The New Girl

"It felt scary leaving my comfort zone..."

Three and a half years ago I joined my local roller derby team; this was the best decision that I have ever made. Roller derby is inclusive and accepting. No one is left out. 

In October last year I decided to move from my local team to another team based 26 miles away from where I live. This was a huge decision that I had been thinking about on and off for a whole year. So in October 2017 I decided to leave my team and join the Riot City Ravens.

I recently read a post on ‘oursquad' about how it felt to be the new girl. This, along with a fellow team mate inspired me to write my own post about how it felt to join the team.

It felt scary leaving my comfort zone. In my old team, I had felt pretty experienced, to join a new team where I would be at the bottom of the pile. I knew that I would need to work my way up and gain a whole new skill set.

The Ravens were very welcoming and friendly. They also encouraged me to keep trying and that I would definitely improve by attending their sessions. I would gain new skills; the Ravens are inspiring along with being super supportive. 

Training Session with Luklear Blast of Bristol Roller Derby

I've felt quite disheartened over the past four months and still do from time to time. The girls are continuing to help me build my confidence; they must see that I have potential and something to offer them.

They also invited me along to all of the social events to make sure that I felt part of the team and that I could bond with them. Being friends and having fun seems to be a huge factor for this team, though they are very determined and serious about the sport and they are fierce on track. 

Joining a new “squad” can be scary, but I have only had positive experiences through changing teams. 

I have learnt a lot more about roller derby, trained harder and have made a bunch of new friends.

Changing teams can be daunting or scary, but if all of the teams out there are as amazing, welcoming and friendly as the Riot City Ravens then you'll be fine! 

Nucleah 

Finding Your 'Derby Voice'

'Speak your mind even if your voice shakes...'

The roller derby track is a confusing place to be. There are positions to be maintained, plays to be understood and executed and jammers to be seen and trapped all within a fraction of a second. Effective communication is, therefore key, both on and off the track.

In every team there are players for whom this seems to come easily. They talk to their walls, organise the troops and notice everything. They are trusted and are rarely questioned or blamed even when their decisions might not have a positive outcome. The weird thing is that these players might not always be considered to be the best players on the team or the most experienced, but without them, the wall falls apart.

It is easy to become over reliant on these players, but what happens if you are not lined up with one of them? When for some strange reason all eyes turn to you and you are expected to 'step up' and fill the communication void. In that moment you doubt your ability to do this successfully and you ask yourself a series of self-deprecating questions:

'What if they think that I am too bossy?'

'What if I get it wrong?'

'Why would they listen to me?'

'Surely there's someone better than me who can do the talking?'

In our non-derby life we are all experienced talkers. We might be paid to be leaders at work, we might be in charge of the safety and development of our children. We might suggest nights out with friends, arrange holidays, tell our hairdressers and partners what we want and don't want and we might make calls to get jobs done. However, put us on track and we are suddenly rendered mute. We, therefore, cannot assume that our life experiences mean that we should be 'natural' on-track communicators.

Derby communication is a skill which needs to be practised deliberately. Remembering to communicate and 'shout what you see' is a little bit difficult when your number one focus is often sheer survival or managing two minutes on track without another little trip to the penalty box! There are so many rules to consider and big hits to avoid. It's hard enough to look up most of the time let alone to look around you and communicate the best next move.

In our game we need to practise communication at all times and not just when the whistle goes. On the bench it is helpful to know what jammers want from their blockers and who to ask to do that for you. Being able to change the plan is another important skill to master. What if there are suddenly two blockers in the bin when you go to line up to do that amazing bit of offence off the line that you were planning a minute earlier?

Remembering to listen to instructions from the bench during the jam is also key. This isn't always easy, there is crowd noise to ignore and the shouts of the other excited players to filter out.

