Derby Diary

Things have been very busy since my last post, I tried to find out what date my “New Things” post was but I can’t (grumble grumble tumblr where is the date grrr). I have completed the first phase of training for my new job and after a holiday in Barcelona for Primavera (Eeeeeeeeee!!) next week I will start my first one year placement- it’s a good 40 minute drive away from my house but they offer flexible working so I think I will still be able to make it to training on time!

Our Tiger B Brawlers game against Bristol wasn’t victorious for us with a score of BHH 231-191 TBB B, but the rankings had predicted a much lower score and as a result we moved up four places in the rankings! So I was happy and proud of the team for that. We played well on the day and I’m looking forward to watching the team progress (and captaining again if they’ll have me).

Our Tiger A Brawlers game against Middlesborough Milk Rollers the week before was a great experience for me as I jammed. From watching back the footage from both of these games though, it was clear to me that I still have a lot to work on jamming-wise and it was definitely the right decision on the bench team’s part not to jam me in our game against Lincolnshire Bombers yesterday. We came out of that one with a score of TBB 193-66 LBRG which we are all proud of, as LBRG were one of the teams we looked to when starting out as a league. It also shunted us up the rankings nicely too!

Goal Setting

One thing that resonated with me yesterday was that although we beat our opponents by nearly 130 points, we didn’t meet our team goal and this had a bigger effect on the bench than the win. We are an extremely competitive team and this isn’t for everyone, in which case we offer other options for playing. But I chose this team for this reason- I want to train and play hard, I want to win, and this ethos is shared by every single girl on our travel team. I can’t speak on behalf of  my team, but I take our goals seriously and I focus on them before and during every game. I try to set personal goals, but sometimes they take a backseat to the team goal. This is perhaps detrimental to my play, as I could be more specific in how I can help to achieve our team goal and set a personal goal in that way. 

In work and in training, we try to set goals that are SMART: Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound. This makes sure we are setting goals that are realistic and that allow us to track our progress visibly. The next step is SMARTER goals: ones that are Evaluated and Re-evaluated so that they become achievable the next time, and it is really important to do this to avoid feeling disappointed if we do not achieve it. But something that is not addressed is “how important is this goal?” or “Is this our most important goal?”. Our most important goal really, is winning! And I feel I have lost sight of this in the last couple of games, to the detriment of my enjoyment of the game itself. 

So next time, fun is my first goal. Winning is my second. After that I will set some SMARTER goals based around our team goal. We can’t possibly lose ;)

joannajinxed:

TBB vs Linconshire Bombers this weekend.

Eye of the Tiger ladies! I know you’re going to kick ass!

(Source: shadowlight-impulse)

tigerbaybrawlers:

Two exciting things coming up in Cardiff that you’ll want to make sure you’re around for…

Sunday 10 June

Tiger Bay Brawlers pub quiz at GwdiHw Cafe Bar. This is going to be pretty special; what better way to spend your Sunday evening than with the Brawlers getting all quizzical?…

fuckyeahrollerderbyotter:

Seriously, look at them. That’s not normal.

Jedi Master Yoda

tigerbaybrawlers:

A huge thank you to everyone who partook in the bout survey we put out earlier this year. It seems there’s a division amongst our supporters as to whether Newport Centre or Talybont is the better venue, and both have pros and cons which we’ll address a little more in our responses below.

We didn’t want you to think our bout survey was just something we did tokenistically (we know that’s not a word, but you get what we mean), so we’ve gone through the responses and tried to address some of the comments or questions that came up a few times. Please know that none of this is a defensive tactic against any feedback/criticism – we welcome it all and can only get better by taking it on board – but we just thought we should be a bit more transparent with our fans about what we do and how and why we do it.

If you have any questions, comments or concerns then please email survey@tigerbaybrawlers.com and we’ll do our best to respond to them. Similarly, if you think you can help us to achieve any of our goals or to improve on anything then please do get in touch.

Here’s what you said…

Read More

kittydecapitate:

Click on the above text to read the first in a 3 part series about how the All Stars trained for Dust Devil.

This is cool.

ilovepda:

The women of Reign Valley from British Colombia came to Battle for the Coast with SIX players! This is their bench during the game.

Shannon Monasmith Photography

Reminds me of scrimmage in the early days/on public holidays/on bootcamp weekends…

Speaking of which, good luck and have an awesome time to all of yuo who are off to Laaaaaaaaandan this weekend for Anarchy! I love this poster.

(via mynameiskid)

TBB decided not to give their A and B teams names for the moment, but I have far too much affection for both to leave them as is. So in my head, we’re Tiger ‘A’ Brawlers and Tiger ‘B’ Brawlers. It’s not hugely imaginitive but I like how both are still so close to our full name but with a little twist.

It’s been almost a month since my 14th bout and I have been an extremely busy bee! It has bee the busiest time of year at work, and I am also preparing to move on from my current job to a 3 year secondment to learn new skills and gain experience in a new profession. It’s all very exciting and begins with 4 weeks training around Cardiff so my life will be a little more hectic workwise in the coming weeks. But obviously that isn’t enough to occupy your average rollerbrain, so as well as thinking about that, I’ve had the following to mull over:

TBB 2nd AGM 12th April 2012! This was really well organised and I was really proud to see how much thought had gone into things like our committee structure, our feedback survey forms and the board member reports. A new Bout Organising Director role has been created which I have put myself forward for (as I have done this for the majority of our bouts to date) as well as the design sub committee as that sort of thing has always interested me.

B Team Captaincy! I hadn’t originally planned to put myself forward for this for a number of reasons but mainly because I did last time, didn’t get picked and then was quite glad because I felt like I was nowhere near together enough to captain a team. This time around I feel like I can bring the team together and support them, and perhaps we can even do a win.

A Team jamming! I have jammed once for the A team (I think…) when we had a comfortable points differential, a long time ago. But this time I have been chosen in advance as one of the jammers for our next A team game. I have been working on jamming recently as I’ve been doing it for the B team, but this is a new challenge and  requires me to focus that little bit harder on my opponents and teammates at the advanced level.

Recruitment day! I went along to this to lend a helping hand and ended up doing so  by giving a talk on gear and skates. We had a great turnout and I have since been going to rec league to help out and coach there. It fills me with immense excitement to see new skaters starting out and not being able to stop talking or thinking about skating (but also a little bit of dread for when they overtake my skill level and get drafted straight into the A team! Ha jokes.)

With all this going on I’ll have plenty to write about, I’ll try not to leave it so long this time!