Lesson #2 - Carry Spares

It was our season ender against the Choice City Rebels; the score showed us ahead by 20 points with only three minutes left in the game.

"Katie, killer," my coach assigned.

I took my place on the track, sized up the surrounding blockers, and began skating at the sound of the jam ref's whistle. Then the double whistle sounded; the jammers raced toward me. Mine whizzed by me on the inside path I left open for her. The other team's jammer tried for the same track, but I slammed my hips to the side, closing the path and throwing her off balance before she could get through.

A battle of plowstops and heavy juking quickly ensued. The opposition's blockers caught on, immediately dropping back to open a hole. By the time we've completed of full lap, the other jammer finally got by as a battle of resistance had begun between me and another blocker. I put all my weight on my outside skate, digging the wheels into the ground to stay in bounds. And then without any warning I flew down towards the ground. Taught to quickly recover I jumped up on my toestops and thrust my body forward, only to feel my left foot drag under me and pull me down again. Thinking I had simply not distributed my weight correctly, I jumped up to try again, only for my left ankle to go all wonky and take my body plummeting to the ground with it once more.

Confused I crawled my way into the infield to assess the damage.

Broken Ankle - No (Phew)

All Eight Wheels - Check

Snapped Front Left Skate Truck - Yep

After the game. If you look closely you can see where the truck is seperated from my plate.

Disheartened, I had no option but to watch from our team bench for the last two minutes of the bout (okay part of that time was spent in the penalty box for accuring a fourth minor). BUT this taught me an amzing lesson.

1) Bring spare, FLOOR-READY, EVERYTHING. While I did have a spare set of GT-50's with me, my super soft/slick outdoor wheels hugged tightly to the bearings (say goodbye to stability and control). Not even close to a competitive wheel I'd want to use on the polished concrete that night. If I had broken this earlier in the game I had no spare trucks in my skate bag to replace it either. Now I have spare parts for every square inch of my skates.

2) Being the captain gave me a definite ego boost, but watching my team hold off the opposition the last few moments from the sidelines instead of skating with them on the track, taught me something much greater. It taught me to TRUST MY TEAMMATES TO GET THE JOB DONE. The last jam they skated out with every once of faith and hope I possessed, and I watched them pull off the win. Easily the most incredibly, amazing, humbling event for me this year.