Know how to stop and keep showing up

 

 

I’m feeling great after week two of freshmeat training. I’m more confident on my skates and I can stop. That’s right, today I learned how to stop —on my own— two different ways: the t-stop (on both sides) and the plow. We also practiced gliding on one skate again and it went much better than last week and we went from doing it in a straight line to going around a corner. The corner glide is magical! Well it was on one leg but not so much on the other. We also had a couple or relay races which were fun adn team-spirited and allowed us to put our new skills to the test.

The best part about this lesson were the words of wisdom passed on to us by our coach ZZ Strop. To play derby you only need to do two things:
1) be able to stop
2) just show up/keep coming

I love this. It’s simple and it’s real and so true and it applies far beyond roller derby. I think if most people remembered that we don’t learn things instantly adn we don’t become good at things or experts at anything instantly, we might not give up so easily. We’ve become used to instant gratification, instant information, instant replies and this has made us extra impatient. You didn’t learn to walk in a day, you didn’t learn to speak in a day, you didn’t get through school in a day. You won’t learn any new skills, especially not well, in a day and without practice and time. You also didn’t gain weight in a day and won’t lose it in a day. So if you start something new or set a new challenge or goal, be patient and keep at it and unlike in roller derby, don’t stop!

A part from new skills, this week a re-learned some even more important life-lessons: Keep showing up. Thanks for that ZZ Strop & The Cambridge Rollerbillies.