the midst as I tried to avoid hitting her and taking a hard fall on my hip. I don't think its going to bruise though. What made me really laugh is that I hit the floor hard and went oh shit I think I'm done and then found myself up and skating to catch the pack. Our coach, Pistol Pete, also commented on both my blocking skills and my improvement overall as a skater so knowing that I'm getting better and that it shows made my night. I can't wait til next week and wish I had the funds to make all of our practices every month, but for the moment that's out of the question. Hopefully things will change after the first of the year though...or sooner!!!!!DL<3!

Dixie D.