Less than Three the Freshie Mama

It occurred to me tonight that NHRD's freshie mama and freshie coaching staff don't always get the love and attention they deserve. Bettie Off Dead is a bouting-retired skater who spends 100% of her time with us freshies training us to be the best level ones we can be. We also <3 Vicious but as an active member of Skate Free or Die!, she needs to have her own practice time too!

Bettie and Vicious train all of us, from the freshies who can barely stand up in their skates to the freshies who could probably pass level twos if they were given right away. They are super patient and if explaining things one way doesn't work, they turn things around and explain them differently.

While they get to give people the good news that freshies have passed their level ones, they also have to give some freshies the bad news that there are a few things that we still need to work on. Excuse the double negative but we don't not pass because they don't like us, rather, they like us so much that they don't want us to get our sternums mashed in until we're stable enough to take the hit. Sometimes that can fall out of focus. Assessments are there to keep us and the skaters around us safe!

The most awesome thing about Bettie and Vicious is that they never give up on people. After telling me (after I asked) on Thursday that I probably won't pass she says to me tonight at Recruitment Night that if there's the opportunity at practice tomorrow she wants to watch me zip around the outside of the track to work on my crossovers during hitting drills that I can't participate in anyway. She also offered to possibly come down from Manchester to practice with me at Roby on Tuesday night.

She's still gunning for me to pass on Wednesday. <3 Bettie. She made the little invisible wings attached to my heart flutter with hope tonight.

If you are an NHRD freshie and you are reading this, post it to your status (JK... I hate those things on Facebook). But seriously, if you are a current, former, or future NHRD freshie and <3 Bettie and Vicious too, please post some love here for them to read. :-)