Leia U Out #1138

Name change... Again!

2010-02-07T18:17:00.000-08:00

Ok, I regret to inform you that my name Leia U Out will be changing. Sad, I know. I loved being Leia for that short period of time. It is my fault that my name has to change. On the twoevils website, there is a Leia Flat. I did not pay attention that she is in Tampa, FL so the possibility of us bouting against them is much greater then if she was in CA. Since this is the case, my name must be changed.

I apologize to all of you that my blog name must change again. I will wait til my name is approved before I do to ensure it is a final change.

The name I have submitted is... *drum roll* Zooey Dash n Nail What do you think? Please be honest. I really like it. Zooey Deschanel is one of my favorite actresses.

Leave feedback if you wish. I would really appreciate it!

Lace Up & Roll Out!

Jags, Rainbow Butt & Christmas Cheer

2009-12-22T08:28:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone! Happy Holidays! I hope you are all having a fun and safe holiday.

Sorry I have been MIA lately.

This will be a short blog.

Last week we had our Naughty vs Nice bout. It was a lot of fun! We collected a lot of money and toys for Toys for Tots. I did not skate in this bout. I haven't passed my skills tests yet. Still working on cross overs. My skates are freakin heavy as hell. I keep tripping on them. That and I am just clumsy lol.

This week we wore our black shirts w/ Jacksonville Roller Girls in teal for the Jacksonville Jaguars vs Colts game. We skated around outside pimping ourselves out. Taking pictures, answering questions, recruiting and handing out flyers. Where there is a tailgate party, there is beer and drunk people. While skating outside, I was pushed over by a couple of drunk guys. I fell backwards and landed on the wheel of my skate then the concrete. My butt is badly bruised. It is a rainbow of colors. Thankfully, I did not break my tailbone! *phew*

I will miss practice tomorrow because I will be heading out of town to see my family in AL for Christmas.

I'm missing my soon 2 b derby wife... She was in the hospital for a non-derby related problem. She is at home in KY right now, resting and getting better. Love you MRP! :) She hasn't been to practice in over a week and she is missing out on a lot.

New Years Eve we are participating in the Gator Bowl parade! We have a float and everything. Bad news, I couldn't get the time off work to be there on time to be in the parade. :( This year the JRG are having a New Years Eve party that I am looking forward to going to. These girls like to Par-Tay!

I want to wish all of you a great holiday and a Happy New Year! 2010 is almost here. Be safe and have fun!

Lace Up & Roll Out!

Anything boys can do, girls do it better!

2009-11-13T18:19:00.000-08:00

Thank you to Emily for sending me this article...

http://jezebel.com/5404272/anything-you-can-do-women-can-be-just-as-competitive-as-men

Wednesday practice I was sick so I skipped it. I was really missing it too. This made me realize that my heart is more invested ( although my body may not be ) than I expected.

Practice last night ( Thur, Nov 12 ) was awesome! I did a little scrimmaging, a lot of endurance runs, hitting, bumping, passing, falling, etc. I may be slower than most of the girls out there, but I didn't give up. I pushed myself harder both physically and mentally at last nights practice than I ever have while playing a sport. I have to admit, the bumping and hitting was a lot of fun! :)

What is wrong with me?
I felt so good afterwards and some how I still seem to lack confidence in myself. I'm supposed to enjoy it and just have fun right? Except, this is a competitive sport. Everyone is advancing around me at a much quicker pace. No one wants to be the last person standing. My friend Megan is going to try and push me harder on Sunday. (She is a military wife and doesn't want to see a woman fall behind.)

Push it!
I must push on. Encouragement is always welcome :)

Lace Up & Roll Out!

Bruised but not shattered

2009-11-09T07:14:00.000-08:00

Good Morning fellow bloggers / followers!

So I have now been to a total of 3 practices w/ my pads. I have accumulated approx 6 bruises so far. I may be bruised but I'm not giving up.