After a jam, feedback from the other players and coaches should be direct and timely. Individuals should not be blamed for the failure of any one move and the bigger picture of the match should be considered. Equally as individuals we need to learn to receive feedback and to ask questions with a thick skin. Any perceived criticism can be turned into targets for improvement if the problem is fully understood.

As with everything in this sport, sometimes you just have to rise to the challenge and have a go. Take a risk and see what happens. We will never be ready if we just keep waiting to be. Even if you don't really have a clue, if you shout your command with enough conviction, people will do it anyway. If it fails, will anyone really remember that it was your idea?

Photography Credit:- Questionmark Photography

The Countdown: British Champs 2017

 

British Champs logo and league table from www.britishchamps.com

At Ravens HQ the countdown to the 2017 British Championships has begun. Saturday 18th March will see the Ravens boarding the party bus and heading down the M5 to play North Devon Roller Derby at home in the first bout of the women's T3: Regional South division. This season's Champs have expanded to include a wider range of teams and we are looking forward to being part of this exciting competition. Our second place ranking last year meant that we have been promoted to Tier 3 and we are going to be facing some tough competition. We are confident that the new walls and plays that we have been drilling will mean that we are real contenders. Our coaching team has been encouraging urgency and pack awareness and skaters have been setting their own improvement goals. Mindset sessions, fitness challenges and footage analysis with experienced referees have all helped us to prepare. Last year taught us a lot and the stats below tell us that we should be proud of our jammers and blockers and with a full strength team, we are ready to do it again!

Stats and league table from www.britishchamps.com

Our LUM, Devil's Snare thinks that moving up a tier is a big challenge in terms of our mental and physical fitness and the only thing standing in our way will be our own self doubt. Her hope is that we will end this season even stronger and more cohesive than we are right now. Star blocker Morganator is looking forward to the structure and challenge that the British Champs brings and she thinks that we will rise to the occasion and bond even more as a team. Our team preparation and hard work gives us strength and if we fail, we learn!

So...here it is, our 2017 Champs schedule. It would be amazing to see you all at our home bout in Cwmbran or at our away bouts if you fancy it! Don't forget that you can follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and for more information about the British Championships please visit: www.britishchamps.com.

March 18th 2017

Riot City Ravens vs North Devon Roller Derby - AWAY

May 6th 2017

Riot City Ravens vs Bath Roller Derby - AWAY

June 3rd 2017

Riot City Ravens vs Cornwall - AWAY

June 24th 2017

Riot City Ravens vs Dorset - HOME

We are looking forward to smashing some ladies on a track near you very soon! See you there!!!

A Raven State of Mind

beXtreme and Nockout relaying Richard's session to our freshmeat

Growth mindset theory with Richard Jones

@MrRAJones           www.sweetspotlearning.com

The Ravens believe that mindset can have a huge impact on our performance level. To be a better player does not necessarily mean that you must train harder or longer. Successful training must involve both mental and physical components and a successful coach will teach psychological skills and strategies as well as providing physical challenge and technique. As Ravens we aren’t satisfied with brushing off poor performance as an ‘off day’ and we want to learn how to analyse why things didn’t go our way.

We recently invited Richard Jones an experienced teacher, coach and public speaker to deliver a training session on the transformative power of growth mindset and deliberate practice.

Richard started the session by introducing us to Carol Dweck’s "fixed vs growth" mindset theory debate. 

People with a fixed mindset might believe that:

•      Skills are something that we are born with
•      If someone is successful it is because they are talented
•      Challenges are something to be feared because they might reveal a lack of skill
•      Perseverance will not help
•      Effort is futile. If you can’t do it, you aren’t good enough
•      Failure is blamed on other factors including other people
•      Feedback is taken personally

People with a growth mindset tend to believe that:

•       Skills come after practice
•       Feedback is something that you can learn from
•       Failure is a learning opportunity
•       Skills can be improved
•       Effort leads to mastery
•       Talent is overrated

Richard also explained the myelination process. When we practise something over and over again our brain creates a substance called myelin that grows and wraps around our brain’s axons acting as insulation for our nerve fibres. Axons that are well insulated with myelin send faster impulses to our muscles. In roller derby our skills often require split second timing; therefore, well developed brain pathways are very important. Richard suggested that the best way to increase myelin is through deep and deliberate practice. We should aim to practice skills that are just beyond our comfort zone and failure or falling over should be seen as a learning opportunity. The process of failing and trying again is how our brain creates myelin. In a nutshell, if you can’t do something you need to train your brain to be able to do it.

