Derby Digest: Something To Do With Falling

Well, it happened. I knew it would happen, I just didn't expect it to be so soon. Furthermore, I didn't expect that it wouldn't be at an actual practice or bout.

What am I talking about? Well, this past weekend I fell while skating and bang-up my right knee. At first glance it looked awful - I think I actually saw the color purple around the edge of the wound. As I said, I was at an open skate time at a local rink. What adds more insult to injury is that it was during an adult skate and the rink floor was basically empty. I couldn't blame it on someone else being in my way.

In the seconds that proceeded my fall, I had four thoughts. Oddly enough the first three were not "OUCH!"... they were:

1) CRAP MONKEY! I hope this doesn't screw-up my knee and make it so I can't run or go to derby practice.

2) SO THANKFUL we practiced falls this past week!

3) Must get up and keep going!

4) Oh, yeah... OUCH!

Oh, now that I think about it, there was another thing I thought... "Man, I shouldn't have left my knee pads in my bag."

Clearly the first thought I had shows where my priorities were at that very moment. I didn't want this fall to effect my ability to participate in derby or running. I believe this to be a valid concern. I can't image not being able to run or participate in derby. Especially so early on in my derby career. As for running... my race is fast approaching and I'll be damned if I'm not able to participate because of one fall.

Thankfully, we practiced how to fall this past week. There are several types of falls we practiced. When I heard we were going to learn how to fall I was nervous. I mean who the hell purposely makes themselves fall? Also, I wasn't sure how good I was going to be at falling. It became apparent, fast, learning how to fall wasn't going to be a problem for me. I got three of the four fall down pat right away. Here's the thing... what's I've since learned is that at least knowing one "right way" to fall makes all the difference!

After the fall I picked myself up and tried to get going again. Seriously, I tried skating another lap around the rink. Though the thought of "OUCH!" did enter my mind at this point, I felt like if I were really serious about staying with derby it was important to keep going. However, then my responsible side kicked-in and realized I should at least take a few moments to survey the damage, clean it up as best as possible and ice it a bit. So that is what I did.

During this process I thought a bit about why I didn't put on my knee pads. The reason - I didn't think I'd need to for open skate. Derby practice, absolutely! However, open skate... really?! Needless to say, going forward, anytime I put on a pair of speed skates I will surely put on knee pads as well.

This fall was not epic when it comes to falls. Back in 2002 I fell roller blading and banged-up my knee a lot worse. I would say the damage was at least double of what my knee looks like at the moment. With that in mind, any fall shouldn't be taken lightly. As I've been managing the after effect of all this I keep thinking about how falling on the rink is like falling in any part of your life... it happens and the important part is how you pick yourself up and move forward. After I cleaned-up the wound and took some time to ice it, I got back on the rink and continued to skate. I didn't want this incident to stop me from doing something I love and enjoy so much.

Cleaning up a wound is like taking care of yourself after taking any kind of hit in life. I'll admit there are "life falls" that I have not managed as well as I've managed this recent skating fall; however, I guess the important part is that I learn from those times and constantly work to improve the next time.

Today, my knee is much better than it was yesterday, and I fully expect it will be even better tomorrow so I will keep on keepin' on because I know that is what I'm meant to do.

Until later . . .