Just fall already!

This is written as an opinion of a derby girl. This is my opinion; not my teams or a doctors’ so don’t go cray cray!- "Sue"

Most of us are partly drawn to this sport because it is full contact. We all have a small piece (or larger) that needs to let loose and legally smack a bitch. So with all the legal smacking (and hopefully not much illegal smacking) we will come to a point where we get injured. All of us will fall, get bruises and be seriously sore; but many will have bruised tailbones or broken wrists, ankles and torn ligaments. If I had to guess what the number one injury is that could end a skater’s career, I would guess knee injuries. Torn ligaments leave us in braces or in line for surgery. Many skaters draw a line and say “That’s it... I’m done” others may decide to truck on. No matter the choice, I wish the injuries didn't happen as often as they seem to.

Why are we getting injured so often? We are all competitive and want to excel where our coaches place us. This competitive nature may encourage us to push through instances that we are not as comfortable in, which could lead to injuries. Whatever our job is for the jam, we want to complete it. If we are a jammer, we want to get through the pack and accrue points; if we are a blocker, we want to stop that jammer by any means legal. We are all bull headed and strong willed and I believe all these awesome traits are what are hurting us.

I have talked to a few people and I feel like the consensus is in on when and why we are getting injured. Of course I am not talking about the times it is obvious, like when we get slammed by three awesome blockers and fly through the air into a wall. I am talking about when our knees give out with what seems to be no reason at all.

So think about this...You are skating along, doing whatever job you are supposed to do in a jam. You become a little unstable on your feet so you recover. As you are recovering your joints are at risk. Now you are suddenly in a position that you need to stop quickly, or jump over someone, or block a jammer coming through, or maybe take hit. We are all trained on falling properly. Are we using this tool correctly? The falls that we do take properly end up with a few bruises. The falls we don’t take properly (while trying to recover from) are causing improper landings and major injuries.  

My thought process is, why not fall? Let’s try to fall down while practicing, scrimmaging, and bouting. Let’s fall properly if we become unstable, we will get right back up, run on our toe stops, and get our jam on. If we do this properly we will continue on through the next jam. We will get stronger and better and not have as many injuries. This is not a new thought process for derby, so why not fall already!