“Practice makes myelin and myelin makes perfect.” – The Talent Code – Daniel Coyle

Coming out of our comfort zone is an important training requirement for us all including the most experienced of our players who might feel that they have reached the ceiling of their skill level. Richard used the example of James Nottingham’s learning pit to explain this.

Richard explained that excellence is a choice and we need to be prepared to pair up with and learn from people who are better than us. Teaching others will always help the best players to hone their own skills. Personal goals and reflection are vital but it is also important to accept the fact that the myelination process might take four or five years to happen.

The language that we use to talk to ourselves can also be improved through growth mindset training. Richard suggested that simply adding ‘yet’ to our negative self-talk could make a difference to us. “I can’t do it” becomes “I can’t do it..yet” and coaches should aim to specifically praise effort in our sessions.

As individuals we need to take responsibility for our own thoughts and fears and we can’t expect our coaches to emotionally drag us through. We discussed anxiety reducing techniques such as positive imagery, negative thought blocking and rational vs catastrophic thinking. Richard showed us a peak flow arousal chart and suggested that we should be aiming for high somatic arousal with low cognitive anxiety. Basically this means that we should feel physically ready without worrying about it. Some might describe this as being in ‘the zone’.

                                                     

We all want to win, but are we all prepared to hold ourselves to a level of excellence?

We need to be prepared to practise, fail, correct ourselves and ask for advice. We need to overcome challenges, set our own goals and regularly review our performance. Above all else we need to value the skills of our individual players and should not waste time judging ourselves against those who we perceive to be better than us. This is the Raven state of mind!

Big thanks to Rich for a very valuable training session!

Recommended Reading

Bounce – Matthew Syed

The Talent Code – Daniel Coyle

Outliers – Malcom Gladwell

Grit – Angela Duckworth

These girls can!

'Empowered women empower women'

International Women's Day: reflections from the Ravens

Last night, like every other Wednesday night the Riot City Ravens trained together. We chatted, coached, laughed, watched, observed, guided, demonstrated, listened and advised. We hit each other, pushed each other, bruised, criticised and congratulated each other and it struck me that we are so very lucky to have this place where we belong.

Our team accepts women (and men) from a range of backgrounds, ages, fitness levels and experiences without judgement. We are all encouraged to develop our skills and to become fully fledged Ravens. There is no hiding place and from the very beginning new girls are introduced to the contact side of the game. Being a derby girl requires self discipline and a level of mental and physical toughness that might be considered unnatural for women. To know this you only need to watch the faces of people who have never heard of the sport as you describe what we actually do.

Society might decide that we are an unusual breed of tough, strong women who fear nothing and who are busy developing an army of like minded women who are strong enough to stand up against men.

The truth is that equality isn't about making women stronger than men. We are already strong, but it's about changing the way that society perceives our strength and how we bring that out in each other. Our sport proudly showcases female strength and resilience, but what might not be so obvious is the teamwork that has led us to feel confident enough to demonstrate it. We know that our Raven teammates are right behind us. If we get it wrong, they will cover it and this empowers us to risk failure.

So often being a strong woman is defined by women as being in opposition to a man. We are 'just as tough as men', 'faster than men' and some of us can 'hit harder than men.' These attitudes mean that we are constantly trying to live up to the expectations of others. In roller derby, this does not need to happen unless you choose to take part in co-ed games and it gives us a unique freedom to develop our sporting strength away from the male comparison. Our role models are usually females and being a woman does not hold us back.

