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MINI-SOTA POP
The blue helmet. Oh pretty blue helmet, I will wear you again once I pass the WFDTA test…I bought the blue helmet when I first started derby. After my injury I believed I needed to work harder to deserve it. You think the test is like any other test you will take in your lifetime but its not.
This is my journey through roller derby up until now…I, like everybody, had the infatuation with roller derby after seeing a couple of L.A. Derby Doll matches. Saying to my self, “can I do this?” or “would I be able to do this? These were just a few of the things that went through my mind…after much encouragement and mutual commitment, Fishblocker and I started attending practices.
The phases I have experienced this first year of my training:
- Infatuation
- New discoveries
- Scared SHITLESS
- Unsure
- Committed
- Minor injury – kept me off skates for 2 months
- Unsure again
- Still scared but not shitless
- Recommitted
- Stronger and Focused
- Continued confidence building to be a part of the team
I have come to the conclusion that passing the WFTDA skills test is a commitment you make to yourself and your team. You are committing to be the best and safest you can be. Always giving 150% even if you feel you can’t. I took the test on June 24th, 2012 and knew I wasn’t ready but I took it anyway to see how far I had come after these few months, not to mention coming back from my ankle injury from April.
Result:
- I failed the 25 in 5 by 4 laps (21) and my 5 in 1 was 4.75
- My skating stance was wrong
- My balance was very unstable
- My confidence was nowhere to be found
- I was essentially a stick figure on roller skates (Killo kept telling me to relax and to keep moving my feet!)
After the test I felt like a big fat failure and went through every emotion possible. After coming to the realization of what the test actually is it made me rethink things. You get the same jitters and anxieties about it like any other test you take. But don’t let these feelings overtake you. Once the confidence is there, the speed, balance, stability and most of all being safe, things start to click. But this will only happen just as Coach Dad and Killo preach to my teammates, “You have to WANT it”, “You have to work HARD to get it” and “KEEP MOVING YOUR FEET!”
I came to the conclusion that I DO want this!
Not to mention I got the tattoo to prove it!
So when it was announced that we were going to have the next WFTDA test at the end of September, I made a commitment to myself and my team. I dubbed September as “Skate On September” (well after Labor Day of course). This meant I put my skates on EVERYDAY in September no matter what (not including practices)! I created a calendar for every day of the week of the WFTDA skills I was going to work on. I committed to hitting that 5 mile mark in 30 minutes. I committed to extra skating activities outside of our normal practice schedule in the evenings and on weekends. But most of all I committed to skating every day during my lunch hour at work. I have been blessed with a job that has a building with an underground parking garage that is as smooth as a baby’s bottom. At first I was unsure of skating down there but once I kept it going it became a great habit. I’m thinking I would miss skating everyday at lunch after my challenge has ended (maybe I won’t stop). I also have to make mention that I had so many people (even people I don’t work with) come up to me and ask me about roller derby since they see me skate every day (well except the two people that almost hit me with their cars, thank God for juking!).
I feel that I want to pass the test this time around and finally earn a place on our team because I feel I am ready.
So did I pass??? Do I get to wear the blue helmet again??
To quote Coach Dad that night, “You earned it”.