Freestyle Class at the BMO Derby Girls

Last week, hardly back from Helsinki and not having yet recovered from the 1h-jetlag (dude!) I took the train to Brest to visit the B.M.O. Rollergirls for a special workshop.

I was asked to run an agility class with lots of unknown stuff in it.

The equation was self-evident. At least to my twisted mind:

agility
+
stuff rollergirls don't practice
=
FREESTYLE SKATING

The BMO were then treated to a slalom-to-derby agility class. Haha. I'm not sadistic. There was a real reflexion behind all that.

The aim was to suggest useful agility movements, break the patterns into simple moves and repeat them. An excellent challenge for the head and the feet.

• Showing (and practising) moves on cones enables to get acquainted with distances, with target anticipation, and to follow your improvements in precision.


• Repeating the same pattern several times in a row also enables the mind to record it and, later on, play the pattern as a reflex if needed.

DISCOVERING: First we worked on several types of 'tricks', just to show a glimpse of the variety of patterns available, with only a few simple moves. Each pattern (or trick) had a special characteristic: pumping, stopping, changing directions, lateral propulsion, footwork reactivity, explosivity...

TRANSPOSING: Then we transposed everything into the track, replacing plastic cones by human cones and adapting, breaking in, recomposing, combining and mixing the tricks and patterns, to find the advantages we could draw from them and to exploit them in pure derby agility.

OPENING: The last part of the training was a quick opening on the importance of PLAN B. Working on juking moves is good, but what if they fail? Planning different endings may save your pass (and your ass, indeed). And they should be paid as much attention as the juking/strategy phase you focus on. (my opinion)

The class remained at quite 'sterilized'* stages. Of course: even if the head digs it, the body will need more time to assimilate.

*in sterilized (safe) environments/situations.

That practice only gave a quick overview of the potential of cross-disciplinary training. Three hours is short. But at least it was an original barrier breaker.

 Everything is interlinked, everything is recyclable.

I have always been intimately convinced that strength resides in flexibility: The more varied you are, the more beneficial it will be to your main discipline.

If you think that something is not useful to derby,

then you just haven't searched hard enough!

PS: THANK YOU for the hospitality and for the unforgettable egg metaphor skit at the bar!