Successful first training at the Sports HUB

Marking out the track according to the WFTDA specifications and using a rope template which I whipped up after spotting one being used by SRDL. Not sure if ours conforms to their design as it was reverse engineered from a quick glance from a distance and some careful untangling of the WFTDA track plan. Our measurements have been converted to metric, though this isn't helping with us learning what 10 feet looks/feels like. Our track came out a bit dodgy last night and I suspect we need more practice.



The new venue was amazing! Staff were very helpful and it was great not having to worry about hitting walls or door handles. The new surface did play some havoc and our trainer took care to keep reminding us about how to handle the floor and which muscles to really push with to get traction. If nothing else, skating on plastic will drive home the mechanics of skating.

WIRD's First Grading

A few weeks ago one of our training committee put together a grading package for us. Drop Bear did a whole bunch of research and put together the following system based on some conversations she had with other trainers and other gradings she had looked at. We pretty much all passed 'Red' on the day and will be testing every two months or so.

RED STAR (beginner)
Fitness: 20 push ups and 20 sit-ups
Skills:

• T-stop, plough stop, and a turn around toe stop
• Single knee fall, a double, and a 4 point fall
  
• Able to be able to recover from a fall and keep going
  
• Jump while skating, hop from one foot to another while standing still- to each side, and forwards and backwards
• 5 minutes of continuous skating in correct stance, able to smoothly do cross overs in each direction

ORANGE STAR (intermediate)
Fitness: 30 push ups (20 of these on toes if possible) 50 sit ups and a 60 second body bridge (aka: plank).
SKILLS:

• 5 minutes of sprinting aiming for 30 laps of the track
• Snake pace line drill (pace line with an arm's length between skaters where the person at the back snakes between skaters and takes the lead)
  
• Do all falls and be back up and skating again within 3 seconds
  
• Fall big (like from a big hit in a bout) and be up and skating again in 3 seconds
  
• Skate for one minute and squat when the whistle goes while maintaining motion, ten second break, and then skate in a squat for another full minute

GREEN STAR (bout ready)
Fitness: 50 push ups, 100 sit ups and a 60 second body bridge and side bridges
SKILLS:

• 5 minutes of sprinting aiming for 30 laps of the track
• Double-snake pace line drill (not sure but suspect this means two people snaking through a pace line)
  
• 30 minute endurance pace line
• Do all falls, be up and skating in good form within 2 seconds (in line with new WFTDA Minimum Specs - Aug 2009)
  
• Fall big (like from a big hit in a bout) and be up and skating again in 2 seconds

Biggest turn out yet

Last night we had 11 members on skates, on the track. Shelby Unkonshus counted back through the training book and this is the biggest turn out we've had yet. Kay Ottick was coaching and so we did a whole lot of pack work, some chunks of agility work, and there were no major injuries.

Photo shoot and whatnot on Sunday and then we're putting out the 'WIRD needs experienced skaters now' press release.

Indoor training!

WIRD has their first indoor skate at **** Community Centre. We are paying $20 per hour, have Wed night and Sunday arvo booked and can skate as late as we like (within out two hour booking) without the lights being turned off, needing to go home to pee or dying of thirst.

Our first skate is pretty crazy - but we really need the practice before we head off to the SRDL blocking clinic.

First Exec Com meeting @ Mc Donalds

WIRD AGENDA EXECUTIVE COMITEE MEETING

1.Sort out ex comittee poistions - what they all mean, who is doing what, when.

2.Formalize training arrangements - times, days, can we set up one sess per month as 'open' where newbies, family, friends can come watch? This should prob not be advertised on web (unless it's a email for an invite thing) as we don't want to end up just putting on free entertainment.
2.1 Training guidelines – what is expected from trainers, what is expected from skaters etc
2.2 Payment each training session (regardless if it costs for a venue or not)
2.3 Bank account setup and suggested automatic deductions per week
2.4 Attendance book for training, who attends, times, what training contained, how long, any incidents etc

3.Newbies (fresh meat packages)just a suggestion – bag, shirt, rules, badges, patch -say $50.00.optional.
3.1 Decide when the cut off starts for new fresh meat skaters - and how 'experienced' a skater needs to be to join.

4.All financial members to provide contact numbers and addresses and a weekly schedule of availability for the next 6 mths if possible. This is to seize opportunities to get together for meetings or training.

5.Grant application Neena was talking about – where is it at.

6.Talk about sponsorship and setting up a sting campaign.
6.1 Talk about fundraising and try to get a committee set up for this. Should we tie merchandising and fundraising together at this stage?

7.Organise our Annual General Meeting - this is part of our legal obligations and has to be before the 30th June as our financial year ends on the 31st Dec. There is an outline of this stuff in the constitution. We need to give one months notice and an agenda. Shouldn't be too hard. If we have enough people to fill the exec committee without contesting then we should be okay - if it does need to go to a vote we will need to find a 'returning officer' whose not too tied up in who gets what spot.

WIRD Helmet Panties

Spread the derby virus!

The virus is totally starting to spread and there is a huge chunk of girls who turn up to skate with us. Still feel a bit like vomitting every time I start getting ready for training. I sooo want roller derby to happen and live in fear ofsomethingtiny and insignificant screwing it all up.



We've got a handful of really good skaters showing up regularly which is exactly what we need.

Second WIRD skate

After missing WIRD's first skatey get together last Sunday (due to ridiculous work commitments) I was eager to get out there and have a go! Five of us turned up to the carpark out the back of ****. Took some sweeping and bits of it were down/up hill. Not too bad.

Apparently roller skating is not something that comes naturally, and the human body is not designed to move in these ways. I need a LOT of practice!