I made it out to open skate again last night (which worked out well since practice this evening was cancelled). I really wanted to work on transitions but I chickened out since I was the only derby person there (until Tank showed up later) and didn't want to be falling constantly all by myself.
I decided that I wanted to work on swoops... that graceful, lunging move that gets you from inside to outside or outside to inside lickety-split. I watch people like Roxie and PutUNya do them and they are so smooth and graceful with it. The look effortless while I mostly still feel like it's a weird contortion to turn that sharply. If I'm going to be a good blocker, I need to learn to be more mobile on the track I think swoops are a big part of that.
As I learned the last time we did a drill on these, turning your hips is the key. My hips, being cranky and arthritic, don't like to turn fluidly on my own. I probably looked ridiculous doing it but I found that moving my arms in the direction I want to turn, dancer-style, seemed to help. I still find swooping left easier than swooping right but by the end of my 2-hour session I was feeling ok with them.
I think this week is a blocking week which I am GREATLY looking forward to. League practice is Thursday and I'm hoping to show up early to work on transitions by myself off to the side before practice starts. I know that the endurance will come (crossovers do feel nearly second nature now) but there's a big ol' wall up between me and those turning toe stops that will allow me to scrimmage, hopefully by the end of the year!
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