Saturday was level two assessments for the BERG newbies.  I fixed my broke-ass skate to the best of my abilities last week and was just hoping and praying that they worked. I woke up very nervous that morning, put on my new skull stockings, grabbed my gear and headed out.

We got out on the floor and some of the girls were already hard at work setting up the track.  Slaughter announced that we would need to warm up on our own, and to make sure that we warmed up doing things that we would be assessed on.  That made sense, so I started skating my laps.

I started out with some small falls, such as the one-knee fall to get my blood pumping.  Once I was warmed up, I started to practice the baseball slide which I knew we would be evaluated on.  I did a baseball slide on my right leg, ripped my stockings and got minor rink rash.  I also did a baseball slide on my left leg, got a major rip in the stocking and major rink rash!  No wonder those stockings were so damn cheap.

After warming up, we were broken up into three groups of five, and sent to different areas for assessments.  The group I was in started off with the agility area. That means that we would be hopping, jumping and sculling first thing in the morning.  I was quickly relieved when my name was called last and I had time to watch the other girls perform first.

After agility, my group moved on to falls and stops.  I had my brand new, only been skated in once before, wheels on and was extremely nervous that I wouldn't stop when I did my plow stop.  I had good reason, since the first time around it didn't happen.  Thank goodness we got two chances to perform the skills.  It seemed like we flew through this part of the assessments and were quickly ushered to the starts skills.

Time was moving way faster than normal during practice, probably because we had so many skills jammed into a two hour time slot.  We started off the starts section with duck starts, which makes you feel retarded since you basically run like a duck on skates; Toe starts were next, I didn't feel like I had problems with that, but apparently we all did to some degree.  We also had to skate in pack formation and when our name was called, duck run out of the pack.

Finally, all the newbies were called into a long line.  We were once again broken up into packs of five.  I ended up being last and I love being last!  You get to watch to make sure you know what you are expected to do! We had to skate in pack formation, and fall when our names were called, sometimes getting up quickly, other times counting to three and rushing back into formation.  The biggest thing was being aware of other skaters and getting back into your pack.

Unfortunately, we didn't have time to be assessed on whips.  They will be finishing up the assessments on November 7th.  I will not be there that day, so I am trying to make other arrangements.  After talking with Slaughter, I will probably go to a Monday or Thursday night practice and get one of the vets to assess me.

If everything goes according to the master plan in my head, I will be bouting the MA exhibition at our November 14th bout!  I have regained my active skater status so all I need to do is pass my assessment and all you need to do is buy your tickets!

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