Practice is for Practice.

A few months ago, I went to another skater and expressed concern that I was "holding others back" during some practices.  I was told to "keep trying, practice is for practice".

I thought about it, and that's totally true.  It's not just practice for your individual skills, it is practice for everyone, both individually and as a team.  So when I skate with a newer skater or someone I wouldn't prefer to skate with, I try to keep that in mind, and give feed back while we are doing a drill or whatever that helps them be a better skater.  And sometimes, it feels like it is at the expense of my own personal practice time.  But it isn't.  It is Anja getting to practice being a teammate and leader.  And I absolutely get out of it, what I put into it.

Every time you help a less experienced or someone who has trouble with a particular skill you are good at better their skills, you bring the whole team up.  It makes you look BETTER on the track.  Every time you make someone feel comfortable being able to practice up to their best ability, you win, they win.  We win as a team. And the opposite can be true.  Every time you decide that you don't like that person for whatever perceived or actual issue you have, and let that affect your attitude on the track, you, them and the team all lose for a second.

I've been really lucky that I have gotten feedback and encouragement and help from really great skaters, and honestly, I've gotten really great advice from skaters who are less experienced or don't really even like me.  I appreciate all of it.  Because if I am a better skater and teammate, then our practices are even better/harder because I am a better opponent during practice, which will in turn make everyone better skaters. When my teammates are better skaters, it helps make me work harder to be a better skater.  We are all connected.  Because it's a team.  We don't win games because our jammers know how to break down their own teammate's walls. We will win games when we teach our blockers how to stop us and we have to think differently.  We do this by learning as a team. 

Our individual skills on the track matter.  But derby is a team sport.  Our team skates at least twice a week for 2 hours, more if you are travel 11 months out of the year.  At a minimum you have roughly 192 HOURS of practice time.  If you are having trouble taking a two minute jam with a skater you don't like, or you feel isn't worth your practice time on a 15 minute drill, or whatever, the problem isn't them.  It's you.

Because practice, is for practice.