A minor setback

Well, today I tried to do my re-test on minimum skills. It's a little more involved than I had expected -- it's not just the individual stuff, but the pair and pack stuff too. Also, some of the individual stuff is not required (stops and falls, mainly).

I had some trouble with the jump but managed to do it. I need to make myself jump every time I put on skates. I also had to re-do receiving push assists -- the first time, I was too straight up and down. That annoys the hell out of me (at myself), because I *know* better than that.

But the thing that I just *could not* pull off, and that kept me from passing today, was positional blocking (aka booty blocking). I just couldn't get in front of Brick or Bones (they both tried it with me. They definitely did everything they could to give me a chance to get it right). And when I was in front of them I couldn't stop fast enough. Or didn't, really. I mean, I know how to stop.

I think part of it is that my endurance is suffering. Three weeks away from practice, plus pneumonia, will really mess up your endurance. So that is one thing I will keep working at. The other thing is just the footwork. Oh, and apparently I'm still flailing my arms around too much, which, dammit! Another thing I totally know better than to do, but I'm still doing it.

Well, I'm not going to beat myself up (any further). The good news is that there was a lot of stuff that was just no problem for me at all. I can try again next Saturday; between now and then, I can work on footwork and positional blocking, and make myself jump at every practice. I. Will. Get. There.

Meanwhile, this doesn't take away the fact that I have passed minimum skills. (I'm having a bit of cognitive dissonance on that subject ...) This is just something I have to do before I'm eligible to scrimmage. And I will.