Fresh Meat Week 1

The first week of Fresh Meat week started of with Bride of Skatan (Skato) and Blue Wrenegade (Wren) taking us through a warm up, getting in derby stance & skating then coasting......

Then Skato & Wren went through falls and working in a pack, here's some points to remember.




Single knee falls:
+ Fall small, safe and controlled.
+ Keep that core nice and strong for stability.
+ Make sure you can do these falls on both legs!  Both will be tested and, besides, when you're on the track you'll have to be able to just go down whichever works for the situation - you can't ask that blocker to make sure she comes from a particular angle just so you can fall on your chosen leg!
+ No hands!  Push back up through your core.  Using hands to stand up again should be avoided at all costs.  If you absolutely must, push off your knee.

Double knee falls:
+ These are generally only used as an emergency fall.
+ Don't fall on both knees at once - it can potentially injure your knees and back.  Instead, lead with one leg first to create a 'tap, tap' rhythm.
+ Lean back into that air guitar pose!  It'll prevent you from falling flat on your face!

4 Point Fall :
+ Think about being long and thin - the aim is to take up the least amount of lateral space as possible.
+ A bit of speed helps to keep a flow of movement through this fall.

Single knee fall with a turn:
+ This fall is super important for setting yourself up to skate off in the right direction as quickly as posible.
+ Use your core to turn, or your back foot as a kind of rudder.
+ Don't let your slide get wide - keep your legs together.
+ Really try and work on that quick recovery - get back up as quickly as possible.

PACK WORK
+ Pack work is all about control and communication.
+ Think about 'pack politics' - your physical and verbal communication must be respectful and understandable.
+ Remember that touch can often be the best communicator - use gentle touches on your team mates hips to indicate your movement through the pack.
+ Sticky feet!  Your feet must stay on the ground at all times!  If not, you could get penalised for tripping.
+ Fall small - keep your arms and legs in, and stay down until it's safe to return to the game.
+ Fall alone - it can be really instinctual to grab at something when you fall.  You need to break that habit right now!
+ Remember that derby stance - stay low and loose.  Don't stiffen your arms - let them hang naturally nice and close in front of your body.
+ Learn to feel comfortable looking around - you will end up spending most of your track time looking behind and around you.
+ Talk talk talk!  Communicate the obstacles you see on the track, or movements you make through the pack.

Well, hopefully that gives you a few things to think about during the week.  Welcome to Fresh Meat and congratulations for making it through your first night of "no more personal space"!

With Love and Bumps

3 Veg & Gravy xx

Raw Meat Week 5

Hey There Freshies and Freffies, if you had good news on Monday Might, well done!! I hope you are as excited as we are xx And if your Night sucked because you didn't get through, don't despair... there is always next year and the advantage you will have is you know what to practice and you know what to expect!! Also there are other leagues out there wanting new skaters all the time so as our all mighty founder of ADRD says "O" is for options, use them......

Well Fresh Meaters, now is the time we start to make contact  & were not just talking hugs here, so..... Firstly, be in your White top with your real name on it, you want us to get to know you right?? Secondly, you will need to be in your full protective gear, not some of it, all of it!! Helmet, wrist guards, elbow pads, knee pads and a mouth guard. You cannot participate if you dont have these. DaKlinic.com in the city has this stuff in stock and is open on all weekend if you need to get gear. Thirdly, turn up on time. We need you geared up and ready to roll by 7pm, there is alot to go through in the next couple of weeks and you will not want to miss a second of it. Lastly, drink up!!! water that is.....xx

Cant wait to see all your happy faces Monday night!

Love and Bumps from The Sweetest Potato, The Cheesiest of Cauliflowers, The Most Sporting of Sprouts and Mushiest Mushroom Gravy xx

What a fizzer eh?

Well I think the dancing last week must have made the rain gods very pleased! If you weren't able to join us on Monday, the thunderstorm caused a blackout at Parks at 6:20pm, and while we tried to wait for the power to come back on, after 7pm the Parks staff determined that it was unsafe for us to hold training (and the raw meat test) that night.

Bummer!




But it means that you all have an extra week to practise your skills and even more of a chance of progressing through to Fresh Meat!

There were a few faces that we didn’t see at training, so to remind you again, you MUST pass the basic skills test to participate in Fresh Meat. Hopefully we’ll see you all next week.

What the blackout means for the skaters who progress through to Fresh Meat, is that the format will be slightly different as we’ve effectively lost a week. The date for the Skills Test in week 5 cannot be changed (10 Dec), so that means pushing the first three weeks forward and changing the date of the FM Mock Test. New dates now look like this:

FM Week 1 – 19/11
Falls, Jumps & Pack Skating

FM Week 2 – 26/11
Blocking

FM Week 3 – 3/12
Whips & Pushes

FM Week 4 – Thursday 6/12 or Sunday 9/12 (TBC asap)
Mock Test (more on this later)

FM Week 5 – 10/12
Skills Test

First things first thought – getting through next week. Registration for Monday’s test will run exactly the same as this week, starting from 6.15pm. You will be allocated the same number and group, so feel free to again dress in your team colour.

Happy skating and we’ll see you soon.
Love the 3 Veg & Gravy x x x x