Jammer Focused Practice: Mind Blown!

Happy Birthday, Bohnnes! (It's probably spelled wrong...sorry)

Ya'll! Tonight was probably one of the most pivotal practices that I've had in my derby career. I'm tired, I have a long work day ahead of me tomorrow, but I have to document this before I forget. 

Awesome jammer-specific practice! I wanted to get a picture with Hauss, but she had to rush off to travel team practice. 

 So one of my derby idols, Hauss the Boss, led our practice tonight. I remember seeing her jam in the first derby game ever that I watched on Youtube and I was amazed with her agility, speed and sweepy line to line movements. Fast forward to try-outs, she has been nothing but positivity and encouragement. Unfortunately she is retiring (hopefully she'll come back soon) after this season, but I even had the privilege of chatting with her during a shift at the ticket booth and she is a totally cool chick! Best of luck Hauss, as you do all the adulting things!

Up until today, I have always found it difficult to get past a wall without the help of offense. Taking the line was pretty much a sentence for me to be knocked out of bounds, but today, Hauss broke things down and I feel way more confident taking the line to get past blockers.

You can definitely say that tonight's practice helped me fall in love with jamming a little bit more...

We first talked about ineffective practices of jammers. Then, she showed us a move that helps us move the blockers line to line, but then sets us up in a position to be explosive. You basically do a mohawk and then you put the toe stop down from the non-leading foot. We practiced that going line to line. It was weird at first, because it's the opposite of what I usually do, but I started to see how much more nimble and agile that helped me to be.

Then she taught us how to use the mohawk to whip our hips in front of the blocker, while using our opposite shoulder to catch them.  Essentially, you get to use the blockers momentum of pushing you to propel you forward.

The final skill that she taught us to do extended the previous skill a bit, but this time, getting low and sticking your butt out as you move away from the pack after the whip around.

One of our last drills was led by Lethal, another amazing all around derby player and trainer. She worked with us on juking

At the end of practice, we scrimmaged and I was able to get around the blockers using the skills that I learned tonight. A week ago, if put in the same situation, this would not be the case.

I'm excited to see what other skills are out there for me to pick up. I now feel more confident to jam and that's a win! Thanks Hauss!