Jan 12 2013...Lesson Learned.

As I was driving towards R-way skate center, the site of tryouts, a flock of butterflies were fluttering like crazy in my stomach.  I was NERVOUS!  I was not nervous about the skating aspect because I really thought I had it nailed (we will get to that in a bit) but nervous about being able to understand and communicate with the RRR league.  I was nervous that I was not able to lip-read.  I was nervous that they would not be able to understand my nasal deaf speaking voice at all and looked at me like I am doing the alien-speak.   I was nervous that I would do the drills incorrectly and made an utter fool out of myself due to misunderstanding.  Believe me, I can butcher English language mercilessly at times when lip-reading.   An excellent example, that viral you-tube video titled NFL Lipreading or something like that.  Yep, I actually thought that was what they said when I first lip-read these players' and coaches' lips in the video.  Scarily accurate but hilarious! 

Anyway, I  am veering off..  Let's get back to the subject, tryouts.  Holy smokes, when I arrived at the R-way skate center, there was a line of ladies outside.  There were a lot of ladies trying out, damn! The more people there are, the more nervous I got.   It was alright, I thought to myself, I could do this!   Once I approached the sign-in table and signed myself in, this was it.  There was no turning back.  

It was time to skate and roll!  I put on the rental skates with the cocky arrogant thought that I would ROCK this since I was an awesome skater during my childhood.  I thought once I put on the skates, I would automatically skate gracefully and effortlessly without taking into consideration it has been years (many years kthx) since I last skated.   Fuck, was I wrong...dead wrong!  I got up immediately after putting on the skates, not even few steps forward, I flailed my arms everywhere falling and putting all the pressure on my right arm while trying to protect my bad knee with my left hand.  It was a VERY undignified awkward fall.  I was mortified, confused, and pissed.  I shook it off and got right back up,  It occurs to me now that I did not felt pain during that initial fall (yes, there were more, just whatever), just the injury of my pride and the bruising of my ego.

It was time to gather around for the inital " welcome speech" by the RRR league president, Lucifurious.  As I skated wobbly to the DJ booth to get a closer look at Lucifurious' face, I caught a familiar face among the sea of ladies.  Yes! It was a CODA, child of deaf adult.  What a lucky break for me (I do not know about her haha....I do sometimes feel bad that I had to rely on her for interpreting when she should have been skating or enjoying the moments just being herself ).  In excitement, I nearly fell as I approached her, thank God I did not grab her arm when I nearly fell or that would be SO humilating.  She looked surprised to see me and volunteered to interpret for me if needed. Awesome!

After the welcome speech, all the skaters had to head out to the rink to warm-up by skating laps around the rink then begin the tryouts process.    First, I want to say that RRR league conducted a very well-organized process and it went very smoothly.  They did a fantastic job with this tryouts!   They were the nicest bunch of ladies you could ever meet and they were awesome in putting a lot of us at ease.

Okay, here is a simple breakdown of the tryouts process (derby sistas, correct me if I'm wrong):

1. Future skaters were divided into groups (I believe four groups)
2. There were four stations with two RRR vets assigned to each station
1. Station 1: Derby Stance
2. Station 2: Toe walk, Duck walk, and something else I couldn't remember
3. Station 3: Crossovers
4. Station 4: T-stop and Plow Stop
3. Each group spent 10 minutes or so at each station.  At the sound of whistle blast, each group then would rotate to the next station.   
4. The process continued until the last group completed the last station.
5. One on one interview with the RRR vets

During the tryouts process, I have spent more time "kissing the floor" than I would've liked. I was very wobbly. WTF?  What the hell was going on here?  Why couldn't I skate?!  It was like my body was taken over by a very uncoordinated alien who had never skated.  After two stations and numerous falls (lost count after fourth fall but I kept getting right back up...the stubborn fool I was),  my right wrist was swelling up to the twice its size and throbbing in pain, my tailbone was hurting, and holy hell those shin splints! 

Halfway through the third station, I had to opt out.  Every time I bent my wrist, the sharp pain shot up throughout my arm.  As I glanced down at my right wrist, it looked like shit.  Swollen and could hardly move it without whimpering like a big baby.  Common sense took over right there....in order to prevent further trauma, I had no choice but to opt out.   As I skated towards the concession area to get ice for my wrist, I bit back my tears.  Disappointed in myself for not completing the stations.  Pissed at myself for not skating well.  I sat at the table and nursed my wounded wrist as well as ego.  A couple of RRR vets skated up to me and gave me the words of encouragement.  I was touched by their up-lifting words with a touch of geunine concern.  It was like they do care.  Such an amazing group of skaters and they momentarily lifted me from a funk I was in.  I want to be like them!

I stuck around until the last group completed their station.  I stuck around to do the interview.   I honestly thought I was done for since I did not complete the station 3 and 4.  It was over, as I thought. After the interview and it was very challenging since I could not sign due to wrist injury,  I just went on home feeling a bit defeated.

Once I arrived home,  I went straight for a hot bath. It was a bitch getting into the bathtub since my tailbone hurted as hell!  As the aches and pains melted away in the lavender scented espsom soaked water, my head full of doubts eventually cleared and my determination slowly returned stronger than before.  I will be back....

Next entry...Second Chance.   Stay tuned!