Got the First Bout Fears?

So you're a new granny, just passed assessments and gearing up for your first bout?

Are you looking for a way to ease the fear that threatens to make you pee your pants at the thought of actually jamming...in public?

I've got the cure that ails you.

Get injured.

Crack a rib, get a concussion, or bust your knee up...whatever....just pick something that will take you out indefinitely.

It will make you ache and hunger and promise to do just about anything to get your skates back on and pick up where you left off....the word "fear" will be entirely erased from your vocabulary.

My injury of choice is a torn hamstring and, I'm here to tell you it completely sucks!

I'm not actually a granny or fresh meat, I'm somewhere in the space continuum between fresh meat, but not in the category of granny either for lack of passing assessments. However, I fully practice with the team and for all intents and purposes do everything grannies do but skate in scheduled bouts. With that being said, each time we scrimmaged at practice, I was TERRIFIED because I don't trust my bouting skills and knowledge of the game.

But all that changed two weeks ago when I pulled my hamstring during a scrimmage/practice. Now I am reduced to endless heating and icing my leg, stretching it throughout the day and wishing it would freaking stop hurting again each time I get my hopes up that it's feeling better.

The turning point came last Monday at practice while we, I mean they, were doing situational drills as I was stuck in the middle of the track watching the pack go by me over and over again like a kid stuck in the center of a merry-go-round.

My body motioned back and forth, side to side as I telepathically urged each girl to do as I would do....there was no fear, no anxiety...just the NEED to be out there, in my skates, in my zone, with the teammates I have grown to love.

I have assessments at the end of March and I'm well aware that this injury could stop me from passing this go round. Yet, there is no better motivator to get better than to have something in your grasp and then having it yanked away from you before you ever get the chance to call it your own.

But make no mistake about it, Derby will be mine. And I will pump my fists with pride as the bout announcer introduces "Salllmonnnnn Elllllla Poissssonnnnn".

By the way, the second biggest motivator for never giving up is when your coach walks up to you while the big merry-go-round spins, puts his arm around your shoulder and says, "I hate you aren't out there, you should be out there."

I will be Professor, I will be.

Love and be loved.