What I learned a derby boot-camp

I love roller derby! If you didn't catch that, and one of the things I love the most is the camaraderie between players that love the game and the sport no matter what team they are on. 15 or so of my teammates along with 30 players from around SC, NC and VA(hell yeah acid assassin) came together to attend Columbia Quad Squads Boot camp, and I am going to touch on the things that stood out the most in my mind.

Part 1-Jamming: This was lead by Graphic Illuskater and Crystal Cutt and focused on the importance of building a solid jammer skills set which included toe-stop starts and leaps, duck starts and a bunch of great agility stuff. My fav which is something I have been working on is the absorbtion and use of a hit. Of course you need to be aware as fuck(la-ti-da), but if you see a jammer coming from the corner of your eye, you twist your back to face them to draw propulsion from her hit.
Part 2-Hitting :) I love this one and it was lead by Holly Hunter, Chucktown Bruiser, and Truckstop. There was a bunch of stuff in this section that i could go on forever about but here are a couple things, the importance of stay really low for hitting (Im 6ft so I struggle with this), execute short hits and dont linger, and staggered derby stance. Staggered derby stance-thank you Truckstop. This rinky dink point is the reason I cant knock that chick over and that she is awesome. All of my fav blockers do this and I couldn't  figure out what the hell they were doing that I wasnt, but now I GOT IT!!!Instead of having your feet parallel in derby stance, you have one slightly infront of the other that will for more stability,

There was a bunch more in the bootcamp and they even gave us folders with all the info in it. So organized and awesome!! and they had a game that night. Thanks Quad Squad, its awesome being able to have the love of the game and teach your rival teams (which we are) and share what your good at. Anytime I get a chance to soak up anything derby I am sooo there. These girls are some of my local heros and I am so happy I attended.

I am playing 3/26 in Charleston, flying out to Denver 3/27 to check out our housing when we move along with skating with the teams there, flying back in 4/1 and driving 2 hrs to play in another game 4/2. Which I will still be Oxygen-pumped from the high altitude, so that should be interesting. Thanks for reading and I will keep my blog posted with all of my challenges and triumphs(which will be alot in the next couple months with the impending move), please keep tabs with me on my SkateCourt facebook, or Maggie Randi Maehym Cox fb page and please reach out to me if Im in your area. Im gonna need alot of support with all these changes and will need as much derby love as I can get, even for just a cup of tea and derby talk.

Hugs and Slugs,
Randi Maehym