Recap for Thursdays practice:

We skate on a basketball court at Jax Ice complex lol. Very slick surface. I had a difficult time keeping my balance, lol. This practice was intended for two things: Away team to scrimmage/practice for the game on Sat night and for the those that felt ready to take their skills tests. Before the scrimmage / skills tests began we had to do: 2 sprints, 50 bicycles /crunches, 10 push ups, 2 sprints, 50 small jumps, 50 squats, 2 sprints and repeat. Holy Hell that was hard! It was a good burn though.

Several girls passed their skills test. This made me feel really down about myself. I am farther behind than I thought. Granted, it was only my second practice w/ the pads so I should give myself a little forgiveness but I don't. Facts: Yes, these girls started the same time I did, they did get their equipment faster and have been to more practices... With all of this in consideration, I am still beating myself up. I feel I should be progressing more quickly.

While everyone was busy doing all of that, there were only 3 of us that were in need of "vet" help. We practiced our single and double knee stops. One of the girls was trying to show us how to do a baseball stop. I tried it and did it wrong. I felt the muscles in my lower back start hurting immediately. I sat down for a bit then decided to jump back in and continue to practice what I knew. Finally, after a half an hour one of the vets came up and showed us how to do a couple things ( Baseball stop, suicide, T-stop, V-stop and Superman ), then she left, lol... The 3 of us continued to practice what we were comfortable with and help each other out. Considering I had already hurt myself trying to do a Baseball stop I decided to work on the V-stop and superman. T-stop sucks because the wheels on my skates are used and really worn down so I don't have a lot of grip. Suicide you are supposed to do in 4 seconds. You have to drop, roll and get back on your skates. 4 seconds? Seriously? Lol.. I can drop and roll, but it will take a lot more practice to get back up that quickly. It really is about momentum. You can't do it slow. Oh well, practice practice practice!

Sunday am practice:
Yesterday's practice was for endurance. Something I know I am lacking and need to improve on. This is the set up: We get in 2 lines, faster people on the left, slower on the right. We sprint, then squat. When the line squats, the person in the back of the pack has to sprint to pass all the girls, tapping each one on the way to get into the lead.

What happened: I was first up because I was in the back of the line. We took off and I was having a hard time just keeping up the pace. I thought to myself, great, I'm never going to pass all of these girls. I believe there were approx 8 that I needed to pass. I pushed myself and I did it! With me being in the front of the line I have to set the pace for the rest of the pack, lol.... I had fallen wrong on Thursday nights practice so my lower back was still hurting. I didn't complain to anyone about it, I just kept pushing myself. I kept saying to myself, push through the pain, but I couldn't. I stayed on the track but fell out of line to slow down. I never stopped though. I continued to go around the track until they were completed.

There were a total of 5 girls ( including myself ) that had either not taken or not passed the skills test. So we continued to work on drops. We only had 30 min left of practice... When doing a double knee stop I slipped on a skittle and fell on my left hip, ow! Bruised butt lol. At least I remembered to fall to the side and not land on my tailbone! Then we learned something really cool/fun called a Tomahawk. Its when you are skating, then you spin 180 and stop on your toe. It looks cool, very hard to do though. Then there is the double Tomahawk using both toe stops after the spin.

Sorry this was so long. I wanted to re-cap the past few practices. One of the girls that I'm becoming friends with made me feel really good last night. She told me that she can see how much I have improved and that I have come a long way since that first night. I'm glad someone noticed. I feel like its Day 1 everytime I get on the rink. After talking to her for a few minutes after practice I realized that one of the biggest things holding me back is the lack of confidence I have in myself. I continue to doubt myself instead of going out there and having fun and just doing it! So I will work on that Wednesday.

Wish me luck!

Lace up & Roll Out!

Stop 'N Drop

2009-11-05T07:08:00.000-08:00

Ok. I finally got my pads which means I am ready to fall. Drop n stop as I like to call it.

