With a few practices under my belt it was only a matter of time before that ugly green-eyed monster reared it's head to sound off in my brain. Before practice started, the vets would tell us again and again not to compare ourselves to other skaters. I was confident that I could resist temptation, very sure of myself. That was all find and dandy until I actually got to practice. It was (and still is) impossibly hard not to compare myself to the other skaters around me, not to feel that flash of envy as another smoothly executes the drills while I'm falling all over the place trying to properly perform a four point fall or T-stop. Thankfully the vets have been super helpful with this and so has some of my favorite derby blogs! Their advice comes down to about 3 things:
1) There are many unknowns....
Meaning that you probably don't know their whole story. You don't know if they've done any other sports that might influence the pace at which they learn, already been in derby for X amount of time, have a relative who plays roller derby, etc... For example, a few weeks ago I was skating at my favorite local roller rink, when I saw this girl in derby gear rocking at crossovers, backwards skating, transitions....and I found myself thinking "Gosh, look at her, she's so good, I'll never be like that...." After going up and talking to her, I found out she'd just moved up from Nebraska where she'd been on a team for 5 years! So of course I wouldn't be as good as her, it's not right to compare a skater of 2 months to a skater with 5 years of skating experience.
2) People learn things at different speeds and are better at some things than others.
I remember when I was in elementary school and there was a boy who was super good at math, he was the one who was always done with tests before everyone else and argued with the teacher about wanting to do equations his way. He was great at math.....but horrible at English, something I excelled at. So while it might have taken me a long time to learn something in math, I could pick English up quick! The same thing applies to skating!
3) Use this for your own advantage!
Those people who seem to be good at everything in derby may seem annoying at times, but try to avoid thinking that and instead use those people to your advantage. Are they good at crossovers? Transitions? Do you need to work on those? Ask them how they do it! More likely than not they will be happy to help you. Use all the energy you'd spend hating on/envying them and instead put it into the skills you'd like to improve on, you'll see a big difference.
It's a bit disheartening to see other newbies picking up things faster than we (me) are, but believe me, there are other skaters out there that are probably thinking the same thing about you. A few times I've bemoaned to some of my derby friends about how I feel like I'm not learning as fast as I should be, only for them reveal that they feel like I'm doing so much better than them even though I've been skating for less time than they have. The moral of the story is to just concentrate on getting yourself to where you want to be, don't focus on anyone else. And tell that green-eyed monster to take a hike (or a hip-check) :)
Until Next Time....Watch Emma Rock It!
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