Tuesday, October 9, 2018

Week 5 - Assists and Crossovers

by Striking Dervish
This week we start skating near other skaters and make contact for the first time in the form of the friendly assist.  All of the skills you have been working on up until now have been preparing you to be a good skater, but roller derby’s challenges include how to deal with other skaters around you, and this is what we start to touch on this week.

Paceline Skating

Pacelines are our first practice for skating near someone for distances, simulating what happens on the track.  It takes some adjustments to skate in close proximity to other derby skaters in order to keep from tripping each other.  We are also working on our endurance at this time.  
Some things to keep in mind:
  1. Try to stay one arms length behind the person in front of you
  2. Modify your stride/crossover slightly to keep your feet from kicking the person behind you
  3. Stay in derby stance!
  4. Use t-stops / snowplows when necessary to slow down and not run into the skater ahead of you
  5. Pick up your feet in a stepping/running motion (without kicking outwards!) when needed to catch up to the skater in front of you
  6. If you fall out of line, try to get back to the line quickly
Assists 

Pushing

Pushes are extremely useful for helping your teammate move to a new position quickly.  Generally speaking, you have more momentum than the person who is receiving the push, and you are giving him/her that speed.  Examples of when you might use it:
  • Pushing your point scorer past an opposing blocker.
  • Helping your teammate move forward in the pack.  
  • Pushing a teammate into or towards an opposing skater to make a block you can’t reach.
We practice and test this skill from behind the skater who is receiving the push.  In motion, you will perform the following:
  1. When the skater is within arm’s reach, grab them on either side just above the hips, with the thumbs lying across the hip bone.
  2. Continue your skating momentum towards the other skater while your arms collapse into your own body. Making contact prior to fully reaching the skater will also allow for him/her to know that you are about to give them a push.
  3. Once your arms are fully bent, push outwards fully, keeping your arms parallel to the floor (don’t push upwards or downwards).
Both the giver and receiver must  be in derby stance for the entirety of the skill.  Ideally, the receiver also skates out of the push to utilize the new speed.


Hip Assist

Hip assists are beneficial when you need some assistance in speeding up (the person being assisted is actually the one initiating contact).  To take a hip assist off of your teammate:
  1. Approach from directly behind
  2. Grab at the hips
  3. Pull inwards and then to the side
Remember: you are taking your teammate’s momentum from him/her, so he/she should slow down from your performing this skill.  Both skaters must be in derby stance to give or receive.


Standard Whip

Whips are another method of offering your speed to your teammate.  Typically, it is performed by a blocker to a point scorer to assist him/her getting through the pack or getting them moving quickly from the front of the pack to his/her jammer lap.  It usually utilizes the whipper’s right arm (keeping in mind the direction of skate).
Person giving the whip:
  1. Hold your arm directly behind you, parallel to the floor.  Your palm should be downwards, and your hand should be closed.  
  2. Once your teammate has a secure grasp of your wrist (you should feel a slight tug), move your arm around your body to the front, keeping it straight and parallel to the floor throughout.  Note that the motion happens with a full torso turn.  You should not be solely using your arm or you risk strain on your shoulder.  
  3. Use your knuckles to point towards the direction you want your teammate to go.  This is where your arm should stop.  In order to point your knuckle, note that you will need to keep your arm straight in front.
Person receiving the whip:
  1. Grab the whipper’s wrist underneath with your left hand and on top with your right hand.  The whipper’s closed fist should act as a stopper to keep you from slipping off.
  2. Pull his/her fist towards your chest and lean back slightly.  
Please note: The MADE standard whip is slightly different than a whip taught by WFTDA


Standard Whip Up w/ Push-Out

The standard whip with a push out starts the exact same way that a standard whip does.  However, instead of completing the full whip motion, we stop about halfway through and switch to a push.  The transition between whip and push will have to be quick.  Some skaters utilize a windmill motion with their right arm over the teammate’s head to get into position quickly for the push.  Don’t forget the proper hand placement of the push.  If you rush too much and push in the wrong spot or wrong direction, you are liable to push your teammate down.  If you are receiving the whip, make sure you don’t hold on longer than necessary!  
A possible application: you have started a whip but realize that an opposing blocker has gotten in the way of fully executing the whip.  Instead, you decide to push your teammate out of the way of this blocker.  


Around the World Whip & Push Out

Around the world whip and push out starts the same way as the standard whip.  In the same manner as the standard whip with a push out, we stop the whip halfway, but this time we grab our teammates hips to pull him/her to our left side in order to form a two wall.  Again, be careful of hand placement, and receivers should not hold on to the whip longer than necessary.


Half-Spin/Waitress Whip

A half spin utilizes the motion of a transition to give the power for a whip.  To give a half-spin whip:
  1. Start by skating backwards away from your teammate.
  2. Offer both arms with palms upwards (like a waitress holding a platter).
  3. The receiver will take hands (wrists if possible, but may not be possible due to wristguards).
  4. Continue holding arms outright while transitioning from backwards to forwards.
While practicing this skill, you may be going at a slow pace and therefore may stop on the track.  For the sake of practicing a legal maneuver, you’ll want to speed up as you are comfortable and practice not stopping on the track since making contact with even your own teammates while stopped on the track is illegal.


Full-Spin Whip

A full spin is given when the faster skater is coming up from behind the skater needing an assist.  To give a full-spin whip:
  1. Grab your teammate’s right hand with your right hand.
  2. Transition from forwards to backwards, ending in front of your teammate.
  3. Grab your teammate’s left hand with your left hand over top of your right hands which should still be clasped.  (Your arms should now be crossed with lefts on top).  
  4. Transition again to complete a half-spin whip.
Note that the person taking the whip never turns.  Essentially, their only part is clasping your hands and taking a half spin whip.  If you are receiving the whip and end up pulling your partner prior to the ending half spin, you may pull him/her off balance, and the skill will not likely be practical at full pack speed.


Crossovers

We continue our work with crossovers to make them as efficient as possible for endurance.  This week, we want to really exaggerate our push and underpush.

Wall Push

To get the idea of what the push and underpush should really look like, we work on wall pushes.
To simulate the push:
  1. Stand with your left side facing the wall and your left foot approximately one foot away from the wall.
  2. Lean your left shoulder against the wall.
  3. Extend your right leg away from the wall as far as you can and place all four wheels of the right foot on the floor.
To simulate the underpush:
  1. Stand with your left side facing the wall and your right foot approximately one foot away from the wall.
  2. Lean your left shoulder against the wall.
  3. Extend your left leg behind your right leg and away from the wall as far as you can and place all four wheels of the left foot on the floor. (Note that it is important to extend away from the wall.  Your foot should not be behind you).
For both of these, note how much you are leaning on the edge of the skate closest to the wall.  This is also necessary for your crossovers as is the lean towards the center of the track.

Exaggerated Crossovers

Now that you have an idea of the positioning, attempt to exaggerate your crossovers and hit these positions around the apex of the track.  Remember to really dig in with the outside edge of the left skate and the inside edge of the right skate while extending the other leg fully.
To force more use of your edges and crossovers, we add a counterweight with someone holding on to your right arm around the turn.  You will have to lean in and dig into the floor with your edges in order to stay on the track.

Conclusion

This is a fun week!  Assists by nature are helpful and can provide some necessary speed at opportune moments.  And really getting your crossovers will help you immensely with your speed around the track.
Next week we’ll start getting more into our paceline drills as well as pack skating, getting us one step closer to skating around each other on the track!

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