In our real lives some of us are haunted by self doubt and a feeling that we don't really deserve to be in leadership positions or in charge of something important. This has recently been named as 'imposter syndrome' where we fear being exposed as a fraud. There has been a rise in young women reporting this feeling in their personal and professional lives. In our derby lives we are all acutely aware of each other's strengths and weaknesses and after a while this honesty liberates us.

The Ravens that I have spoken to do not feel that derby has changed their female identity, but they all agree that it has empowered them to find their inner strength and confidence. All described the influence that their teammates have had on them to stand tall, to be strong and to learn fast. We all hope that other women will find a safe place where they are free to belong, to express themselves and to learn to be proud of their strength.

No fishnets please, we’re British

Helen Degenerate #333 is one of our newest Ravens, she transferred to us from Austrailia no less (although she is a Welsh Girl by birth!)

Here is how she has found the transistion between Roller Derby from OZ to the UK...

I joined RCR in Feb 2015.  But I started playing roller derby in Australia back in 2012.  I joined a new

league in Sydney’s Inner West that had been started six months earlier by a group of women who

were passionate about roller skating and wanted to strike out alone and create a new local roller

derby team.  Sound familiar?  I think that’s why I feel so at home as one of RCR’s newest Ravens. 

There’s something very special about playing with a smaller, newer team with lots of enthusiasm,

lots to learn and lots to prove.  My old team in Oz has gone from strength to strength over the last 3

years and I think the Ravens have started something pretty special here in Newport too.

I’m still adjusting to the way roller derby is played at RCR and in general in the UK.  For starters,

remembering to pronounce “derby” the British way and learn all the British derby lingo (eg you

catch a goat in the UK vs a bunny in Australia).  I read a derby article the other day that said in the

UK skaters don’t wear fishnets because it’s just not the way the sport is played here.  The serious

sport vs show argument is an ongoing discussion in the derby world and I am on the fence of

wanting the sport to be taken seriously but still wanting to play in sparkly hotpants.  But hearing a

“no fishnets we’re British!” attitude did make me pine to see a bit more of the diversity and fun

elements that are still common in the Australian scene.  Maybe I need to get to a few more bouts

here to see a bit more. 
 

Helen on track with RCR at our British Champs game vs Bath Roller Derby

When it comes to actually playing the game I have found at RCR that how blockers work as a team

together has evolved way beyond the standard flat four wall.  I have come to appreciate and rely on

the “fat controller” and other formations we use, it’s dynamic, strong and works really well for a

team of mostly smaller players.  While we were beginning to see a lot more of that in Australia it

seems to be standard gameplay here and it’s been great learning and developing new skills. 

I recently played my first bout as a Raven in RCR’s second bout of the 2015 British Championships

and we played Bath Roller Derby Girls.  Bath are a well-established and experienced team and it

showed with a big win for them.  I was so impressed by how well the Ravens handled being basically

hammered for 60+ minutes by a superior team.  At half time our coach and benches gave us a great

pep talk about focussing on what we personally wanted to take away from the second half and

making it happen for our own development.  And reminding us that the whole reason we played the

sport was to get out there and enjoy playing, whatever the scoreboard said.  It was the best thing we

could have heard and we turned the bout into a great learning experience.  We had a blast and had a

few great moments; Laura Face Palmer’s amazing power jam was a highlight.  Nothing like adversity

to bring out the best in a team with the right words to motivate you.

Since that game we have been training hard in preparation for our next British Champs Round 3

game, which will be hosted by RCR.  This will be our first official home bout.  The Raven’s coaching

team has a strong vision for how we need to play and are pushing us hard. I think we have so much

potential going into this bout as a strong, focussed team who are learning more about playing

together every drill, training session and scrimmage we do.  Look out Wiltshire we’re coming for

you!

Helen with her Oz team mates - note the fishnet tights!