New year, new season, new you!

Okay, okay, cliché title, I know. Seriously, though. It is the start of a new year and derby season is starting back up, so now is the perfect time to get a fresh start, make new goals, and get ready to play some derby again. Some great things you can do to prepare yourself for the new season include:

• Rereading the rules and taking note of all the rule changes that have occurred throughout 2013. Derby is constantly changing, and it can be hard to keep track of all the new stuff sometimes. The 2013 WFTDA rule changes summary can be accessed here, and I highly encourage going over it. However, this is just a summary of the major rule changes, so if you aren't familiar with the rest of the rules, I would recommend going over those, as well.

• WASHING YOUR GEAR. This should be done frequently anyways, but I know that it may be easy for some to forget about washing their gear once the season is over. The longer you wait, the worse the derby stank gets, and do you know what causes that
  derby stank? Bacteria. Yup. Totally gross, right? Think about the

  

  (Gotta love That's So Raven!)

  last time you washed your gear. Now think about how often you use your gear. Now think about how much time that gives all that nasty bacteria to spread and worsen. Now go wash your gear! Or as Raven would say... Go wash your gear, ya nasty!

• Checking your gear for major scratches, dents, rips, anything that might render it useless. I would say one of the most important ones to check would be your helmet. One or two big falls where you hit your head can be all it takes to ruin your helmet, though you may not even realize it. Just check that all your gear is working, fitting properly, and is clean! Don't forget to check your toe stops, too!

• Cleaning your bearings. I guess I wouldn't say this is absolutely mandatory, but I like getting a fresh start at the beginning of a season, which means clean pads, clean wheels, and clean bearings. I know I did a lot of outdoor and trail skating during this off season, and my outdoor bearings are definitely in need of a little cleaning... For those who use the same set of bearings for both indoor and outdoor skating, I would definitely recommend a good cleaning!

Believe it or not, those bearings are supposed to have red shields...

• Making some new goals for the new season. Maybe last season you told yourself that you would finally start cross training on your own, or you have a ton of workout updates from Roller Derby Athletics sitting in your email inbox that you've "accidentally" overlooked for the past month...or two...or ten... or you wanted to improve on your backwards skating, but you just never got around to doing any of those for one reason or another. Well, what better time to start new things than the beginning of the new year? No more excuses. Make a list of whatever goals you have for yourself this season and stick to them! Nothing feels better than looking at a list of all the wonderful things you accomplished throughout the year when the season is over, but if you want to be able to do that you'll have to start now. They can be goals like, "I am going to jam at least once in every single game," or "I'm going to have better attendance this year," or "I'm going to learn to tomahawk and T-stop in my weaker direction just as well as I can in my strong direction." They can be anything, no matter how big or how small. 

My personal goals this year include: jamming at least once every game (and maybe even getting lead every time?..), learning to jump the apex, learning to skate sideways, becoming a stronger hitter, learning to do a jumping 360, doing more off-skates training at home, and working on my endurance. What are some of your goals? I'd love to hear them!