Awesome scrimmage!

Scrimmage nights make me pretty nervous. Last night was no exception: at the start, I was wondering if I could do it.

We only had 12 girls at practice, four B team and the rest SMASH. Cruel Anne announced that the goal of the scrimmage was to get the B team girls up to speed, because the next bout (July 9, OMG!) is a B-team bout.

The scrimmage? Was awesome. I am not saying I didn't make mistakes. There were definitely jams (especially early on) where I was fairly useless.

But let's not focus on that. There were actually more jams where I was an effective blocker. Several times I hit jammers out (and I'm talking Nick and Cruel Anne, who are both pretty damn good jammers). My best moment, though, was when I was blocking, and I saw my jammer coming, and I saw two opposing blockers on the inside line. I hit those two blockers to the inside, clearing the way for my jammer (Kant, I think) to run past on the outside. I really felt like I was playing derby then. It was wonderful. It's not rocket science -- more like Derby 101. But it's finally clicking.

I got a lot of nice comments from the SMASH girls last night, which was really awesome. I also got some good critical feedback: Jala says I'm having trouble making the transition from offense to defense (in derby, blockers play both offense and defense simultaneously). That is something I need to work on, and will ask trainers for advice on how to do it.

Last night, for the first time, I felt like I may actually be ready to bout when July 9 rolls around. Woot!