Today our travel teams had a makeup practice for all the crazy cold weather we've been having. As a rookie (in general and) lucky enough to have made the roster for the B team's upcoming game, I'll take any possible practice I can get to and try to make the most of it. We typically practice for 2 hours with a 1 hour overlap where the A team skates with us. At the end of our two hours, the coach for the A team invited any of the B team players to stay and skate if they wanted. And so I did. And here is what I've learned.
It can be a soul crushing experience as a new player to be skating against the best skaters in the league. If you let it. I read an article by another derby girl that nicely explained the pros and cons of a mixed practice, especially from the point of view of the less experienced and skilled player. So, while I was definitely a fish out of water, I took every opportunity to learn from the better skaters and pushed myself even harder. Many times during the drills I felt as if I was falling short and was disappointed in myself. But then I realized, each time I focused on something I that wasn't doing well, I got a little better. I'm still way out of my league, but I'm going to focus on the fact that these awesome skaters let me join them and even took the time to teach me to be a better skater. Derby love!
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