Me? I'm pretty accident prone. But I learned a
LOT with my latest injury, an MCL tear, as well as through my years of playing. It seems like common sense, but sometimes it's just good to review.
6. Invest in the best gear that you can afford, and wear it.
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| But not all great gear is expensive. These are my faves! |
Don't get "Atom Gear" kneepads until you can confidently slide-fall
instead of faceplanting. Instead, get well-constructed kneepads with a ratchet
strap on the bottom that have a built-in knee gasket. I'm not interested in Atom Gear because I still fall, and not always well :/ Elbow pads are important because we actually do use them, knowingly or not. I was a little unsure if I actually
did use them a few years ago and started choosing to NOT wear them when I skated the boardwalk. One day, I caught a big pebble and bit it. Hard. I was wearing my wrist guards and my kneepads, but not the elbows. I had two scabby bows for a while. They got infected. It sucked. Get wristguards with a wide plastic protective piece, and always wear them on skates. I've broken my left wrist and my right hand playing derby. Both times I was wearing Protec wristguards with that measly plastic piece running up the palm. If I hadn't been wearing them, I probably would've had 2 hand surgeries by now-but if I had been wearing something like I have now, it probably wouldn't have happened. Make sure your helmet fits snug, and that your chin strap isn't loose. The reason we wear helmets is to protect one of our most valuable organs: our brain. Don't be stupid. Wear it. Properly. I've seen dozens of concussions. WITH helmets on. Without wearing a helmet, I know of one death, on skates. On a flat, indoor surface. This means wearing your gear at open-skate in rinks, the boardwalk, and every parade. Is your brain worth risking for a little wind in your hair? Is a 30-minute free skate down the boardwalk worth a month in a cast? Mouthguards are important for game play and full contact. I can't argue that we should
always wear them because it's super tough to yell the instructions to a full drill with it in your mouth... but I ALWAYS put it on before I demonstrate a hit or any full body contact. Mouthguards don't just protect your teeth-they protect you from concussions... and from biting off your tongue. No thank you!
5. Use your resources, or find some.
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| Where are their helmets?? |
On my first league,
we had skaters that were massage therapists. We also had a chiropractor that skated, and a slew
of medical professionals like OT's and EMTs. In my current league, I know of at least 4
Occupational Therapists, several nurses, and several massage therapists.
Derby is rough, dude. Injuries happen and muscles/ligaments/bones get jacked. Ask
questions from your league mates, get advice from the professionals, and when appropriate,
see your doctor. Don't just ride it out and think
everything will magically get better. This is not Never Never Land. This
is cold, harsh reality. Do you want to be bionic and take 3 months off to
have surgery/do physical therapy for a knee injury, or do you want
to learn how to train your muscles properly and skate? Don't be shy asking for help or advice, and
don't wait until your 7th year like me to start learning about dynamic
stretch routines and knee strengthening exercises. I was a fool. Don't
be a Calamity. You'll end up in a wheelchair 50th
birthday like me someday. Also, don't skate without medical insurance. I tore my MCL the same day I returned to skates after taking a break from being uninsured between jobs.
4. Come prepared.
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| me before I'm warmed up |
Be on time. Be ready to go when the warm up
starts. Get your routine in so that you're warm and stretched for the
beginning of drills or the start of the jam. I used to be chronically late to everything, but because of derby, I make a point to get my warm up in. Maybe it's because I'm
"derby old." Maybe it's because I'm growing up. Maybe I'm just
getting smarter... (I would like to think it's that :)) When I don't get a
good warm up complete with stretching, my body is tight and non-responsive to
fast-twitch muscle movements (like lateral track work and jamming). I'm a
hot mess, and easy to bowl over-it's just bad all around. But more
than that I'm a threat to myself; if my muscles are cold and stiff, I'm crazy susceptible to injuries. I have been injured soooo many times, and I
bet a
lot of those times were due to a bad warm up.
Some leagues are really strict and make sure everyone is skating warm before they launch into a drill... but some leagues are more laid back. This is where injuries happen. Sprinting out to the track at the start of a jam or contact drill without warming up is
like asking for a trip to the E.R. You're better off to yourself
and
your team by taking at least 5-10 minutes and preparing your body than
you are taking a hit when you're cold. The start of the jam is NOT the time to be warming up. It's just not. Everyone will notice-even you.
