Flutterby's Right Shoulder: Ouch. Bloody hell! What are you doing to me, Flutterby?
Flutterby: Oh shut up. Just pretend you're a lot younger, OK? Can you manage that? I only rolled on you once, for crying out loud. You'd think you could handle a bit of punishment by now, oh KravWonderShoulder. *smirk*
Shoulder: *indignant* Look here. I don't mind a roll or two, it's that nasty banging up against other shoulders I'm not so fond of. And, I'll have you know I'm not the only one. Calves and Right Hip were talking yesterday and they're not too happy, either. And you should see Left Butt Cheek... --
Flutterby: *interrupts* -- yeah, I know about Left Butt Cheek. I was THERE, remember, smart arse?! Besides, if Leftie knew what the deal was, she'd just be quiet and thankful that I pulled off that slide and didn't smash her up on a skate wheel.
Shoulder: Sure. But she's still smarting with the rinkburn and I don't think you...
Flutterby: Don't think I what? Feel her pain? Trust me, I feel it just fine. GAH! Is it too much to ask for body parts that can keep up with me, here?
Shoulder: *pouts*
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Sigh. Derby was not kind to me this week. Actually, derby was awesome. Better than, even. But, my body is running to catch up after three nasty practices in a row. Lots of hard work, some tumbles and a crazy baseball slide on a floor that wasn't at all slide-ey (my bad, I forgot in the moment!) left me with some bruises and a lovely fist-sized angry red rinkburn. Oh, and I can testify that a full session of running toe starts will render one's calves a trembling, sore mess the next day.
The good news is that all this hard work is paying off. My coach pulled me aside to go over my benchmark results and I was so pleased to see how well I did on them. And I couldn't help but grin like a fool when she told me that if I keep it up over the next couple months, she was pretty sure I'd make the travel team when try-outs hit.
Now, for anyone who's grown up being relatively confident of their athletic abilities, made cuts and placed at track and field, etc.... this kind of thing is probably no biggie. But for me? Big deal. I never was really involved in any team sports, hated gym class, avoided track and field. I might have wanted to try out for a team or two but never did cause I lacked confidence that I could stack up against the competition and took myself way too seriously -- the idea of being cut from try-outs was a nightmare I didn't want to even think about.
My first team experience was a year after the Princess was born when I joined a ladies soccer league. And while I never, ever tore up the field, I was a solid defender. You know, generally made the smart play and could be counted on to stop what I was supposed to stop. I actually had not bad instincts for the game once I found my groove, I dug hard and found an aggressive, competitive side of myself that I didn't really know was there. My second and third years I would often sub in as goalkeeper. I hated that feeling of pressure that the buck stops with me. But when my team needed someone, the fingers ended up pointing in my direction which, while it felt good in a way, also really sucked. I can recall a couple replay-worthy saves and a memorable moment when I thought my face might have caved in from a howitzer of a shot (Does it count that I stopped the ball -- with my FACE??) but it really wasn't my position to shine in.
After soccer, I suppose Krav was my next athletic adventure. I think my body finally played catch-up for all those nonathletic years and my Krav training helped me out immensely with that whole mind-body connection. I still want to go back and finish training for my next ranking... but right at the moment derby has a hold of me, I guess. I have a window of opportunity, age-wise, to abuse my body on the derby track and so it's now or never. Krav can wait. :)
I'm just not sure my body is really pleased with the new arrangements. Lucky for me, this is a dictatorship and not a democracy. The word on the street is Put Up or Shut Up.
You hear that, Shoulder?? Good. Glad we have an understanding.
6 comments:
You are way sporty. Way to go with the bruises and whatnot.
I was GK in soccer through much of my youngun years, then junior high and even high school, at which point the pressure of the position was fairly high, being at the varsity level and all. I really liked it, though the blood and scrapes and dislocated knees didn't always help. Playing volleyball in college was better on my joints, but I think some damage had already been done by that point.
I'm sure on the inside, your shoulder appreciates the pep talk.
Please don't hurt me. . .
Sparky Anderson, one-time manager of my beloved Tigers, was fond of saying, as only he could, that "pain don't hurt you". And learning to 'play thru' pain is just one of those necessary things. And I imagine that it's at least as necessary in roller derby as in any other sport. . .
I have a knee that can still predict the weather fairly reliably, left over from my days as a high-school football lineman.
And probably the closest I've ever come to passing out was playing goalie in a pickup soccer game in college. I dove to stop a shot, just as one of the forwards was rushing up to beat me to the ball, and his foot, the ball and my head all occupied roughly the same piece of space simultaneously. . .
Flutter- you are a machine,tell those complaining joints to pipe it, buck up and take it. Geesh I can't stand it when are bodies don't cooperate.
I'm not sure I want to admit this, but I had never heard of roller derby until reading your blog.
You are too tough for me....I think I'm afraid of you!
FTN -- I know a bit about the blood and scrapes but thankfully, my joints stayed the course... I did dislocate my knee once snowboarding and popped it back in myself with a bit of dumb luck. Not something I ever want to feel again, for sure. So, I can see where your knees would be thankful you switched sports.
Desmond -- OWIE! Proximity like that to soccer balls and players feet sounds like a world of pain. Honestly, though... much as that shot hurt; I was way more irate that the player (A former Irish Uni. player who weighed at least a deuce and was built like a truck) actually TAUNTED me afterwards. I so wanted to pound her. Well, pound Something... I wouldn't have been to smart to try and take her on. :)
JJ -- What I really need is to supplement derby with actually USING my gym pass...I think half of my soreness is due to relative inactivity outside of derby. Gah. I can be such a wiener sometimes.
Therese -- I think you're probably in good company. It's not exactly a renowned sport, in fact, I think that the teams pride themselves on being a bit, ummm, subversive or underground. There's a whole kind of culture about it that's not really Out There. I think that's changing a bit, though.
Cocotte -- C'mere and let me hug you. I'm really a very sweet Flutterby and not at all that dangerous. :)
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