During practice tonight, 4Closer had talked to us about a strategy that had been keeping her up at night while she tried to figure it out. She presented it to us and we practiced it hard for about forty minutes before she started implementing it during our scrimmage practice time. By the time we were scrimmaging, we were all pretty tired, and probably ready to go home and take nice long Epsom salt baths.
I was put on team Blue and our acting captain was Neill 'N' Weep. Team Red's captain was Daddy's Girl, or DG. We only scrimmaged for about a half an hour, and 4Closer was watching us on the sidelines with a specific rule for only herself and captain's to communicate with the teams from the benches. Every jam, I felt like I wasn't succeeding at being a effective blocker as I kept losing my buddy and letting the jammer slide right past me. Every time I looked over at 4, she seemed frustrated that we weren't creating strong enough walls to keep the Red team back, and that frustrated me knowing that I wasn't doing my job right. I kept getting great advice from my team about better ways to stick together and hold the jammer back. I tried to store the information in my head without letting it get to me, because I know that if I get inside my own head, I will only get worse. My own demons just continue to whisper to me about how terrible I am, and, sadly, I listen. So every time I sat down, I focused on the game, and I reminded myself, "It's just a game. Have a little fun. Stay with your buddy. Be the effective blocker I know you can be."
The last jam of the night, I went out with Neill 'N' Weep, YB Normal, and Black Venom. Of the four of us, I know that Neill is the strongest. She's on the A Team for crying out loud. So I knew that even if I lost my own buddy, if I stuck near her, I would be at least somewhat effective. Our jammer was Skirt Vonna Gut, a transfer from Silicon Valley. I remembered hearing her tell me, "Help me through their walls," and I kept thinking about what 4 had told me, "Communicate with your pack," and I kept reminding myself, "Stick with Neill."
The opposing team was comprised of A team players and B team players, and that alone was enough to make me at least a little clammy. The whistles blew, and I started 'playing' with the opposing blockers, getting distracted and losing track of Daddy's Girl, who was Red's jammer. I watched as she just cruised right by me. I watched her speed around turn one and saw 4Closer on the sideline shaking her head. There was that tiny demon again, "YOU SUCK!"
"Where's Skirty?" I thought.
I looked over my shoulder and realized that Skirty was still in the pack with me, and I tried to make a hole for her. I helped her get out, only to be lapped again by DG. But at least my jammer was out and able to make points the next time I saw her. I quickly skated back up to my buddy, YB. The pack started really moving, and I tried to continue to break up the red teams walls. I realized I was surrounded by only red jerseys, and then I heard Mazel ToughCocktail holler to Virgenocide, both on team Red, "GET CHERYL! GET CHERYL!"
I'm certain my eyes probably bugged out of my head at this point, because there was no way I was going to be a standing point without fighting to keep it from them. And I made sure that they knew this by shouting as loudly and as angrily as I could, "NO!"
It actually shocked me how throaty it sounded, and I blazed right past Virgy as I suddenly got tunnel vision on Neill and tried to get to her as fast as I could. We flew through turn 3 and 4 as DG came at us quickly into turn 1. I'm not certain if I actually shouted it or if it was all in my head, but the only thing that came to my mind was WALL! WALL! WALL! I watched as DG tried to skate past Neill as I slide up beside her and hit her. I didn't just hit her like I usually hit people.. I am still pretty green, and I have a terrible time getting enough power to actually hit effectively, but I actually HIT Daddy's Girl OUT!! I could hear my team cheering for me on the bench as I slowly started to realize what just happened. But without thinking about it anymore, I slid to fill another hole in our wall and spread my feet as wide as I dared without toppling over, as I always do, trying to implement a stop method that Skirty and Dirty8 Special had told me about earlier in practice. It was at this moment that Daddy's Girl, one of the most intimidating jammers to me, that I love skating against purely because I love to learn and hate skating against because she's SO INTIMIDATING, threw up her hands at her jam ref in frustration. I'm certain it was just because she was tired, and it was the end of a really long night, and I have a sneaky suspicion that some of the A skaters have been holding back around me(which bugs me), but it made my whole week a thousand times more awesome. It was the pinnacle of my derby career thus far, and it was absolutely amazing! When I got back to the bench, I had my butt rubbed and my helmet slapped! People cheered my name, which I have never had happen before, having never played an organized sport before, and at hands in, they said, "We heart you, Clobber!" I almost cried. And afterward we went out for drinks, and they bought me a beer!
BEST! PRACTICE! EVER!!
SACRED POR VIDA!
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