Cue the obligatory goal setting for New Year’s Eve

Considering I started skating in March, I’m pretty proud of what I’ve accomplished this year. (Cue bullet points)

• Joined the board.
• Passed my benchmarks.
• Negotiated some space for us to skate in.
• Created a recruitment campaign that increased our numbers in skaters.
• Became fresh meat coach.
• Played in one scrimmage and 2 bouts.
• Was the top scorer in one of those bouts.
• Only missed one practice since the start of official practice.
• Started a derby blog!

And some things I’m not so proud of…

• Getting called out for not putting enough effort in at practice.
• Getting involved in derby drama.

Despite the bad, it’s been a really good 3/4′s of a year as far as derby is concerned. I’ve learned a lot and I’m so proud of my teammates and fresh meat gals who are growing right along with me. As I’m writing this on the eve of the New Year, I figured I’d take the opportunity to set some fitness & derby goals (let’s be clear, these are NOT resolutions. I hate those) for 2011.

Fitness Goals

Keep running

During the December practice hiatus I’ve managed to get up to 12 miles a week on the treadmill (19 km for you metric types). Continuing that pace while doing 2 derby practices a week is unlikely. But I’d like to continue running to help increase my stamina to complete a six-minute-mile by the end of 2011. (For reference, I do a 10 minute mile right now) This is a big goal and I’m now kinda regretting I said it. But you’ll hold me accountable and keep me motivated, right readers?

Increase core strength

I’ve seen an amazing change in my torso this past year. All those sit-ups I push the gals through during meat grinder at practice has made a difference in my stability as a skater. Plus I’m now sporting a 2-pack, which I never thought I’d see again, and I wish to increase the two to a four. That means I have to change the style of sit-ups I do to focus on the other stomach muscle groups.

Work the pipes

At the start of 2010, the waddle under my arm would flap in the wind when I lifted it to show someone where the beach was. I don’t know how it’s happened, but that waddle has disappeared and now a bicep appears as I point in the beach’s general direction. I like it. No specific goal in mind, except maybe to arm wrestle Nixxi by the end of the year and not lose in 5 seconds.

Derby Goals

Have a penalty-free game

I almost did it last year, with only one penalty in our home opener. But it may be tough because of my next couple of goals…

Be a more aggressive jammer

This includes throwing some hits on my way out of the pack instead of trying to skate around blockers and getting in the way of the opposing jammers more. Our coach, Bradass, has been great at helping me set goals during each jam to help me work on this.

Knock a bitch down

I know hitting isn’t my strength. I don’t know if it ever will be. But I’d love to be able to give at least one bone-crushing hit that seriously fucks up one or several opposing team members during a game. It’s going to take a lot of work on my part to accomplish this one.

Jump the apex

This is a move where you maybe have one or two blockers in front of you holding the inside line. Instead of trying to go around or depending on your blockers to clear a path, you jump over one of the corners on the inside, passing the players and land again in-bounds. It’s about a 3-4 ft length jump and I’ve only ever done it once in practice with a stationary blocker.

Backwards crossovers

Good ones. Not ones where I’m sticking my ass out to stay balanced.

Fast tomahawks

I can do them at a slow/medium speed. But I’d love to do them at my full-tilt-jammer-speed so I can stop faster when I get hit out of bounds.

Toestop running

You’d think with me being mostly a jammer, I’d have this down by now.

Nope.

I’m still having trouble finding my centre of gravity when I go into a sprint and I’m either timid, only taking two steps, or I lean too far and fall forward. Perhaps an increase in core strength will help me with this.

Enjoy the ride

I’ve had some friends and family gently ask, in a roundabout-sort-of-way, “When are you going to give this up?” The short answer is, “When it stops being fun.” The fun factor may end tomorrow or it may happen 5 years from now. But until that happens, I’m going to continue challenging myself.

Who wants to join the ride with me? Derby player or not, I invite you to write your own goals for the year. If you’re a blogger or Facebook note writer, etc, and want to help keep each other motivated, post your link down below as a reply. Let’s keep tabs on each other to help achieve our goals!

HAPPY NEW YEAR, READERS!

~ by Cherri Blaster on December 31, 2010.