Hello! I know I have continued my dismal writing trend this month but I really have had a lot going on a much of which has been derby or derby related business.
As you know the test was fast approaching and in fact occurred on Sunday. Well, it occurred for many of the Freshmeat girls, but not me. So sad! But, it is not the end of the world so I take heart. The reason this happened was that I had (when I had my car accident) missed a whole module. The rules set out at the beginning say that this makes you ineligible for the test writing.
Luckily the ladies in the Freshmeat Committee are actually going to do a boot camp for those of us who fall into this category, and then let us write the test at that time. They said that they will let us know but they are hoping for in a month or so to make that happen. So, that's that.
Because there is a whole month before my test now there are some good and bad things. It means that I can practice more jumping and hopefully become more comfortable with that. (Although I don't really know where I will practice that as I don't relish falling onto pavement from a jump.) It means, in fact, that I can become better at all of my skating skills, as long as I am vigilant about skating practice as there will be no regular training scheduled at the hangar for me.
It also means that I will be further away from the training and practice of the derby skills (hitting, blocking etc.) which require another person to practice with. I am hoping that I will not forget those skills and obviously I will try and do my best to practice the skating skills which help in those derby skills. That's a lot of skill.
I have become very comfortable with my previous issue, the one foot weaving. This is no longer an issue for me especially since finding out that we do not have to weave on each foot, we just choose our strongest. No problem.
I also found out that the test that is points based, that is, for each skill you get a mark of 0, 1 or 2. To pass the test of 79 skills (each is very specific, ie. giving an outside whip, taking an outside whip etc,) you are allowed two get eight 1s. You are not allowed to get any 0s. Also, for the endurance portion, which is 25 laps in 5 minutes there is a special marking, 0 to 3. This means that you do not have to get 25 laps in the 5 minutes to actually pass the test. You only need to get 20 laps in the least, which will give you 1 point, 23 laps gives you 2 points and 25 gives you 3 points. My current best is 23 laps.
So, before finding out that I was not able to take the test I was very excited and feeling pretty good about taking the test. I am going to do my best to take the extra time to learn the rules perfectly as I would hate for that to be the reason I fail, and continue to do my squats and keep on rollin'. If I pass the test when I take it in a month it will still be time for me to be up for the draft (though I highly doubt I will be placed on a team (which is okay as you immediately go in the farm team the Divas and can still play), there are like 30 new girls in the league and last year they drafted seven girls).
I have volunteered to work as an NSO (non skating official) for 2 Fast 2 Furious, the rookie tournament being held by GTAR Rollergirls in Toronto in July and will continue to be a part of derby in this way. I'm very used to NSOing though I think I will be doing a new position as jam timer which sounds pretty funnerific to me!
That's updates for now. I will try and write more soon!
