My Roller Hockey Saga (Part Ten)

Question
Ugh, this last day hasn't been very good, and I have some bad news.  First off, I've been ill for a little while, having these giant coughs and sneezes, and a combination of one giant sneeze and an even bigger wipeout on rollerblades has left me with a cracked rib, lol.  I know that it is hard enough for me to do regular daily activities, and it is really hard for me to practice my music (I play woodwinds), so I kind of figure that I'm not supposed to skate for a little while.  I was wondering if you thought that it would be safe for me to just skate "more carefully" or if I should completely take a break from it.  I don't want to lose the feeling, but I do have a couple of clarinet auditions coming up, and I don't exactly wish to be incapacitated for them.  If there is anything that I could practice without the danger of hurting my rib, I would like to know what it would be.  My only guess would be to focus in on shooting just in shoes as well as just stickhandling on the ground (also without skates).  One more bit of bad news, it has just come to my attention that the skates I bought those couple of weeks ago........weren't roller hockey skates.  Yeah, um, I guess it just goes to show you how much I really knew about what I was doing, but apparently I bought a pair of "aggressive" skates, which I'm guessing are for things like grinding and extreme inline skating.  I was wondering if you knew if this would affect anything, and if having roller hockey skates would make it easier to do some of the things that I have been having trouble with.  (Yeah, I noticed when one of my friends mentioned that he hated his new wheels because they were too small (74 mm).  I then looked at mine and saw that they read 56 mm, lol)  Frankly I have no idea if this makes a difference at all, but hey, that's why I'm asking you, now isn't it?  I'm actually not sure which answer I would prefer, if getting new equipment would make some things easier, that would be nice, but I did pay quite a hefty sum for these skates to begin with as well.  Anyway, sorry for the kind of downer entry, but as you can tell I'm in quite a quandary and I don't know how I can keep practicing my skills without putting myself in danger, lol.

Answer
Oh gosh, I'm so sorry to hear that you haven't been feeling well and that you cracked a rib.  Just what you needed, huh?   

I wouldn't recommend skating at all.  If you hurt it again or stress the rib it would only take that much longer to heal.  Then you wouldn't be able to skate or play the clarinet.  Save yourself for you auditions, that's probably more important at the moment.

You can try stick handling in your shoes but swinging the stick might make your ribs hurt even more.  I would stick with just some mental practice for a couple weeks...visualizing all the skating moves that we've talked about.  Giving the ribs time to heal is important.  Visual imagery can be very helpful too.

I would suggest that you ask your doctor when it would be safe to work on stick handling in your shoes and when it would be ok to put your skates back on.  That's something that I really can't answer but he could at least give you an idea of how long it takes.

About the skates that you bought?   Don't worry, agressive skates are not that much different than hockey skates.  The only difference is that because yours have smaller wheels,  you have been working harder than you should have been.  The larger wheels will allow  you to roller further with the same effort that you've been using with your smaller wheels.  

I wish I could say that it would make everything easier by having hockey skates but the maneuvers are all the same.  It just takes time and practice.

Once you become pretty accomplished on your agressive skates then you may want to invest in some hockey skates if you still have the interest to join the team.  The transition won't take you that long to adjust to.  Skating is skating!  They will feel a little different but you will get use to them quickly and have an easier time pushing and going faster.

So stay off the skates until you get the ok from the doctor.  Just use mental practice like I mentioned and you'll be back on your skates before you know it.

Good luck with your auditions!   In the meantime, check out some hockey web sites.  It will make interesting reading and you can pick up some other tips.

Take care and hope your feeling better soon.  When you're ready for more info just email me again and we'll pick it up from there.

Pat