Coaching

Best. Bout poster. Ever.

It's been a busy busy week here in The Land of Bruja. Back at training, working out really hard (when life gets stressful I reach for the sports bra), focusing on upcoming bouts and races, and entering a new stage in my derby career.

I've always been interested in coaching new skaters, and at the start of the year inquired about joining the coaching committee just to help out with the fresh meat. I was told I needed more experience (which I did), and with a post-season committee reshuffle, I found myself in an assistant coaching slot. Our new fresh meat intake started last night, and I was able to go along and help out.

What an opportunity! It's so energising to be with new people, hearing such an enthusiasm for our sport and drive to succeed. We had over 50 skaters start the course last night, and it's so exciting to think of them passing skills, learning to scrimmage, and joining the league. I like to think that teaching is something I can do pretty well (after all, I get a lot of practice) and I got some really positive feedback from both new recruits and other coaches alike.

I also found out that I am now OFFICIALLY Irn Bruja! The Master Roster has been updated and I am now the only official Irn Bruja in the whole world. That's pretty awesome to me, feels like I've, I dunno, arrived somehow? That I'm more legitimate? Sounds very petty I know, but there's something pretty cool about seeing my humble name and number on the same list as Bonnie D. Stroir, Atomatrix, and Suzy Hotrod.

There's me! Yay!

 To complete the derby week, I realised that my derbyversary was a couple of weeks ago. I was on stand down at the time so didn't really notice, but it's been a whole twelve months since I first strapped on a pair of shitty rental skates and wobbled my way around the rink, getting noisy encouragement from Bruizilla (BAM!). To think that in the last twelve months I've gone from thinking jeans were the best thing I owned to skate in, to being on the same team as my first coach, being on the travel team, and coaching myself, is pretty damn rad.
I think I've come pretty far in my first year, there's still so much to learn and the learning curve is still steep. However, I've still got the enthusiasm for playing and skating that I did when I first wobbled off the rink last July, babbling about how Bruizilla was totally awesome and I needed my own skates and when could I do it again bibble bibble. It's been an incredibly fraught year, in which things have changed for me A LOT (mostly good, but that good has come with lots of bad), but derby has helped provide a mental and physical buffer that has seen me get through it better than I would have otherwise. I've made a lot of friends, some very close (though as one pointed out "we only ever really talking about hitting people, does that count as conversation?") and now feel like I'm living in the right place for the first time in a very, very long time.

Did I mention I love this sport? I totally love this sport.