HITTING 201
1. Hitting
a. Proper Posture
b. Breathing
c. Momentum
1. Shoulder/Body checks
a. Posture
b. Body Positioning
2. Hip Checks
a. Posture
b. Body Positioning
3. Booty Blocking/Back Checking
a. Posture
b. Body Positioning.
Proper posture
Feet are shoulder width apart, knees slightly bent and flexed to absorb impact and knees are directly over the toes. Waist is slightly bent forward to keep body weight over the skates. Arms are tucked into the body with the elbows tucked into the crook of the hips and are not away from the body. Hands can either be held in front of the body or by resting them on the upper thigh. Shoulders are in line with the knees. Eyes and head are up at all times.
Breathing
(Ki, Chi, Biorhythm Cosmic Energy whatever you call it. The Chi of the universe is inexhaustible yet the body needs fresh chi to maintain its vitality.) Breathing should be in through the nose and out through the mouth. Breathing should be a natural feeling and when hitting blocking or taking a hit you should exhale with a sharp hiss through the mouth. One fundamental reason is that if you are hit in the upper body while your lungs are full it can result in a diaphragm spasm or in lay mans terms, “get the wind knocked out of you.” Emptying your lungs of air will avoid this.
Deliberate and controlled breathing also promotes a state of readiness and calmness. Think about the difficulty of acting rationally when your body is struggling for breath. If you control the breath, you can control the body. A strong and powerful exhale will promote a powerful technique. When hitting you should exhale when you are giving a hit and taking a hit.
Momentum
Plan how you want to hit your opponent. Timing is everything when you are hitting an opponent. It will knock them out of bounds, off balance or into another blocker or jammer. Using the mechanics of the track you know that centrifugal force will carry you to the outside of the track when you are going into and coming out of the turns. This is when your hits will count the most. If you can line up a hit at the beginning of a turn and execute it the end of a turn the force from the hit will be greater then if you were hitting in the straightaway of the track. Advanced skaters know when to hit and when to use the track to their advantage.
SHOULDER CHECK AND BODY BLOCK
Remain upright, eyes and head are up. Knees remain slightly flexed before impact with the body leaning slightly in the direction of contact. Leaning too much in the direction will give away the element of surprise. You should absorb the hit with your upper arm (between the elbow and the shoulder) and your hip. Feet are shoulder width apart, knees slightly bent and elbows are tucked in.
A passive technique for the shoulder check is to block your opponent by leaning into them with your shoulder and either pushing them or letting them push you. An advantage to this is to distract your opponent to let your jammer by or to gain an advantage by blocking them enough to the point of where you are expending little or no energy to keep that person in a position where they cannot move. Essentially trapping them with your shoulder and body.
To receive a shoulder or body check your stance should be exactly like giving a hit but you should lean slightly, or move into the direction of the hit to take some impact out of it and thus resulting in the hitter not being able to hit as hard.
Some common errors are skaters being too low. If a skater is receiving a body/shoulder block they are off balance if they are too low and the hitter has the advantage of being able to knock them over very easily. If the skater is standing up straight with the knees not flexed it throws the hitter off balance by not being able to spring into the hit and the result is little to no power behind the hit. Another common mistake is that hitters and blockers will put their elbows up or away from the body to help absorb the hit resulting in a possible penalty.
HIP CHECK
A hip check is more difficult to deliver then a Shoulder Check. It is also very easy to lose your balance after making the hit. A properly executed hip check uses the element of surprise because most players are anticipating a shoulder check. When you make contact with the opposing skater you are aiming for the upper thigh area, above the knees but below the waistline.
Knees are bent with the body in a good derby stance, head chest and eyes are up. The skater maintains a good firm base by bending forward slightly at the waist and keeping body weight over the skates. The attacker pushes off on the outside skates and then drives the hip into the thigh of the opponent.
Initially what you are aiming for is to skate through the person rather then into the person in a motion that resembles skating across the track in a side to side motion.
A common mistake in giving a hip check is that the knees are not flexed when the blocker makes contact with the opposing skater resulting in what looks like a bad booty block. Poor timing in giving a hip check will allow the opposing skater to skate past the blocker and the biggest mistake when executing a proper hip check is to bend at the waist too early and give away the element of surprise.
BOOTY BLOCKING
Booty Blocking is an advanced method of blocking that will force the defender to take quite a few hits to the back when it is properly done. Essentially what you are doing is forcing your opponent into your back and drawing a penalty or forcing them to slow down so that another teammate can assist you in moving them out of position.
The proper posture for a booty block is to get low and wide, forcing your opponent to get as close to you as possible but giving them no room to maneuver around you without hitting you from behind . Knees are bent more to absorb a hit from behind, elbows should be tucked in but it is easiest and most stable to rest your forearms on your upper thighs for balance. Feet are further then shoulder width apart to take up as much room as possible giving you a stable base. Head and eyes are looking over your shoulder for the hit that is coming. If you are advanced enough as a skater you can use your left foot to feel the edge of the track or use your peripheral vision out of your left eye to make sure you are holding the inside line as much as possible. Normally as a Pivot you want to hold the inside line and look over your right shoulder for your opponent to come from your right, or the outside of the track.
The booty block is best done when you are holding the inside line preventing a Jammer from scoring and getting by you or your teammates. You are not picking your feet up to skate but you are self propelling by either slaloming or by weaving your feet to maintain decent speed.
Some common mistakes are giving up the inside line in the turns by coming off the line to much, getting your stance too wide so that you cannot react and get into derby stance when an opponent hits you from the side or a Jammer goes past you.
~Rev
Pioneer Valley Roller Derby