How to make sliders for Arius

I am skatepark mad and whilst building proper ramp skates, I have been skating with my dear old derby skates. Looking at the plate (Powerdyne Arius size 4), I thought that I could easily fix some plastic on it to help to protect the plate and get me grinding. This is what the plate looks like without the sliders. Handy holes there for fixing the sliders on.

I tested them at the park quickly today (it started to rain) and they feel OK, although I only got to test them for stalls. I will report back once I have tested them properly for grinds! I haven't done any grinding before as I haven't had grinders so it's going to be interesting, ha ha.

Powerdyne Arius plate

How to make the sliders/grinders (grind blocks) for Arius plate

1. Buy a chopping board (cost 80p)
2. Cut a slider template from cardboard
3. Trace 4 shapes on the chopping board using the template
4. Cut the shapes (an electric jig saw works fine)
5. Clamp the cut shapes together and sand them even (electric sander is useful!)
6. Mark the holes on a shape
7. Clamp two shapes together and drill through both
8. Get two bolts, nuts and four washers - and fix the shapes on the plate!

I took about 40 minutes to make these. The chopping board plastic cuts very nicely and does not melt when sawn but goes powdery. 

I made the shape with a shallow V, but they could be made any shape. They feel really solid. There is not much space on the plate for them to sit on, but I hope it's enough.

There is a wide enough gap and the chopping board is think enough to give some sliding surface. 

Sneaky nasty muscle imbalance

I went to see a physio last week. Her judgement after a couple of tests: You have weak abs. Your inner core is not working.

What!? But I can plank 3 minutes, what is this?

I'd had my suspicions after struggling with the special sit-ups that were part our roller derby fitness test. Then I recalled a pilates session where all the old ladies were rolling up and I just could not. There was a picture that I'd spotted on Google, weak abs going with weak glutes. Yes, the previous physio judgement had been weak glutes... and hamstrings.

My body didn't know about the muscles.

Obliques ...and what else is there?

I started roller derby some 4 and half years ago, having not been very active for years. My body started using the muscles that it knew about - quads and external obliques. Only now I know that my body wasn't firing up my glutes, hamstrings or inner core. They'd got so lazy from all the sitting down and my body had forgotten how to use them.

Through training my quads and obliques got stronger and stronger.

They started compensating for the lazy muscles which got weaker.

I mastered 3 minute plank, not knowing that in fact it was the massive obliques doing the job... I've got nice core strenght! Actually, no. It was an illusion. Stupid body!

Piece of advice to all new to derby

On hindsight, I should have told myself 4 years ago: 
You have started a sport. Get conditioning, get your body better as whole. Stretch to get more flexible and to stop your body being pulled into a twist by tight muscles. Make sure all your muscles are firing up! Strength train rather than letting your sport to train your muscles - you'll end up all wonky. Physios offer muscle strength tests, which would not be a bad idea to do at an early stage.

If I went to gym, I would not just train one action. I did not realise this when I started derby. I'd be just skating.

Crossed pelvic syndrome

It did not help that my other activities favoured the same muscles - cycling and sitting.

Only when I started getting problems with my hips this 'whole body' thing has started opening up to me.

•  poor balance because of inner core is not helping me
•  muscle cramps from overuse and resulted tightness
•  supertight hipflexors - weakness and tightness producing poor posture
•  not using what's supposed to be the biggest & strongest muscle, glutes
•  hip pain, slowly worsening 

A big thank you to all the physios I have seen, now I have a way to start patching myself up:

•  Stretching, stretching, especially hipflexors and quads
• activating lower abs, just contracting them a little, reminding my body they are there
•  telling my glutes to work when doing squats, doing bum-squeezes as activation exercise
•  fully appreciating the benefits of pilates, yoga and all those gentle balance & body control exercises 
• foamrolling, massage, sitting on tennisballs (quite nice!)

 further reading - http://www.jandaapproach.com/about/

Home team season

Team Finland try-outs

The progress and the skill! What else can I say of the quality of the try-outees for Team Finland world cup team 2014? The selection panel is going to have a tough job. I

Pre-selection for the try-outs was done based on mainly experience. Got me counting how many bouts I have played within my two-and-half-year (30 months) bouting career. Throw a guess and then scroll down for the answer*! I spent a way too long writing an essay as to why I want to be in the team. It's not very Finnish to sing your own praises. That considering, I think I did well, ha ha...

