Knee Pain

Another decent practice. What's this, three in a row? I'm on a roll! *snort*

Positional blocking drill. I'm terrible at holding a skater one on one. This is an assessment skill. I doubt I'll improve for redos. Not trying to stress about that. But getting around a skater, I don't do too shabby. I want to be an effective blocker; I don't want to be a jammer. But paired up with big sister last night, she kept praising my skills for getting around her, saying I should be a jammer. I'm comfortable bumping my chest onto her shoulder, using her for leverage to spin around, and then hopefully having enough juice to sprint away. We switched partners, and I got a skater who likes to block facing me. Yikes. But I still managed a couple times to get around her, either by drawing a directional blocking penalty (you're not allowed to block another skater in opposite derby direction/clockwise) or just pushing off her and getting away. Switch partners again and got a newer skater. I wasn't trying as hard, just to make her feel she was doing well, give her a bit more practice with it, then getting around in the same way every time, on the inside, using shoulder to shoulder to push me off, turn around, and go. She asked me, "that thing you're doing to me every time, how to I block against that." I told her I didn't know...cuz I don't.

I guess what even I need to come to terms with..you're not going to always hold the jammer. She's going to get through sometimes. It doesn't mean you played badly.

I took a tough fall sometime during the night. On that same knee I bruised a couple weeks ago when my knee pad dislodged. Nothing you'd think would be bad, just a simple down to one knee. But it was hard and painful. I needed to sit it out for a bit, flexing and stretching. The pain subsided enough for me to keep playing, but anytime I fell on my right knee, it would hurt, like more than my threshold. By the time I got home, it was swollen. So I iced it. Today, it's stiff and tender, is the best way I can describe it. I'm hoping it's fine by Sunday. I would hate to sit out a practice, but my instinct is telling me I definitely could not play on it today, so if it's not better by Sunday, I shouldn't play on it. Yikes.

Scrimmaging. I'm still a hot mess. I'm OK with that as long as I work at staying low. I know I don't always, but I'm hoping I'm staying low for longer. That's my goal. Coach asked me if I felt like it was getting easier out there, more instinctual. I should say yes. But I still feel underwater, which end is up?