I don't care if you don't think you can do this. Building the skater Toolbox.

This is an open letter to roller derby skaters.

Dear skater (fresh meat, vet, or otherwise),

I don't care if you think you can do *insert skill/drill/edurance insanity here*. Your opinion on this subject doesn't matter to me in the least. As your coach it is my job to give you an opinion on your talent level, not listen to yours.

Sincerely,
Trucker


Man, that sure was harsh! Gees Trucker, you can be such a jerk sometimes.

In all seriousness though if there is one place that I feel as though I have succeeded as a coach it has been in quieting that little voice that says "I can't" in every skater's head.

Before I get into all that let me explain my Toolbox theory. It is my belief that everyone has a bag of tricks and skills that I like to term their toolbox. These are things that their bodies instinctively use in the heat of the jam without their brains necessarily "thinking" of doing them first. They are reactionary. Often times skaters will say afterward that they didn't realize they did them.

To build our toolbox we learn new and different skills all the time. Some of them are transition maneuvers. Others are different styles of stops like hockey stops or single leg plows. Often times I will throw these types of things in at the end of practice or after a tough endurance drill to break things up. We won't spend a ton of time on them because many of them are not vital skills that are necessary for playing the game effectively but many of them sure do not hurt. I give skaters the basics of these skills and enough coaching to send them on their way and then ask them to work on them during warm ups or our "Work on anything you suck at" times.

Back to quieting that little voice.

Many of these skills we work on are more advanced skills. Some of them, sit down if you aren't already, are way above the ability level of some of my skaters. Guess what, I still teach them to do it! I bet you are thinking to yourself right now that if skater A can barely do a two footed plow, why would I teach them to do a one footed plow? Heck, why would I teach them to do a hockey stop?! My answer, who in the heck are you to tell me that they can't do that. For that matter that skater isn't allowed to tell me that either!

My point here is that if we determine that skater A is incapable of performing some skill then the outcome is always going to be failure. Then again, if we never let them try they can't fail anyways.

We learn from failing. If we only ever perform tasks that are completely within our ability levels we will never improve. I can guarantee that every coach has had skaters that hit walls in their skill levels. This is exactly the time to push them way outside of their comfort zones. Sometimes trying to learn one thing teaches us to do something completely different and unrelated. We don't intend it but we also  do not complain when it happens.

You want to build a new skaters confidence? Show her something that no one thinks she can do and then praise her when she can do 1/8 of it correctly. If she can do 1/8 of that uber complicated fancy transition blocking maneuver today, in a week she might be able to do 1/4 of it. In a month 1/2. Maybe after two months she is using it, not effectively, but trying it in scrimmage. After three she busts it out in a scrimmage and everyone goes "ooooohhhh" and suddenly she is a rock star. All because her coach dared to teach her something she, or anyone else for that matter, didn't think she could do.

As blocking facing backwards has become a legitimate, reliable strategy we in our league have worked hard to develop this skill. If I had a dollar for the number of girls that told me they would never use it in a game and now have at some point, I would be like $12 richer. Some of them have even found that they love to block that way. Some are even really effective when doing it. Same can be said for the "creepy octopus" that we learned from the Windy City Rollers. (Basically transitioning around a blocker while in contact with them.) Everyone thought it was scary as heck at first and now I have girls that do it without even realizing it.

All of this because once in a while at practice I say, "We are  going to learn this new skill. It is pretty advanced and some of you might not be able to pull it off today, or tomorrow, or even this month but we are going to try it. ALL of us."

Don't tell me you can't do it. You are wrong, you can. Just not yet.