BCRD Advanced Bootcamp

INTRODUCTION: FATE & PLANES

Sometimes fate can be as kind as cruel.

Sometimes bad things lead to even greater things than the ones you missed.

Remember the Epic Fail of the Paris RollerGirls Vs. the Berlin Bombshells in late July? When Destiny had decided that the Air France strike would affect only one flight, THE flight. It had to be the Paris-Berlin of course. And one complication leading to another, the bout had to be cancelled (again).

Remember my Epic Rage when I learnt that I had shortened my stay in Las Vegas at the RollerCon for a cancelled bout? I was lucky that I didn't have a direct flight, and arriving in Paris I rushed into an Air France shop to change my ticket… for a trip on the 27-28 Aug. Same date as the Advanced Bootcamp run by Swede Hurt and Suzy Hotrod. An exciting perspective which lessened my frustration for having left so early. The registrations had been closed the previous week, but the camp was not sold out and I managed to get my ticket.

26 days later, I’m entering the plane, searching for seat 3D. Given the number it should have been just behind the first class. No first class?! I realized soon enough that there actually was a first class, and that I was in it. Food and champagne in a 1:40-trip = Epic Win! (I’m more into tomato juice but the possibility of ordering champagne is just cool.)

SKATE SHOP OPENING

Paulina Pocket went to meet me at the airport and we went directly to the opening party of the brand-new Quad Skate Shop run by Master Blaster and Great Vengeance. Seems that Derby is here to stay, spreading and settling for good in Europe!

SCHEDULE

Saturday morning 7 AM. The alarm clock must have rung. Didn’t hear it. The good point when you’re used to work at home is that you can wake up as late as you feel like. I might be exploiting this right a bit excessively.

7:30 AM – Pocket progressively turns on the volume of the radio to wake me up. Clever.

7:31 AM – I open an eye.

7:32 AM – I open the other eye. Hopefully I only got two!

We arrived at the venue at 9-ish to help prepare the halls: sweeping, washing and setting the tape for the track. I also tested the floor with my 88A wheels. Good. Why does everybody in Paris say that it’s the most slippery floor ever? From now on, if you tell me 80 I bring 84/88! Word!

There were a big hall and a small one in which we only had the inside line of a track taped. Groups A and B were alternating, changing halls and coaches. I was disappointed at first when I discovered the schedule because we didn’t have that many hours, but in the end with a little perspective my sore body of the morrow told me it was enough: 11 AM to 5 PM with a 1 hr. lunch-break both days, ending up with a scrimmage on Sunday afternoon.

AFTER-PARTY

We had a little skating “after-party” with Suzy and Pocket, in showing up at the Berlin NightSkate. Rollergirls are pussies: we were only three out of the whole bootcamp to take up the challenge. We stopped after a good hour to jump in the metro and join the three quarters of the girls who were having drinks in a bar close to the venue.

I remember why I have dropped the habit of going to night skates: it’s boring. But at least we can say that we skated Berlin. I did, with my brand-new Mojo wheels. Not very pink anymore. Nor very grippy I’m afraid.

COACHING

I just loved the way the classes were run. To quote Coach Suzy Hotrod, the aim was to show us as many elements as possible, so that we could pick up the ones we wanted, and bring them back home to share. Then we should make our own recipes with the chosen elements, bake, and we'd get an original cake in the end: Our Style. Perfectly fits to my vision of teaching.

The classes were unfolding as following: starting from a basic stance or move, we were progressively building up in adding elements, tips and variations, so that we had progressive drills leading to a final concept. Very pedagogical. The drills were lasting just enough for us to integrate the concepts, so that we could understand the patterns and work them back home.

Sometimes Swede and Suzy showed us the same types of drills. But it was all the more interesting to see how each one was coping with the breaking down of a same technique, according to their feelings and visions: in fact it was quite complementary for us to have different versions to mix up.

SCRIMMAGE

Quite a lot of girls had left prematurely (that’s what I was told). The technique to make even teams was just brilliant: each of us had to pair up with someone of equal level/experience/position. Then the couples had to separate, one player in each team. I was in Awesome Black Power Team led by Swede. I don’t know if the Whites led by Suzy had a nickname too?!

The game was rough. People were falling *a lot*. At the beginning the Whites were much more organized than us, building efficient 3-blocker walls in the front. We were a lot messier but it got better with time, jam after jam.

Anyway the game was so awesome that people asked for 10 minutes more at the end of the game. But we had heavy losses in the Black ranks and half of our team was agonizing on the bench: Matadora hurt her knee real bad, Pocket’s elbow was destroyed but she bravely (or foolishly?) insisted to go on, Maloony had an asthma crisis… We dropped from 2 ½ lines to hardly 1 ½ line in the end. Swede’s condition for 10 more minutes was that the Whites lent us two players. Deal. So here we go again!

Now guess what? At the end of the extra time we were still begging for more… Amused, the refs finally accepted one more last jam. Joan Get27 and I had the honor of playing it.

The game was close: 68-69 at the half time. The Whites won with 161 to 148 (approx.).

The scrimmage was very instructive, with strategies exchanged in the lines, and ultra-patient Dr. No-No who even offered a story-telling break to go back on an unusual case that had just happened.



Credit: Ethyl Trash



EPILOGUE: ALL GOOD THINGS COME TO AN END...

Fate can be as cruel as kind sometimes too…

My plane back was two hours late: two technical problems in the left engine just before the take-off. We had to go back twice to the parking to get it fixed. I was scared to death when we finally took off….

USEFUL LINKS

• Swede Hurt blogging about the Camp 
• Photos by Ethyl Trash on Facebook