Introducing Big Rink Burn!!

What is Big Rink Burn?

Two hours of fitness building, calorie burning skating and strength-building exercises, with a little fun and games thrown in.

We started these practices to allow all of our league members,including NSOs, retired skaters, and skaters who are not yet eligible for contact, a fun and challenging practice they can participate in 100 percent. We have decided to open them up to former and new members who are interested in skating for fitness, but without the commitment of full contact roller derby.

Who can come?

These sessions are co-ed, but due to insurance requirements are adults only.

When and where is Big Rink Burn?

Two nights a month (alternating Thursdays) at 7-9 at Interskate South in Wilbraham.

What is required?

Full derby protective gear (helmet and wrist, elbow, and knee guards); loaner gear is available. Rental roller skates are available at the rink, but doing some of the moves in these skates will be challenging (and not in a good way). Entry level derby skates are recommended (try the Riedell Dart, available in fun colors from the Bruised Boutique, Turn Two Skate Shop or from our very own home rink, Interskate South in Wilbraham).

What is the cost?

$20 a month covers the two sessions, plus you will receive a pass to the adult night skate every Wednesday at Interskate.

Is there hitting?

Not at these sessions, don’t worry! We are a competitive derby league and our skaters will attend these practices, but no contact is allowed on these nights.

Is skating experience required?

You will get a lot more out of these sessions if you can skate, stop, and turn confidently. However, all levels are welcome and you can modify any exercise to make it right for you.

This sounds awesome! How do I get started?

Come to our next free intro session on Thursday, January 22nd to try it out and get all the information. If you can’t make this session, email skate4podcity@gmail.com for the next one.

Holiday Treats to Tempt You: The Second Edition

Now that the Holidays are fully over, we here at POD want to give one last goodies hoorah before going back to thinking healthy. As promised, here are two more of OUR favorite goody recipes! Enjoy.

BROWNED BUTTER BACON RICE KRISPIE TREATS (Submitted by Tesla...originally via Suga)

Photo taken from www.cookeatplayrepeat.com

Ingredients: 

4 slices of bacon

1 stick (4 oz) of unsalted butter

1 (10 oz) bag of marshmallows 

1/4 tsp. seas salt

6 cups of Rice Krispies cereal

Cooking Spray

Directions: 

1. Fry bacon in a small pan to desired crispness. Lay flat on paper towel to drain. Once cool, chop into pieces. *try not to eat any of the deliciousness...*

2. Spray an 8 x 8 pan and set aside. 

3. Melt the stick of butter in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Once the butter starts to melt, stir continuously. Let the butter first froth, then start to darken a little, until it turns brown and smells toasty. KEEP STIRRING so that the butter does not stick to the bottom of the pan and burn. 

4. Turn off the heat and stir in the marshmallows. Stir until completely melted. 

5. Take the pan off the cooling burner and stir in the rice krispies, sea salt, and bacon pieces until well combined. 

6. Spoon the mixture into the pan you set aside. Spray the back of your spoon with cooking spray and then press the mixture hard into the pan to make sure it fills out the pan completely. 

7. Once cool, you can cut and serve! 

SWEET POTATO PIE (Submitted by Tesla) 

Ingredients: 

Picture from Tastebook.com

1 premade pie crust 

2 - 3 small sweet potatoes

1 tsp. salt 

1/2 tsp. ginger

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 cup heavy cream (though I've used Half and Half in a pinch) 

3 eggs

3/4 cup honey

Cooking Spray

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray surface of a baking sheet, then cut sweet potatoes lengthwise and place halves cut side down. Bake until the sweet potatoes feel tender. 

2. Put the potatoes off to the side to cool for about 10 minutes. Turn the oven heat up to 400 degrees. 

3. Spray the inside of your pie dish then unroll the crust into the dish and press the sides firmly, creating a good shell. 

4. Remove the potato peels and smush the insides in a large bowl. 

5 Mix in the ginger, cinnamon, and salt.  Then add the eggs, one at a time, beat each into the mixture until it feels combined. 

6.Add the honey and heavy whipping cream, while mixing continuously. 

7. Pour the filling mixture from the bowl into the pie shell, then bake at 400 degrees for 50 - 55 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. 

8. Cool, then enjoy! 

...And that ends our special Holiday goodies posts for this year. Keep an eye out for our next Healthy "Fuel" of the Month post, where we'll be getting back to business!

