These are some excellent observations from one of my favourite jammers to watch. I can think of very few people I would rather listen to on this subject than her.

By Kamikaze Kitten

I’m glad Kami has reached this realisation. Rest days are soooo important if you are working out. If you don’t give your muscles etc time to repair and grow then not only will your progress be stunted but you could actually end up doing yourself damage.

What I’m left thinking now is, if Kami was that good before and now she’s improving even more, whoever comes up against her is going to have an absolute force to be reckoned with! Even more excited for Team England vs Team USA now! :)

I totally agree with this!

I would like to think that as a league we have become much better at not berating our refs because quite a few of us have had to stand in at one point or another during scrimmage and we now have first hand experience of how hard it is to spot things when you’re on the outside of the pack.

TBB are fortunate enough to have an extremely dedicated head ref and a steady band of merry NSOs who turn up and clock our scrimmage stats every weekend. Feeling big love for our non-playing league members!!!

Also, we are always look for more refs and NSOs so if you live in or around the Cardiff area and want to get involved, please, please let us know! The more the merrier! ;)

This is the first in a series of posts about the usefulness and ways of turning / spinning when playing derby. Go check out this and the other posts on Kami’s blog. This lady knows her stuff!

This. Totally this.

lolacoaster:

Don’t get me wrong, there’s a plethora of rollergirl blogs kicking about on the interweb. Most are pretty standard blogs about their experience documenting their journey from rookie to travel team, others document their comebacks from injury and others form a collection of different experiences which you can dip in and out of for articles relevant to you.

Somehow, Kamikaze Kitten’s is different. Especially this most recent post which I absolutely adore.

I think, as a community, a lot of us roller derby obsessives forget that it’s okay to sit back and say “shit! Y’know what? It’s getting too much”. I bet we can all think of a time where we have jeopardised something or let someone else down to do something skate-related. It’s okay, don’t be ashamed of it. Seriously, we all do. Love is blind, eh?

The other important thing about this blog is that I think Kami is a skater who is on a pedastal for many people. Myself included; my first live bout featured Kami playing for UvF and I couldn’t stop watching her. I worry that some members of the roller derby family almost section off the best skaters - like LRG and MTL - and forget that they started where we did too. They share the same frustrations and successes and issues and dramas and god knows what else! 

That’s why it’s even more refreshing to see it confirmed; we are all going through the same things. I think Kami has cracked what so many of us pretend isn’t there in derby; she’s been completely honest about it and isn’t sharing it in a ‘woe is me, look what happened’ emo vein, but just candidly sharing a potentially life-changing decision. Yes, it worked out this time, but it could have been different.  

You’re not abnormal or special - derby takes a hold, and when it’s got you, it’s got you good! Whether you’ve just joined a league, whether you’ve just played in the world cup as part of the third best team in the world or whether you have been with your league for two years - there are times when it will get too much, when you will put it first instead of something else and when you just want (and need) to say no.

Anyway, this has become a blog post all on its own without meaning too so basically read this, absorb it, agree with it, pretend it’s not true if you want (sorry? who are you lying to?) and just stop and think.

I love it. Well done that woman!

As I said before - Kami is an amazing jammer and this is a jukey jammer skill she uses all the time.

It’s really good to get her run through of the movements because you never know, you might just be missing that tiny little tip that will make everything ‘click’ for you.

I believe this is the first in a series. If you have ever seen Kami jam then you know how much of a jumpy agile jammer she is - so definitely worth taking a look! And definitely worth taking note of her form.

Happy jumping! :-)

Courtesy of Kamikaze Kitten.

I seriously recommend that anyone doing fast paced or high contact sport do this.

“Prepare and protect” is the moral of the story!