When you’re planning to leave home for an undetermined amount of time, on your own, to another continent… you tend to search out a few things that are going to be familiar amongst the deluge of new-ness that is about to become your entire existence.

Also, if you have an addiction, you definitely try to figure out where you’ll be getting a fix from. 

For these two reasons (plus a plethora of others I won’t get into, we don’t have all day!), before I left the US, I emailed Cape Town Rollergirls and asked if they might have room for me to drop in to visit a practice… AND if they might have some spare gear I could use for said practice.

Within hours, I had heard back and not only did they want me to drop by, but they had gear all lined up!

So. Flipping. Cool.

Once I figured out my arrival dates in CT, I sent them over to my league contact, and she told me when the practices would be. We figured out which one would be best, and she wished me a safe flight!

Upon arrival in South Africa, I was pretty much dead. I had been up for almost 2 days (thank GOODNESS I packed 5 hr energy for my layover in Cairo!), and all I wanted to do was sleep. Oh, and it was raining. So I slept… for two days.

Why did I finally get up and go out?

Well… it was practice day!

Not only had my liaison worked out gear, but she also had a carpool ride set up too! I woke up that morning pretty excited to get my skate on and meet some South African derby girls… and then I got an email.

No, practice wasn’t cancelled.

No, my ride didn’t bail.

No, my gear wasn’t missing.

They wanted me to guest coach.

Like, their league practice.

Ummmmmmmmm……… what?

I don’t DO that.

I’m totally comfortable coaching basic skills and meat and whatnot, but a full league of experienced skaters?

I was basically terrified.

But… how could I refuse?

I somehow talked my way out of running the entire practice, and agreed to run a few drills. (MEEP!)

Phew. Crisis semi-averted?

The day sped by and it was finally pickup time! One of their coaches actually scooped me and another visiting skater up, and we were off! Milandi (or Lady Di), was visiting from Pretoria, and we ended up being really good friends and hung out a few more times after practice… but that’s another story!

When we got to the rink, I started pawing through the meat-gear and trying on various skates. My league liaison ended up lending me her own skates since she was just coming off of injury and not skating. Thank GOODNESS because they were the perfect size.

However… she had just put on brand. new. wheels.

So the first impression of me skating, this girl who would be coaching, was my impersonation of bambi-on-ice. Great. *shudders*

It took about an hour, but I (mostly) got used to the feel of the skates, the floor, the wheels, and the borrowed gear.

It was a good thing too, because then I got thrown on the spot to run my drills! I had 2 prepared… a Garden State Rollergirls favorite of a skill “obstacle course” and then an apex jumping workshop (because, well, if you know me you know how much I love jumping!).

The girls really liked the two drills and they *claimed* I was helping them, so that was awesome.

After we finished with jumping, we moved into jam starts.

The two league coaches asked if I would watch them from the side and give suggestions/commentary. Cool. Sure. I can critique your entire league’s work. No problem. I won’t feel nervous or awkward AT ALL.  

So I watched silently for a few minutes, and then they prompted me with some questions… and I made two suggestions and WHAM we were in demo mode.

YAY JAMMER DEMONSTRATING OFFENSIVE BLOCKING TECHNIQUES

LOOK HOW FORMIDABLE I AM!

(The coaches made me demo this a few times and they actually TOOK PHOTOS [as you can obviously see] which made me feel like I was actually helping them do a thing! They also told me that they hadn’t even learned this when Johannesburg had come in to coach them… which is kind of awesome in its own right!)

We ran a bunch of offensive blocking drills while I helped them get a feel for it, and then I helped tweak their trapezoid so it would run more smoothly. Then… I got to hang out with the jammers and give some jamming tips.

And then all of a sudden, 3 hours of practice was over!

Merp.

We gathered around for a group photo before lots of hugs and thank-yous and everyone parting ways.

Soooooooooooooooooooooooo………………….

Aside from getting to drop into a practice with a super fun league… I learned (for about the millionth time) that you’ve got to just jump in and try things. I (or you, or whomever!) probably know more than you think you do, and you should take a chance on sharing that knowledge with others. I actually *love* coaching/teaching, so I’m incredibly thankful that I had the opportunity to drop in and help out Cape Town Rollergirls, even if it was just for one practice. Thank you all SO MUCH for letting me join in and for at least pretending to be amused by my nervousness while coaching you all. I hope to see you again someday, and hopefully get to cheer some of you on in the next RDWC for Team South Africa!