We are still working on skills for our test coming up in a few weeks. There are still lots of things I have to work on and I really doubt my ability to be ready to pass the test in that short amount of time.
I'm okay with that.
I've only been back to derby for 2.5 months and SO much has been added or changed on the skills test. I have to remind myself how far I have come in a short amount of time but also that I took almost two years off of skating, so it may take half that long for everything to come back at a sustainable level.
We did some group practice but the last half of practice we were allowed to work individually on whatever we felt we needed to. I spent some time on some knee slides but the repetitive knee to floor action was starting to become painful, despite the heavy pads. So I switched to transitions (how you go from skating forward to skating backward.) I am able to do this fairly well but need to work on speed. However, I am really only skilled at doing it in one direction and you have to be able to turn both ways for the skills test.
When I first started trying to turn the opposite way from what I am used to, it was a major struggle. I found myself getting really frustrated and wanting to give up on it. But I took a couple of small breaks and changed my inner monologue. Instead of telling myself that it was pointless, that I just couldn't do it, I told myself to just keep trying. And I did keep trying. While I can't really do it moving quickly, by the end of practice I was doing 360s in both directions. When I started the night I couldn't even do a 180 to the right.
I am very proud of myself. I think my experience in derby is representative of a lot of things in my life. I've often hit bumps on this little journey of mine, telling myself I could only do something one way and would never be able to do it differently.
Turns out I just needed to teach myself how to turn the other way.
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