1) Having trouble weaving past the pack.

Learn to be patient, don't just plow into the pack and hope that you will find your way through. Skate toward the pack, hang at the back weaving back and forth. When an opening presents itself, pick your line and pass through. If you get caught in behind the other teams blockers it can be hard to get free and this will waste a lot of time.

Practice your lateral movement, this includes being able to do tight crossovers in both directions and little steps. Practice skating around the track doing zigzags back and forth using crossovers and little steps.

A good drill is to skate in a pacing line, and have the gal in the back weave through the line. She steps (not slalom) in ( a step to the left) between the first two girls in the line and then crossovers out. Then she steps in between the next two girls and then crossovers out etc....

Practice starts and stops. A good jammer needs explosive speed. She must be able to go from almost a stop to a full out sprint instantly. This is not just for the start of the jam but as a way to make it through the pack. When an opening presents itself you have to be able to take it.

2) Hitting

Try stepping into your hits. As you go to hit a girl, stomp your inside skate to the ground. You will find that you will hit 3 times at hard without even trying. You have to do it in one solid strong motion. At the very second you throw your weight at her, you stomp your inside foot. It sends a shock wave through the oponent.

Work on hip checks. Make contact with your hips first. This is hard to learn but it is really efficient. When you strike this way, you send girls flying.

Breathe out when you make a hit. To make sure that you do this, it is helpful to yell or swear when you make contact. If you are breathing out when you hit, you will hit harder.