Last night was brutal. So far, I have learned how to do single knee stops and a double knee stop. It's easier for someone to push you down than to try and force yourself down lol. There are only 3 of us that are in the more "beginner" stages. Everyone else is learning to "play" in the pack. Learning how to nudge, lightly shove, etc.

Heck, I'm still chicken to try and skate on one skate, lol.

Lace up & roll out!

Go, Stop, Go, Stop

2009-10-29T05:38:00.000-07:00

My first practice was last night. I wore my Riedell Carrera skates instead of the potato skin rentals for the first time (on the rink). Man are they slick. I worked on balance and endurance for half an hour before practice actually began. I did 10 laps in the time that the others did 20, lol. I definitely need to work on speed. Honestly, I'm just glad that I didn't fall down. I also need to pick up my pads this weekend because w/o them I cannot advance.

We spent an hour in the "kiddie pool" w/ q & a, learning to keep our knees bent and T stops... I felt really left out that I couldn't advance since I didn't have the pads. 3/4 of the new girls where learning knee stops and advancing more quickly.

While observing it makes me feel farther behind which in turn makes me realize how much harder I need to push myself to try and catch up. One of my favorite phrases is: "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take" - Wayne Gretzky In order for me to catch up and/or advance after I get my pads I will need to go to more practices. The free practices are Sunday morning and Thursday evenings. Every Wednesday its a $5 fee. This means I will be missing church on Sundays for awhile. You get out of it what you put in it and I need to put up more than 60%.

Saturday I am going to Skate Bomb at the beaches to get fitted for my knee pads. Most of the girls go there and we get a discount :)

Until then, I will push off, T stop, push off, T stop until I can drop n stop.

Lace up & roll out!

Roller girls, Zombies, cars, brownies & jello

2009-10-23T12:16:00.000-07:00

What do Roller girls, Zombies, Cars, brownies & jello all have in common? We are having a Zombilicious party on Sat, Oct 24th from 8pm to 2am. It's $5 admission to help support your local derby girls. There will be zombies, cars by kar kult zombies, some yummy brownies a dj and even a little jello wrestling action!

You read that right, Roller Girl Jello Wrestling! <===Hottness!

There will be car & halloween costume contests so please come out and have a good time!

Beer, zombies, brownies, jello wrestling and hot roller derby girls what more could you ask for?

Sat, Oct 24th from 8pm - 2am at Cafe 331
331 W Forsyth St
Jacksonville, FL 32202
$5 admission

www.jacksonvillerollergirls.com

It's ON like Donkey Kong!!!

2009-10-22T06:05:00.000-07:00

*happy dance* Oh yeah, I made it! I'm a derby girl! Woot! Now is the hard part, PRACTICE! There are skills tests and several things to complete before my first bout...

It took a lot of courage for me to get out of the car and even walk in. I am SO glad I did. My friend Emily was right. She told me if I didn't do it I would regret it. I had so much fun just meeting the girls and all the new people! I was really worried I would be the only un-experienced skater, wrong! There were at least 5 girls that had never skated before. I skated around the rink on the potato (rental) skates probably 20 or 30 times. I didn't fall once! Came close but no wipe outs, yet. Don't worry boys and girls, my fair share is right around the corner.

First we have to get our equipment together. I have skates and a helmet purchased already, however the pads I purchased won't be good enough so I can't go to practices until I have them. They will be teaching us how to stop and how to fall before we do anything else. Why do we fall? To learn to pick ourselves back up!

I am really excited about the road ahead. The only thing I'm not happy about is practices are on Sunday morning, Wednesday & Thursday nights. I won't be able to make it to church or career group on Thursday nights so I will have to juggle that. Attendance is a big part, if your not there then I won't improve to bout, therefore I will be kicked off the team.

These girls take this sport seriously and I'm glad they do. I wouldn't want it any other way.

