Feelings of Mediocrity

Is it possible to have an overwhelming sense of mediocrity while your team succeeds in winning a tough game, moving on to the championship game? Absolutely! This bout this past Saturday was a fight to stay ahead of the other team. By no means was it my worst game, but in each of the previous games I've felt as though I made progress.Whether it was just the other team's dedication to making us work harder or my own lack of skills that night, I certainly could have done better.

On an extremely positive note, towards the end of the game I was put in a power pack (a pack that is stacked with your best blockers and jammers to help keep the bout from sliding out of control) a couple of times. As a rookie, I realize this is probably one of the most amazing things that can happen to me this year and I'm thrilled my captains had enough faith in me to put me in at that time. This season, we've been lucky to not have to rely on power packs much. We typically start each half with a power pack and then rotate through the rest of the team for the remaining half. Our team has been so strong this year.

I'm going to really focus on my pack work and hitting the next 2.5 weeks so I can really lay out some of those pesky girls in pink!

Semi-Finals

Tonight is the home season semi-finals for my rookie year. I can't believe this year has flown by so fast. It's 8:16 am and I've been up for almost 3 hours. I made the mistake of staying up too late last night because I thought, "It's no big deal. I don't have to get up or even set an alarm". I've learned my lesson. Whether its the nerves or just age creeping up on me, I couldn't sleep in, despite not even getting 6 hours of sleep. What to do for the next 12 hours before I need to be at the venue?

Well, I've played some facebook games, I'm currently writing a blog post (guess there is some benefit to not sleeping in; you'll have to forgive if my steam of consciousness jumps around a bit, but I blame lack of sleep.) and I'm also waiting for my nails to dry. I don't paint my nails on a regular basis because the polish never stays on for more than a day, no matter what I do. But it is one of my rituals, I suppose you could say, for bout preparation. I always try to use team colors and change up the design as much as possible. Today's polish design is a colorful french manicure. If only I had steadier hands. 

Tuesday is my birthday (yeah, me!) and I'm going to celebrate tonight at the after party. I am a true believer that whatever your age, you should definitely take the time to celebrate yourself, and what better day to do that than your birthday. I actually celebrate for at least a week, so starting today makes sense. Also, what better place and time to do it than at a party where many of my friends will be having a great time already? Who says getting older sucks? I'm smarter, happier and more confident than I was in my 20's, so bring it on!

I think it's time to do some skate maintenance for tonight's bout. I'm going to risk messing up my nails in order to have freshly cleaned and lubed bearings. Come back for a recap of the bout and see if we've managed to retain our undefeated status and go into the championships for 1st!

Time to be a Teatotaler

Today starts my week of complete abstinence from alcohol. For those of you who know me, this is tough, but worth it. I am not a superstitious derby girl, but I have become dedicated to being an athlete. I'm sure many in my life would have a hard time reconciling this to who I've been for the last 10 years, but it's been a great change for me. A week may not be enough, but I think it's worth it.

So, next Saturday is the semi-finals for our home season. There is so much riding on this single elimination bout (yep, you read that right, single elimination). As my team is currently undefeated, a loss for this game would mean playing in the grudge match for finals and a disappointing break for our great run so far this year.

There are a lot of people looking forward to seeing my team lose. And while the team we are playing is currently seeded last in the league, they should NOT be underestimated. They are definitely out to prove themselves, and they have the talent to do it.

So I'll spend the next week eating right, practicing, not drinking and preparing myself for the tough fight we have ahead of us next Saturday. I can't wait to get on the track and knock some girls down!

Update on my stats for the last bout: 3 Jammer Take Downs (JTD)! Woot! My goal for the last bout was to have 2 JTD's. I couldn't be more excited about these. I feel like I'm moving onward and upward in my overall goal to be a blocker to be wary of on the track. Not to mention, 2 of them were "sherrifs" (a hit that can often lead to a direction of game play penalty if not executed correctly).

Also, today's practice scrimmage was awesome! Both my team and the opposing team were short on numbers because many of our teammates are currently competing for WFTDA rankings (go Gold!). It was a great scrimmage and also so much fun! This league makes me smile. And I jammed twice. Thanks to my pack for being so awesome and keeping the other jammer stuck while I plodded my way around the track.