Skater of the Month: Haulin-Sass

Welcome to our monthly feature on the blog where we help you all get to know our players a little better! This month, we're featuring our 2015 team Chair:

Skater Name: Haulin-Sass

Number: 318

Story Behind the Name: My name is pretty sentimental. It's in honor of my late boyfriend who was an over the road truck driver. He had planned on opening up his own trucking company named "Westhaulin". I combined the name of his company with my sassy personality and became Haulin-Sass!

Hometown: Born and raised in Springfield MA aka "the 413."

Derby Experience: I joined POD on 9/22/2013 and have loved every second of it!

Sports background: Aside from doing many endurance challenges and just general "keeping in shape" athletics, I didn't really grow up playing any sports.

Why Derby: I never really took an interest in any of the "typical" sports. But one day while at work my coworker was talking about derby and I found it fascinating. Unfortunately, there wasn't a local team for us to try out for, so we talked about creating our own league. Neither of us had ever played before,

though... I then quit that job and a year went by, when a friend of a friend mentioned she played for a local team and invited me to come watch, after that one night I was immediately hooked and kept coming back! Shortly after I started skating I found out my grandmother was a derby girl, no wonder I was so drawn to it; It's in my blood.

Derby Style: I am still working on that. I don't feel that I have enough experience under by belt just yet to have a specific style... But, I do put everything I have into what ever position I am playing.

Why Pair O' Dice: I like to think fate brought us together. At just the right moment in my life a friend of a friend came into my life and invited me to come see the team practice, and I never left.

Derby Goals: I'd like to become a much stronger Jammer.

Favorite players: Well, Of course there is my Derby Wife, Vicious Aloysuis, (-->) but every player that I have met in the short time I've been playing derby has made a huge impact on me and I truly appreciate each and every one of them.

Outside of Derby:  In real life, I work for World Energy in the energy procurement field AKA energy superhero.

Things I have learned about derby: No matter how long you have been skating, there will always be something new to learn - be it rules, or skills. Most importantly, don't get discouraged!

Officials' Review: Sneaker Derby Charades

Happy New Year and Happy New Ruleset! There may not have been a lot of changes penaltywise in the newest Rules Update, with the exception of the adjustments to the Use Of Forearms and Hands, but when you add in holiday breaks and new members this is a good time of year to review the basics!    

One of the best ways to get everyone back into the derby frame of mind is Sneaker Derby, and so we thought why not work in our rules review too.

Sneaker Derby Charades

Objective: Building rules understanding among Refs, NSOs, and rules-loving-skaters.

Length of drill: Can vary depending on the number of participants.

Participants: Works best with 10 or more, but can be run with fewer. 

Materials needed: Protective Gear as identified in the WFTDA Rulebook; tape or cones; a stopwatch; a whistle; index cards or scrap paper; copies of the Penalties from the WFTDA Rulebook, the WFTDA Official Hand Signals, and the WFTDA Official Verbal Cues.  

Skill level: This drill is designed for group participation including everyone from fresh meat to seasoned skaters and officials.

Preparations: On each of the index cards or pieces of scrap paper, write out the name of a penalty creating penalty-cards. Layout tape, or cones, to delineate a portion of the track (if possible 20ft of the track with 10ft lines). Everybody, even the NSOs, gear up. 

How it works: 

• Participants gear up, and divide into teams of 5 (more teams if there are 15 or more participants).
• The first team draws one of the penalty-cards, and then has 30 seconds to figure out how to act out the penalty on the card (as timed by the other team). 
• Someone from the second team whistles signaling the start of the first team's jam to demonstrate their penalty. 
• Team two has 2 minutes (timed by one of their members) to guess the penalty being acted out by team one. 
• Once team two has an answer, or at the end of the 2 minutes, one of their members whistles to end the jam.
• Both teams come together to discuss the penalty, and what other actions would earn it.
• Repeat with team two acting out a penalty.

Next Steps: adjustments for advanced penalty and procedure fans:

• The Guessing team must answer with the hand signal for the penalty.
• Make penalty-cards with more specific verbal cues for the different penalties.
• Run a few actual jams of Sneaker Derby, but in each jam the "Head Official" secretly assigns one skater a penalty for them to do during the jam, it is up to the other skaters to identify the penalty. (This is best with the non-contact, or minor contact, penalties.)

Let us know how your team/league is planning on reviewing the new rules in the Comments section below. 

Happy 2015 Season! 

- Ducky