I was even more excited that my friends are behind me and encouraging me. If it wasn't for David and Emily pushing me and standing behind me I probably wouldn't of had the courage to walk in. So a big THANK YOU shout out to you guys, I couldn't do it without you!

I could see and feel the community with these girls. They are a family. They take care of each other, they care about each other. It was great to see it and they were so warm and welcoming. They made you feel a part of the team right away. Community is something I have been searching for. I love my church ( RCC ) however I don't really connect with many people there. It's my fault that I don't go every single Sunday and Thursday night and also my fault that I don't reach out and contact people to hang out. :bows head in shame: I'm one of those people that says, "If they want to hang out with me they would call".... Well, instead of sitting on the side lines and waiting for something to happen sometimes you have to get off your lazy a$$ and MAKE IT HAPPEN! :)

So here I am, making it happen! I am official Fresh Meat and will be practicing in the kiddie pool for awhile. As long as they are willing to have patience and teach me, I am willing to learn. My adrenaline is still pumped high from last night. Can you feel the electricity running through me? No? Maybe you should stand a little closer, I may just shock you!

Getting ready

2009-10-20T11:04:00.000-07:00

So, for the past few weeks I have been mentally preparing to try out for the Jacksonville Roller Derby team. Thats right, all girl roller derby! Seems a little spontaneous does it not?
Let me break down the recent events for you:

It started with a friend and I going to see Whip It. The movie was fun and it gave me the idea to be a derby girl for halloween. On the way home, we were coming up with our "derby" names.

Shortly after, I was at my local comic shop when I saw a flyer that said Nothin' Beats JRG Fresh Meat Recruitment Night. I picked one up out of curiosity. I went about my day and later found it in my purse. Towards the bottom I read " NO skating experience or equipment required". I thought, ok maybe I could do this. I used to skate a lot, both regular quad skates and inline. That's not saying I was very good at it. One thing I always had a problem with was stopping. Well, there was always something or someone to run into. So the first thoughts of trying out emerged.

The movie + the flyer made me do a lot of thinking. First, it gave me the great idea to be a roller derby girl for halloween. So I started a list: Skates, helmet, knee/elbow/writs pads, funky colors, etc. Started looking online for ideas and of course where I could get the items I needed cheap.

Second, I found myself talking to my closest friends about it constantly. ET & DC both told me I should actually try out for the team. They reminded me, "After all, the card does say no skating experience required." So this started my mission. (Nothing like encouragement from your closest friends to get your fire going.) The more I talked about it to other people and even going into a few stores where strangers assumed I was a "derby girl" made me feel more confindent to try out, especially because to them I already look the part.

I researched roller skates online. Went out and tried a few on. Got lucky at Play It Again, Sports and found a pair of Riedell Carerra speed skates. (I realized later these are not beginner skates, lol.) However, even for a halloween costume, I was determined to look the part. The more serious I got just looking for pieces for the costume I became even more serious about trying out for the team. Skates, pads, socks, and helmet have all been purchased. Since I was spending the money, I decided to get better equipment, just in case I do make the team. : )

This lead to picking out a name. I even went to the roster everyday to make sure the name was original. It took 2 weeks of brainstorming and several pages of paper. Even if I don't make the team, I have a name I am happy with. If you haven't figured it out yet, the title of this blog includes my name: q t pi I'm actually going to use the pi symbol and my # will be 3.14. For those that know me understand that I am a geekette. Love it or leave it but that is who I am. Cute & geeky = me

Try-outs are tomorrow and I am nervous. Whether I make the team or not, the past few weeks getting ready for the part have been fun. I can't wear my skates to the costume party next week but I will look cute anyway.

So wish me luck, please don't tell me to break a leg since it is entirely possible. I don't want anyone to cheer for me during the try-outs, but if I make it, I hope to have a few people watching me during the games.

Til Thursday I will have a bunch of built up anxiety which will hopefully fuel my engine during the fresh meat recruitment night. Hopefully, they won't eat me alive.