Jinkies! A new discovery!
I’ve discovered a new love, something that is so awesome I’ve cheerfully gotten crazy bruises and pulled muscles, yelled myself hoarse and nearly given myself a concussion while doing it.
I discovered Roller Derby.
Lea works for the American Lung Association and they had an event on the 17th at a Richmond Derby Demons game. Awesome spouse that I am, I went with her to help out and then proceeded to spend the entire game gawking at the players and talking with one of the refs. The ref I spent the game talking with turned out to be Square Cat, one of the co-captains of the Derby Demons and he tried to convince me to come out to a practice. As I hadn’t skated since I was in elementary school and was never very good, I politely declined but offered myself as a volunteer/groupie.
After the game was over we went to a local bar for the after-party and had an absolute blast. I loved all the players and they eventually talked me into coming out to a practice by telling me that it didn’t matter that I couldn’t skate, they’d teach me. They pointed out several of their players who couldn’t skate before they started doing derby, so I figured I’d give it a shot.
I showed up at their Monday practice and was outfitted with a full kit of safety gear, gave me a waiver to sign and skated off to do their stretches. Waiver signed and safety gear donned I realized I could barely stand on the carpet in my skates, forget that oh-so-slick gleaming wood floor. Demolition Durga very patiently coaxed me out on to the rink and pried my hands from their death grip on the rail. She went around the rink with me a few times, making sure that I knew the basics of pushing off and how to fall. I wobbled around the rink a bunch of times and fell pretty regularly, thank god for knee pads. Even though I fell a lot, most of the time it didn’t hurt, except when I tried to catch myself with the rail. The further I got from the rail, the more confident I became. By the end of the practice, while not skating fast, my form was good and I could go a few times around without falling. Everyone was so nice and encouraging, no one made fun of the rookie and the whole team was full of sarcastic smart-asses. I went home exhausted but exhilarated.
And then I was in agony for 2 days because getting up on skates uses your inner thigh and groin muscles far more then anything else. My legs were covered (still are) in dark purple bruises, but I didn’t care because it was sooo much fun.
I went back for Thursday’s practice and skated the entire 2 hours with 3 falls. It was so much fun to be able to skate so fast I could feel the air swooshing past me. All the players were telling me how much I improved and that they were really proud of the progress I’d made. They gave me the warm fuzzies, it was awesome. At the practice I volunteered to bench coach for their game on Saturday just so I could have more Derby. I couldn’t wait another 3 days until the next practice, I wanted to be a part of the team.
So I bench-coached this past Saturday and we won our game, it was awesome. I got even more praise for being an awesome bench coach and when they took the team picture, they included me in it. They like me, I like them, and I felt like I belong. I can’t describe how wonderful it felt to be part of the team.
I think I’ve really found my place with the Derby Demons, I fit in with them so well it doesn’t seem like I just met them 9 days ago. I’m getting ready to buy my knee pads and am investigating a pair of skates. I want this, the exercise, the people, the team. It’s almost too awesome. I found something physical that I love doing and actually have the chance to be good at. I love my kickboxing classes, but I’ll never be anything but average unless I lose about a hundred pounds, and that’s ok, I don’t want to be a competitive kickboxer. Roller Derby is something I can be good at, where body type doesn’t matter because there’s a position for everyone. I’m built to be a blocker for Derby, and have got the right attitude for bench coaching until my skating gets good enough. I will be a competitive Roller Derby Player.
Time for practice J