For the weekend 31.8-1.9.2013 I flew over to Helsinki for the try-out weekend. I did not feel nervous, but rather concentrated and quiet. I tried hard - yes, that *is* an acceptable reason for the numerous times I found myself on the floor or the penalty box. It was fun. We played three scrimmages and watched a few others. We worked nicely as a team. Speaking derby in Finnish was not as strange as I'd feared. I did not get tired. It was over quicker than anyone wanted (or me at least).

I did derby stops

punkmarko.kuvat.fi

There were about 60 of us. 41 made it through to the second day of the try-outs after a day of skills demonstrations (forward and backward skating, one-sided ploughs, derby stops, hockey stops, blocking, jamming) and a few scrimmages. I was very happy to be one of them. Now I just have to wait and see if I am on the list of skaters they decide to develop into a team (two weeks' wait!). Even that list won't guarantee a world cup place as we were told the final team will form/evolve within a year or so. Exciting! Competitive! 

Check out the photos Marko took, here: http://punkmarko.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Roller+Derby+From+All+Around+The+World+2013/Team+Finland+Tryouts+2013/

*howmanyboutsthirtyseven

I was fresh meat once

andrewsimsimages.co.uk

If you're Fresh Meat and look at those Travel Teamers of your league and think they've always been like that... and that you'll never be that cool... look what I found. I look very cute. Here is my hint for Fresh Meat: dig your league archives and find some photos and video what your league star skaters used to look like. Scroll down to the bottom for some LRG gems. You won't believe what a couple of years of derby does to you! Gives you a kick to keep going!

I started roller derby in May 2010. I had the advantage that I could already skate - I am from Finland after all so winters were spent on ice skates and I had inlines too. Although I had the foundations, I was totally a piece of Fresh Meat. I remember trying to backwards skate. I did not move an inch... Plough stops were my enemy. My knees were pointing inwards. I bite my lip every time I need to go in. I think I skate low.

Fresh meat knees

Concentration!

Denim shorts were the thing in 2010! My first wrist guards served me for a long time, they were great - mum had bought the from a charity shop in Poland whilst on a road trip in Europe. My first skates were Sure-Grip Rock Flames with Twister wheels.They were too big and I even wore woolly socks and two insoles in them.

Look at those skinny legs

I did not like my superskinny ankles. I am so glad what roller derby has done to my legs. They desperately needed some muscle!

Derby stance?

More concentration

PS. What do you think London Roller Girls might have looked like? Check it out:

Skatepark set-up

Summer's round the corner and the skatepark bug has bitten me again. I will attempt to build skates for skatepark/ramps. So how are they different from the derby skate? If you go vert all the way, your skates will start looking more like two mini skateboards!

Boot
Depends what you like. I will use my old Riedell She Devil leather boot as it fits well and is made of sturdy leather. I'm used to having my ankles exposed and like the extra agility that gives.

Wheels
For vertical skating ('quad vert'/ramps) most go for skateboard wheels; smaller and harder. You don't want to stick to the ramp with sticky wheels. For general outdoor skating larger and softer are recommended for shock absorption and smoother roll over bumps. For general skatepark stuff something in between these two might be good.

Plates and trucks
Wider trucks and longer plate for extra stability. You are not looking for quick turning like with derby plates. I'll start with my old Triton plate and see what happens as it's quite long. Many build their own ramp skates using skateboard trucks which make them extra wide.

Cushions
Again, go harder. You're looking for stability here. I'll use my old standard cushions from the Triton plates.

http://leonjwest.wordpress.com/

Toe stop
Some have it, some don't. It might get on the way. It is super useful climbing out of bowls though!

Grind bars
That block of plastic/other material attached between your trucks will let you do a few more tricks.

Derby skaters turned into skatepark hooligans can find useful info on Rollergirl.ca site (see shop section http://www.rollergirl.ca/skateshop/park-skating-c-110_24.html and aggressive roller skating 101 PDF) and on Skatelog from Quad Vert section. I was glad to see there were quite a few of us!

http://zorgdotnl.blogspot.co.uk/2008/06/zorg-quad-skates-v2.html

French quads

Now I'm upset that I cannot speak...or read... French. They appear to be quad gods there. I found this great looking site but it's all French to me. Perhaps Google translator will help. I am planning to build some skates and this place provides some awesome pictorial inspiration!

Roller Quad
Un Site 100% Quad
http://rollerquad.net/

Hey, look at these skates!

and these

maybe these as well