4 TIPS TO GO FROM FRESHMEAT TO BOUTING SKATER

Photo Credit: Richard Tompsett

I had had a year off, one full season to get over shitty injuries, actually try at work and to spend time on getting Better Bearings up and running. So I had to start again, right back at the beginning in fresh meat.  I'm not going to lie, I was pissed about starting over again, but those were the rules at that point, so I did what I was told and attended all my sessions, passed the correct skills in each level and finally made it back onto my home team.

But this time round I had a plan, something you can only figure out from going through it the first time, That and having a Social Worker background. I had learnt Persistence and here’s some things I did to get back on the track.

Identify your wants and Desires (the what)

Before you can develop persistence and eventually achieve success, you need to first identify your wants or desires.  You can do this by simply writing down specifically all the things you want to have or accomplish.  List down all your desires and wants, no matter how impossible they are to achieve in the moment. For example one of mine was to crab skate, I just couldn’t get it in the last few months I trained, this time round though Id tagged that skill on my list.

What’s your motivation? (the why)

Motivation comes from a deep reason why we want to achieve or have something.  If you know why you’re doing what you’re doing, it gives you more energy to keep moving.

So if you want to get to bouting skater and onto a team, this takes time and patience.  If you don’t have enough motivation, a reason why you need to skate, you probably can never get there.  But if you’re motivated by a driving thought, only then will you keep pushing yourself to work on your skills, turn up to training and get that track time.

Plan it out (the How)

Identifying your wants or desires speaks of what you want to achieve.  Determining your motivation shows the reasons why you want to achieve what you want.  Outlining your plan is necessary to know how you will be able to achieve what you want.

When you know how to get what you want, it makes it easier to achieve it.  To know how, it pays to do some research and planning of what needs to be done on your part.  Examples are making sure you have enough time to get to training, Planning to watch derby and learn the rules, Attending bootcamps, and going for skate with other skaters to learn from them.

Keeping Positive

The road to becoming a bouting skater is not easy, in fact, it’s challenging, this is why there is a huge drop out rate in any freshmeat group and only a handful usually get all the way through to playing.  There will be countless times you will be face with defeat and failures that if you are weak, you’ll be succumbing to negative thoughts of fears and doubts. Like when every other person gets their transitions down pat and you still eat shit at it. Or getting your LAPS the great degrader of the new skater.

In order to develop persistence and eventually get onto that home team, always maintain a positive mental attitude, regardless of situation.  Super easy said than done because Roller Derby is a sport that’s, for lack of a better word, bitchy. Keep your thoughts focused on taking action towards your goals, don’t worry so much about all the other shit that’s going on in the league, not now anyway, just get through it, stick to your plan and get on the track.