Roller Derby Girl

I've been doing a lot of thinking about roller derby as of late.  A number of years I went to a bout and had a fantastic time.  I even mentioned in that post that I wanted to join but couldn't find any information about the team.

So I recently, randomly, started thinking about roller derby again.  I've been looking for motivation to start working out again, and thought that I needed something different and fun (I tried Zumba for a few months last year and it was not for me).

One night my mom randomly brought up roller derby.  She said she thought it'd be fun and made some other quick, light comment that I'm sure she didn't think twice about.  About a week later, I randomly caught Whip It on TV and decided it was a sign that I should at least ask the local team about tryouts.

After a bit of back and forth on the Sugar Beaters Facebook page, I decided to go for a practice and see what I thought.

Now I haven't skated in years...many, many, years.  We're talking, third-grade roller rink birthday party, years.  But I still thought I'd be okay.  I mean, how hard could it be to skate on four wheels?

Hard.  Not as hard as the concrete I smashed into as I fell thirteen seconds into my night.  But hard.

After that initial fall, I was pretty sure my tailbone was broken.  I sat there, these strange women I'd never met gathering around me to make sure I was okay, and I thought about taking the skates off and just being done.  If I couldn't skate ten feet without seriously hurting myself, what was I doing?

But somehow I was encouraged to try again.  I was taught how to fall properly so that it didn't hurt as much.  I spent the next hour practicing skating around the outside of the mapped out rink while the ladies on the team had practice inside the blue lines.

About an hour and fifteen minutes into my reintroduction to skating, I was practicing stops when I started to fall back again, as opposed to the preferred falling forward method.  I twisted my hips so I'd land more on my side instead of on my tailbone, again.  So, of course, I ended up doing another bad thing and falling on my arm. 

At that point, one of the gals, probably sensing my physical pain and anguish, told me that I had done a fantastic job but could take off my skates and just watch the rest of practice if I wanted...so that's exactly what I did.  I'd skated longer than I'd thought I could but had no idea how to gauge if I should keep going or if it was a, go until you're dead, sort of thing.

Long story, short: I liked roller derby.  I liked it a lot.  I'm planning on going back at least for a few more practices until I'm allowed to scrimmage with the team.  Despite the pain I feel sitting, standing, walking, etc, it was worth it.  Roller derby might not be for me in the long run, but for right now, I'm having a good time.