3. Mental game is crucial for practice, as well as for bouts.
There
have been girls that come to practice or to a bout completely
distracted by their toddler in the stands or a head full of stress. I've
been guilty of showing up with a zillion other things on my mind that
are way more important than doing pack work, and I know how detrimental
it is to not have focus (I play bad. Really bad). Unfortunately, this is a
judgement call that we all make to ourselves, and I have to trust that
my teammates will make the right one and not skate if they can't be
fully present in their heads. How many times have you been distracted by
a blocker, only to end up on your ass because her teammate landed a
monster hit on you from your opposite side?
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| Squirrel! |
Being aware of your
surroundings and not allowing outside distractions into your head is critical to
safe game play. If that skater chasing her toddler in between lines
during a drill (or worse, a bout) isn't watching the pack as she skates, she's a
liability. I don't want to be her casualty. Call your fellow skaters out
on their shit. If someone isn't able to concentrate because of x, y, and z, tell her to work it out
and then come back. Is waiting until
the toddler runs out on the track to say "hi" the time to address this? You bet your
ass it is. Now she's putting her kid in harm's way, too! We have laws
in our state prohibiting cell phones/texting and driving, and we surely shouldn't
allow girls to skate that have their heads in the clouds or their eyes
fixated on the bleachers. We all owe that to each other. I've growled at
children and I've growled at derby moms when this interferes with my game or my practice.
Number of times I've regretted it? Zero. It may be hard to juggle derby
and parenting, and I realize I can't relate to that and those challenges... but I know when
something is unsafe and I'm vocal about saying so. It's dangerous!
2. Listen to your body. PAIN stands for "Pay Attention Inwards Now."
Through
error, mostly, I have learned to listen to my body, and when I feel out
of it or my game is off,
I pull myself from the drill before something bad happens. It doesn't happen that often, but when I notice, I stop. I used to just power
through bad practices like that and sometimes I still do because I'm stubborn, but I've found that really it's dangerous
to myself
and to my fellow skaters when I'm scrimmaging on a bad day. Drills are meant to be hard and work us over in order to improve, but when you enter into a scrimmage, your teammates are counting on you to be playing your best. I try to assess how I feel in the
first 1/2 hr of every practice. If I'm pmsing and having a bad practice-lots of trouble connecting my hits
like I usually do and excessive clumsiness (I run into walls and trip
over air during pms)-I cruise on the sides while the team scrimmages or I watch and try to guess their plays. I've had some bad falls and
caused equally bad pileups because I wasn't feeling that great. I also do a lot of dynamic warmup exercises and never stretch
cold.
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| Kinesio tape and/or braces do NOT make you bionic. |
This is also true for nagging injuries; when my knee starts
feeling strange and a repetitive drill is adding extra stress to the
joint, I stop the drill and skate laps instead. "Strapping" or using kinesio tape on an injury does not make you invincible. You still have to heed your body's warning signals and be prepared to R.I.C.E. on the sides if need be. Re-injuring my knee is
only going to make me miss more drills and be miserable. Not worth it to practice plow stops for 5 minutes. I'm cool with taking a time out now to save myself a longer recovery.
1. Don't take unnecessary risks. Derby is hazardous enough.
The
venue we skate at in town is unsafe because it is smaller than
regulation size, and there are perilous obstacles like the fencing
enclosure, steel beams, and volleyball posts, nestled right up to the
outside boundary. Our team has dubbed them the "Murder Poles." We pad the poles during practice now, but doing full-on scrimmage or big hitting drills are super scary and ridiculously dangerous in that space. The fence is what
caused me to fully tear my MCL... I did a controlled knee stop and
slid jussst a bit too far out of the track boundary (I was used to more clearance on a full-sized track). I hit the fence skate
first, and there was a twist and a pop. It was a horrible sound and there were many swear words. Ideally we would find another venue, but it has proven nearly
impossible in our area as real estate is in high demand and rental fees
are atrocious. So... in the meantime, we skate near Murder Poles. Some skaters are cool with full-on derby scrimmage there, but I am not. So
now, when a drill starts, I assess if I feel safe. If I don't because the drill is too wild or uncontrolled, I sit
and watch. What's harder than watching a drill at practice? Watching a bout on crutches because you were too stubborn to heal or too reckless to acknowledge a bad situation.
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| no fun. |
Preventing preventable disasters is a guiding principle to the new chapter of my derby existence. It's a great rule of thumb, really. My latest recovery has taught me many lessons that are probably good for other aspects of my life.
The moral:
Don't be an idiot any more than you have to. ;)
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