Death of the Meat, birth of the rookie
by Bijou DelaMort
Five months ago, a group of approximately 60 women laced up their skates, pulled up their knee socks, and skated their hearts out in an attempt to be a part of this year’s TCRG Fresh Meat. I was fortunate to be a part of this lucky group and I’m overwhelmed by how much fun I’ve had, how many friends I’ve made, how my confidence has risen, and in general how far our group of Fresh Meat have come over these past months. We have now all reached the light at the end of the tunnel, and our days of skating together as Freshies are at an end, with the completion of our Level Three (bout skills) testing.
Bijou (top) and her Fresh sistahs
The testing took place over a period of three weeks at our Friday evening practices. Being present for only the second and third week of testing, I came to practice feeling a bit anxious, as I’d heard we would be testing against some of the veteran skaters. Several other girls testing shared my anxiety, but in general everyone seemed to be feeling positive, and eager to get this final level of testing complete so we could finally skate on a team! Although we were all essentially competing against one another that night, I repeatedly heard “Good luck!”, “Keep breathing”, “You are doing great”, and other encouraging words from every girl there that night. The skaters were as eager to see their friends succeed, as they were for their own success. Unfortunately for me, my anxiety got the best of me that night, and I had to return for a second round of testing on week three.
Feeling more prepared for what lay ahead, my attitude was far more positive on this final week of testing, and all the girls seemed to share my upbeat attitude that night. Everyone was throwing their biggest hits, the blockers were taking up the track with their booty blocks, and the jammers were skating as fast as their skates would take them. While skating as hard as I could that night, I took a couple too many nasty spills and was told I could no longer skate for the duration of the practice. The tears flooded from my eyes due to a mix of pain and disappointment however, due to the kind treatment I received from my fellow skaters, my tears quickly faded as I came to appreciate these girls not only for their talent, but also for their compassion.
Level Three testing was our chance to show our coaches all that we had learned. On top of just our skating skills, I feel I have learned so much about others and myself over the past five months, with these being the highlights: it’s ok to fall down, as long as you are willing to get back up; you are always the hardest on yourself; competition is much more fun when it’s among friends; and finally, the people who make TCRG possible are the most encouraging, amazing group of people I’ve ever met. There are now only 25 Fresh Meat left, and we are all feeling ready and eager to skate in this upcoming season, knowing that our TCRG Fresh Meat boot camp has prepared us as much as possible for the hits and falls that lay in wait for all of us Freshies-turned-Rookies.
Future Bad Reputations, Riot Girls and Faster Pussycats anxiously await the results of the draft…stay tuned to this space for official draft results!
