It’s bout day - what’s on your headphones?

My jams? I have a Spotify playlist full of solid gold excellence to put me in the right mood. There’s songs to pump up my arousal levels, and songs to calm me down if needed. A song can double up as a mental cue to help you control your arousal levels: if you listen to a certain song in specific situations, you can train yourself to associate the song to the needed mood, and just thinking of the song can help you set the right kind of mental mindset, which in turn will improve your performance. All that from a silly little piece of music, eh?
 

I will now share with you guys actual songs from my playlist. I will put myself out there, and make myself vulnerable, and I’ll do it proudly. Starting from the slightly more guilty pleasure -section (though I do enjoy all of these tunes with no shame), I have songs that speak to me on a personal level: songs that have good memories attached to them, songs I’ve listened to with friends countless of times, songs like Jari ja minä by Tommi Läntinen, Electric by Leila K, Pon de Replay by Rihanna, and All about that bass… These are the songs I start the day with while I eat breakfast, and prepare myself for the day. 

Next up we have songs that just kick ass on every possible level, and get my blood flowing: Psycho Killer by The Talking Heads, I’m so excited by Le Tigre, Cool and Bored by LCMDF, Add It Up by Violent Femmes, and Here Come The Drums by Jaya The Cat. These are the ones that build me up, and get me going, make me hungry and push me to try just little bit harder. 

And the third section? It’s the songs that I associate with my teams, and the victories we’ve had. There’s Paso by Sak Noel (Porvoo Roller Derby always and forever), Girlfriend by Icona Pop (Vagine Regime Nordic!), Euphoria by Loreen (Long live Darkside of the Mooncup / Malmö Roller Derby Festival 2013!), and well, I’m sure it’s no surprise that most of the songs on the list I attach to my team of heroes in a halfshell, Helsinki Roller Derby All-Stars: Macklemore’s Can’t Hold Us (our warm up song), Leijonakuningas-laulu by Ruudolf (for winning the Suomi Cup 2014), and well, does Lorde’s Team need any explanations? These are the songs that remind me why I do this roller derby thing, and why it matters to me. 

All these songs, they might not speak to anyone else, or they might get you in a completely different kind of mood, but that really is the point, isn’t it? You have to find what works for you, and go from there.  If you listen to really aggressive music right before a game, get on the track, and end up in the box right away, there might be a connection. Or it could just be a coincidence. But it’s worth experimenting with. And the biggest tip of all: learn to shut out the music DJ’s play during a game. Seriously. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s bad, and occasionally, it’s so bloody absurd that you lose all focus. Trust me.

// AM

Preparing to win

Bout preparation for me is all about sticking to the same routines. These routines help me build up my confidence so that I can play the best possible game. However, the level of routines can some times reach a level nearing superstition. This is certainly true for my team, Kallio Rolling Rainbow. We always have the same cheer for every bout. The one time we tried another cheer, we played the worst game ever. I certainly spent more time on my face than on my skates that day.

Eat and rest

Eating right before the game is certainly important. However, the week leading up to big bouts is not the time to make drastic changes in your normal diet. I try to cut out all the crap like sweets and pizza but otherwise I eat pretty much the same as I always do. I also aim to eat a little more carbs then usual, especially on the night before the bout.

By far the biggest challenge is what and when to eat on the actual bout day. Having once eaten way too late in the day and suffered the consequences of vomiting in my mouth multiple times during the bout, I don’t want to repeat that mistake. This year at EROC, we had a very useful session from the coaches at Dynamic Sports Academy. Their recommendation was to eat a bigger meal about 3 hours before the bout and I have found this to work well for me. The optimal meal, at least according to them, is a pasta salad with some sort of protein whether that may be tofu or turkey. And interestingly white carbs work best just before the sports performance, otherwise of course whole wheat is generally better. They also recommended eating a granola bar and drinking one litre of water mixed with a little bit of salt and sugar approximately 1 hour before. I am usually pretty nervous by that point so I don’t really feel hungry. But forcing myself to eat a little something shortly before the game has helped me to maintain my energy all the way throughout the bout. Additionally, carbs have the benefit of calming down your stomach when you are nervous.

Rest is another big factor affecting performance on bout days. I try to rest at least two or better yet three days before the bout. However, just sitting on the sofa isn’t a very good idea as that can just lead to muscles becoming stiff. So I aim to do very slow impact exercises for example swimming or pleasant walks with team mates work well for me.

Getting into the feeling

Mental preparation plays a big part for me. It takes many forms. During the bout day, I have a very specific play list. I alternate between angry rap and Katy Perry. Somehow that is the key to me being in the perfect mood and feeling strong. For some other people, I know bout outfits can have a similar role. If your ass looks good, then it does great things on the track.

Just before the bout, as part of the warm ups, my team also does a few mental exercises. We each say something that we should keep in mind during the bout. For example, we’ll always do everything 100% and we’ll always trust our teammates to also do their part. Secondly, each player imagines their ideal jam: that one jam where everything goes right. That’s usually the last thing we do before we go on track feeling ready to win.

// Schlagerlöf