Getting Derby Ready

A few weeks ago, I joined a roller derby team.  I've wanted to do derby for several years now, in the back of my head, and so when I got the opportunity, I took it.  One caveat: I don't know how to skate.  Sure, I skated as a kid at the PTA skating parties, and I skated once in college at a fundraiser.  At none of those times was I ever a good skater.
I'm learning to skate, slowly and steadily.  I was taking a course at the roller rink near me, but I've found that I seem to make more progress and feel more comfortable learning with my derby sisters.  The class was at the same time as one of our two weekly practises, so starting this week I will attend both practises rather than doing the class and one practise.  I feel like my skating will improve a lot faster this way.
For me, though, learning to skate isn't just about what is done on the rink.  At my first practise, everyone recommended squats to get my thigh muscles in shape, so I've been doing 100 every day.  I've also added a few other things:

1. Chair pose in yoga.  I like to see how long I can hold it.  I need to start timing myself so that I have a baseline, but so far I just do it until I can't anymore. 
2. I bought a balance board from Target.  The one that I got is this one.  When I had an exercise ball, I was great at balancing on that (sitting on the ball, both feet off the ground), and this is a bit harder.  I attempted it on the hardwood, but that was a concussion waiting to happen.  Then I put it on the dog bed (which is the thickness of a folded towel), and that was better.  Totally kicked my ass.

I've also been doing a few different ab videos on On Demand to try to build up core strength, as well as some yoga/pilates videos for the same reason.  I feel like I have been able to see some improvement so far, but I am very much looking forward to skating as effortlessly as the other women on my team.