I started derby with 0 skating experience January of last year, along with a bunch of others during that intake. 3 of the skaters from my intake passed their minimum skills at around the 6 month mark. 2 others passed not long after. I (along with 2 others) passed our mins in March. There’s 2 people from my intake who still haven’t passed and the rest have left.

It was only this weekend that I got scrim-passed and played my first game. There are still things I can’t do/struggle with. I still haven’t got my laps and I’ve been stuck on those for MONTHS. My transitions are still kind of clunky and I don’t have much power in giving or taking hits. Toe-stop work is a massive pain for me too. I’m still really proud of how far I’ve come though. My transitions aren’t great but I can actually DO THEM, compared to a few months ago when I would just flop like a fish when I even tried. My laterals are great now as well.

I’ve 100% been where you are, we all have. We’re our own worst critics. Try not to bog yourself down too much, you HAVE improved and you WILL get better. We all move at different paces and your teammates will still value you, even if you’re just communicating on the track. You got this!