One More Rollercon Post

On the first day, there was an open scrimmage at noon. In an open scrimmage, you wear a black or white shirt with your number on it, and you get in the black or white line. For each jam, the first four people from the blocker line and the next person in the jammer line go in.

There were a lot of people; I only got to skate in two jams. But it was fun. Unfortunately, there were not enough referees, so we didn't have outside pack refs. That means a lot of fouls got missed, including the moment when a girl from the white team totally elbowed me in the back (I wonder if that would be called as an elbow foul or a back-blocking foul).

Anyway, the really cool thing about the open scrimmage was that I went in with the same three blockers both times, and we worked as a team really well. In the first jam, we trapped a blocker from the white team with us -- meaning that we were the pack, and that the white blockers who were up bothering our jammer were out of play and had to back off. It was so cool! I learned that in Sick Town practice and then I got to do it.

And then in the second jam, my blocking partner and I worked together to form a wall and keep the white jammer back. OK, y'all, this is really basic stuff. But that's the level I'm at right now: the fact that I was able to use my head and block effectively instead of skating willy-nilly and desperately trying to keep up with the pack ... it's a victory. Kind of a big one. (I have had no trouble keeping up in anything I've done here ... that's been awesome.)

I have heard that the open scrimmages at night have gotten pretty rough; and they don't start until 9 p.m. I don't know if I will skate in any more, but that first one was pretty great.