We all now know about the lemon pair of skates that I bought when I first made the Big Easy Rollergirls, and how I had to rig them in order to go to level 2 assessments. Well, after all the heartache and misery I decided that I would treat myself to a new pair of skates and make the lemons outdoor skates in hopes this would end the skate issues once and for all!

I did some serious research and asked opinions of some of the girls and decided on the Reidell 265s. Since I had just ordered wheels and only skated on them once, I built my own skates instead of ordering the pre-built ones. I did upgrade the plates and the stoppers.

Saturday we didn't have practice because of Halloween, but if you were at Voodoo, there is a chance that you might have seen some Rollergirls rolling around out there! Monday, I was unable to go to practice because my son, Kyle, was sick. Which meant that Thursday was the practice for me.

I have never been to a Thursday practice. Newbies were just allowed to start attending since we did the contact part of our assessments on October 24th. I had my new skates on and was worried about how that would work out for me. I fell more than I have ever fallen before, either because of the difficulty of practice, not being on skates for a week or because of the newness of the skates. I have two bruises the size of baseballs on each leg...matching sets, because it is always important to match.

We did some warm-ups, mostly the usual; falling, hitting, sprinting, squatting. We did some new stuff too, like a pinball drill where you have a girl on each side and you are hitting them back and forth. Then it was on...scrimmage time! Slaughter was sure to let us know, that the Vets would be participating 100% in the scrimmage, while newbies would only be in about 50%. I didn't care if I would be sitting out half the time, as long as I got to scrimmage.

We were broken up into three packs. For the first jam, Slaughter looked at me and told me to be the jammer. Yes! I love jamming! Here is the catch, I couldn't skate once I hit the back of the pack, the pack had to pull me through. Once the jam was over, I was excited and pumped up to go again.

I was once again put into the jam, this time as a blocker. We had to pull the jammer through while blocking the other team. It is hard. You have to look around and make sure you know where your jammer is, where the opposing team jammer is, where the blockers are, if there are holes in the pack that would allow the other team's jammer through and if there are holes you need to skate hard to fill in the holes. I felt like I let their jammer slide through several times.

The scrimmage rules changed the next time I was put in again. This time we had to push other team mates into the opposing team to block. Once again...very hard! The final time I went in, Slaughter looked at me and asked what I had done already. I told her I played every position, so she asked me what I wanted to do...I said, "I want to JAM!"

I don't really know how many times we scrimmaged, but I do know that I was the jammer four times and lead jammer three times! I also know that Deb U Taunt is a force to be reckoned with. I could not get past her and Menopause Maniac didn't help out when she came out of nowhere and blocked me, even though we were on the same team.

It was such a fun practice, even though I got beat to hell and have the bruises everywhere to prove it. I also figured out a few things in the process. I need to get comfortable in my new skates and remember to stay low when I get hit as that will help me not fall so much.

This Saturday is the second half of our level 2 assessments and as long as I pass, I will be in the Marigny Antoinettes Exhibition during our bout on November 14th. So here is hoping that my new skates don't fail me!

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