Practice, Practice, Practice!

We had a great practice last night! 15 skaters! Thats more then we've had in a long time! And we picked up another skater...which is great.  We first did timed laps. Getting 5 laps in under 1 minute and 25 laps in under 5 minutes is something most of us didnt think was possible when we first started in January. Little did we know how far we would come!  Every "older" (we have 3 newbies) skater that skated last night was under the 1 minute mark!! And they all improved their times...some (like me!) improved by almost 10 seconds! I am so proud of all of us! We've worked so hard!! 
After a quick water break (man was it ever hot in there) we practiced hitting drills. I love these! After all...roller derby is all about the hitting right?? This...is where we are lacking.
Our league has only been together since January and really havent been hitting. Then it happend.... we welcomed a skater from another league who had been hitting. She's good! Better then most of our skaters! And in her defense she didnt know we werent hitting. So that first practice, when we practiced pack drills, she laid a hit on me that took me completely off the floor! It was an awesome hit..that I was totally not prepared for!! Our girls have never seen anything like this before. Some have never been to a bout! So when this girl stepped on the track and blew everybody away, there was instant tension from some of our girls. And I really dont get it! Shes here to be a part of us! Not be against us! Shes a wonderful skater and a very sweet girl. If they only took the time to get to know her instead of acting like junior high girls! Totally irritates me! Ok...enough of the ranting... I will leave you with this one final thought. The definition of teamwork:

team·work

   /ˈtimˌwɜrk/ Show Spelled[teem-wurk] Show IPA

noun

1.

cooperative or coordinated effort on the part of a group of persons acting together as a team or in the interests of a common cause.

2.

work done with a team.