What happens when Flower bets.

Wow, I can't believe it's been two weeks since my last post.

I suppose I should explain how I ended up coaching for the BC Rollers. It's fairly simple- I lost a bet. Rusty Nailher and I were playing cards after her bout against the Nurse Ratchets and she decided that we needed to made the game more interesting. So we pitted booty shorts vs coaching (Rusty wins = I coach a practice, I win = Rusty wears booty shorts for the Albany bout) and the game was on. Obviously, Rusty ended up winning.

Last week, Rusty decided that Guitar Hero needed to be made more interesting. Again, we bet booty shorts vs coaching. I lost to Rusty... again. So this past Sunday found me trekking straight from CCR's FreshMeat practice to Binghamton's practice.

After practice we visited a local watering hole for "one drink". (Hah!) After everyone arrived and things settled down (somehow I ended up with three beverages?!?!) Rusty started feeding bills into the "Big Buck Hunter" arcade game. Now this was something I stood a chance in, so I hollered my challenge over to Rusty. Yep, you guessed it- booty shorts vs coaching. We decided this one had to be the best two out of three games. Game one went to Rusty, game two went to me. After bantering and attempts at distractions on both sides; game three went to... ME!!!
RUSTY'S WEARING BOOTY SHORTS ON SATURDAY!!!!!

Since no one would take on the winner for another round of "Big Buck Hunter", we made our way out to the dance floor and pool table. Did someone say pool? Uh-huh... another bet with Rusty. Then on to arm-wrestling. Let's just sum it all up by saying that I now owe Rusty two coaching sessions.

On the plus side, here's a pre-view of our bout-fits for this weekend:

The noose is back!

I'd like to give a HUGE shout-out to the BC Rollers. After almost exactly a year and eight months, I finally pulled out the coaching whistle as an honest-to-goodness coach again.

It's been entirely too long since I sat down and pondered the needs of a team and its skaters from an outside perspective. Creating the day's practice plan is a journey that I love to take- meandering through skills and drills in my mind, deciding which twists and turns to follow as the plan slowly shape like a map laid out before me. There are favorite sites along every route that simply must not be missed and other sites that can only be visited once or twice before they're old news. Finding the balance between taking time to enjoy the local culture and moving quickly through on our way to bigger, better things is always a challenge.

Some days everyone is on the bus and ready to rumble like a well-oiled machine, complete with a punctual departure and plenty of on-board entertainment. Other days, the bus breaks down and everyone has to pitch in to get to the team's destination. That can mean tough choices and sometimes includes unpleasant compromises. It can also result in some awesome stories as obstacles are overcome. Knowing the lay of the land and the resources that you've brought along with you is vital to being able to respond smoothly to any changes along the route.

Last night's practice was a trip through mostly familiar stomping grounds for this tour guide. We took a few side trips to visit both old and new areas, letting new travelers take in the sights and sounds around them as their more traveled companions got a chance to see things with fresh perspective. More than once the group was let loose to explore a new concept thoroughly in their own way and at their own pace; many bringing new insights back with them.

The night's destination was ultimately and simply; Communication. The BBC Rollers are scheduled to bout against Albany's B-Team in a little more than two weeks and has no shortage of team spirit. Taking that existing team spirit and pushing it to the next level with the use of effective communication will hopefully help the league hold its collective head up proudly on Dec 3rd; no matter which way the ruling for Rule 2.2.2 falls.

So as last evening's tour guide for the BCC Rollers, I hope everyone enjoyed the trip and that I'll see you again soon! (And for those whose bus I wasn't traveling on- I'm excited to find out where your evening's route took you!)

This, that, and the other.

Well, Halloween blew by before I knew it.

I met my parents near the farm on the 29th and we went on to Pike where the RRRG Nurse Rachets were playing New Hampshire's Blazing Betties. The Betties drew from ~4 teams to make a 9(?) skater roster, including 3 skaters from BC Roller's Parlor City Tricks (I never did write about the State College bout, did I?). Delicate Mother and I NSO'd in the penalty box. Delicate Mother has NSO'd with me in the penalty box before, so she's a semi-old hand at it. (She heard Elvis Refley ask me if I'd NSO last summer at the first bout she came to and she promptly volunteered herself. Obviously, she had NO idea what was going on, so I told Elvis he had two NSO's if he could put us somewhere together. We've NSO'd in the penalty box together since then whenever possible.)

Each time I NSO in the box, I learn something new. This time, it was the importance of a well-marked penalty box. Each team ended up with jammers having to serve an extra minute due to leaving the box when they were told "stand" (rather than at the appropriate "done" cue). I'm pretty sure there's video of me yelling at one jammer (probably both, actually) to sit back down and that they'd just earned another minute of penalty time.

The video also includes a moment of roof footage. The penalty box was situated on an outside curve and I had the seat closest to the skaters, with Delicate Mother on the far side and the sound system beyond her. The pack was coming down the straight-away when I realized that there was a body sliding along the floor on the OUTSIDE of the track. The trajectory of the skater's slide included the front leg of the video tripod and ended with... me. Thankfully the videographer pulled the camera back just in time for Rusty Nailher (aka BC Roller's coach/captain) to slip under the leg of the tripod and then Rusty twisted so that she grabbed the penalty box chairs in front of me, almost face-planting herself on them in the process. A grin at me, and Rusty was gone.

Brain's gone zombie, so that's all for now!