Red Rockettes session 3!

Yesterday was the first practice of the third session of Red Rockettes Recreational Roller Derby.
I can't say how much I love these ladies!
We received a nice influx of new skaters, who have dubbed themselves "Soy Cheezies". One of these lovely ladies is a good friend of mine who has decided on Gyro as her new derby name.
I have been very ill all week, and had planned to go to practice and watch. I couldn't resist. I put my skates on and warmed up with the "vets" from last session. I use the term vets loosely, because I personally still feel like a rookie and I think a lot of the others feel the same way. We did some laps and a paceline with weaves. At that point, I started feeling crappy, so I took a few minutes and rested. Once the newbies had all finished their paperwork and I had taken some time to adjust Gyro's brand-new (Quite nice) Skates, it was time for everyone to meet up in the center of the track and stretch/get to know each other. We all introduced ourselves, and stretched out.
Then we started practice with endurance testing. We started with the 25/5 testing. It's a nice place to see where you are at the beginning and a good measure of improvement throughout the course. I was only able to do 24/5, but considering that I spent four days with a fever of 102, which had just broken that morning, I will TOTALLY take 24/5. =)
Gyro did beautifully! She hasn't skated in years, and has similar challenges as the ones I faced 16 weeks ago, but she trusted me, trusted Wanton, and learned to trust her pads. One of the first things I did with her was to tell her to just fall on her knees. Just do it. Really. That's what you just spent all that money for, you have to fall on them to trust them. She dropped to her knees, not as hard as I wanted her to, but she did it. She realized how nice her fancy schmancy new pads (which are nicer than mine BTW.) really are. I learned this from my first derby mentor, Sushi. She had me do the same thing, and it is the best way to learn to trust your pads. Use 'em.
It looks like we have a great group joining us, and our league will benefit from the addition.
I wasn't at my best, and actually skated like I was drunk. I believe that I still have some generalized ickiness that was resolving and kept me off balance. I will do better next week.
I can't wait to see what this new class brings to the league!