Practices will be cancelled through the month of march to promote social distancing during the COVID crisis. Huge thanks to everyone who stepped up to keep all the best parts of this team functioning at maximum capacity! Feint set up a Slack channel to aid communication. Tart is maintaining a newsletter to keep us in each other’s business. Arty has already hosted a stretching video on FB Live. OCCRD has been a wonderful ray of sunshine in this otherwise dark and scary time. Thanks to the board, our vets, our 101s, and our friends of the team, you are the best!!!
Sunday is the first day of 101 Bootcamp. Please share and attend this event! Bootcamp will take place 4:00-4:00 pm on Sunday, March 1st. Please connect with the board to find out what gear is needed for the fresh meat.
From 5:00-7:00 (Skater Check-In is at 4:30), we will be hosting IC’s first Sur5al tournament! We have all the teams lines up and most of the logistics worked out, I am very excited for this event. There should be just about 2 hours of derby, then an after party at Club Car! We welcome helpers, but we are not advertising this event to the public.
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Sur5al went swimmingly! Thank you so much for your amazing support and enthusiasm!
We will spend this week making the most of our defensive strategy. The post-bout survey said that offense should be a top priority before our next bout. I agree. I am not the greatest resource for offense so I’m having experts lead some upcoming practices. Before we get to that, I want to make sure our pack fundamentals are bulletproof! This week is about making sure we know what position we should be playing at any given moment during a bout. Then we can move on to learning how to play those positions. These past few bouts have me really excited for this upcoming season. The growth is amazing, thank you all!
This weekend was a success because of 3 things: the great work we have put into this season, our commitment to improving as a team, and our never-say-die attitudes (especially jammers, they hooked it up). We were put in a difficult position and never stopped skating our best. Positive attitudes helped us win and I want to keep that up, it’s working. Thank you for all your contributions to our great weekend and fantastic start to our 2020 season. Please post your photos!
The preseason survey showed that fitness is a top priority. Derby can be a great way to stay in shape, as long as you push your limits in the right direction. Team Iowa Physical Therapy is visiting on Wednesday night to give a group presentation about injury prevention and answer individual questions. Thanks to Arty for setting that up!
Self-care is not just about taking it easy. Its about honoring your body and the progress it makes. Push your own limits and let the board know if you need to miss practice. Deep breaths, lovelies!
I hope everyone heard, the board announced that that March dues are comped to offset the cost of jerseys. Again, thanks to Arty for setting up a awesomely successful bingo fundraiser! If derby ever becomes a burden on you, financially or otherwise, please reach out to the board and they will help.
Sunday, February 16th
***No practice today. Use this time to visit our sponsors, rest up, or get stronger!
The skater assessment is an opportunity for new and recovering skaters to test for WFTDA eligibility. The minimum skills test can be found here! We will take time during warm up for you to talk with the vets through any questions you have. The next skater assessment will be in May.
*Thanks for filling in! S/O to Deb and some other lovely leaders.
Wednesday, February 12th
Pre-Bout practice will be a good Technical Walk-Through of our offensive and defensive strategies. Please bring questions, concerns, and take it easy on your bodies!
We had some really good strategy discussion at practice. Our primary game-plan is to get lead, get our jammer out, then call the jam. The key to playing offense in the wall is knowing your jammer.
We always line up in the back when we get lead. DO NOT chase the other wall when we have lead. When our jammer reaches our wall, we skate as a pack to get our jammer through, get to the front, and call it off before the opponent gets our points.
We need to think a little differently when we lose lead. ALWAYS take the cap off as soon as we lose lead. The pivot should be ready to receive at the front of the pack. The rest of the wall should be working together to get the jammer through. Our main focus is getting our jammer out at any cost.
Once both jammers are out and ours is behind, we need to think about how to use our jammer’s strengths.
For fast jammers, use speed
For strong jammers, use strength
If our jammer is faster than the opponent, we will get to the front and make a fast pack to buy our jammer time to catch up. If our jammer is stronger than the opponent, we will make a wall in the back and hold the opponent until our jammer can catch up.
Some key phrases to listen for:
Seal to the Front: Start in the back and skate with the jammer, get away from the points
Fast Pack: Stay out in front of the other team and speed up the whole pack
Wall in Back: Set up strong defense in the back to catch and hold the other jammer
We will cover more during practice, feel free to bring any questions or suggestions!
There was some amazing derby at this weekend’s hard-fought bout. I was most impressed that we had a full roster by the end! We did not lose a single player to penalties, injury, or fatigue. This is because you played wherever and whenever you were needed and vocalized when you needed a break. Thanks to our bench staff for facilitating this communication.
This weekend was about points but these next few weeks are about learning. Playing against men gave us the opportunity to experience harder hits, bigger bodies, and a different style of derby than we are used to. We played outside our usual positions and styles. We have another short roster in a few weeks so let’s keep working hard
This week, I’d like you to think about a few things:
2 things you did well and how you can maximize that to serve the team
2 specific areas where you can work toward improvement
1 word you will bring into our Fox Cities bout
We have one practice this week, please fill out this survey by Wednesday.
*New/Recovering skaters, when should we hold an official skating assessment?
*Note: Weather conditions are sub-optimal today but practice will run as usual. Please use caution and best judgement when planning transportation to and from practice. Allow extra time for travel and check the forecast for after practice. With the bout on Saturday, tonight will be low-strain but very informative so please do your best to be there on time.
Warm Up (20 Minutes)
Laps
Footwork
Stretches
Discussion – What is a goal you have for the team, your line, or yourself this Saturday?
Old Capitol Drills and Skills 