Diary of a Derby Girl {The Nudge}

For those who missed the first installment - Read How I found out about Roller Derby

Part Two:

So a couple of years go by, in the midst of earthquakes and work and life and church, time flew by. Enter Christmas 2012. I have an amazing friend (and bridesmaid!!) who got into derby a couple of years back in Auckland and became known as Minnie Mayhem.

Check her out! I am so proud of her and she is an amazing Jammer!

Anyway we went to Auckland to spend Christmas and New Years with her and her Hubby and almost every day that we were there was spent at a skatepark or somewhere with skates on.
Although her feet are 2 sizes smaller than mine, she managed to convince me to give it a go. Well. Despite my feet being crushed, I stood up like a baby giraffe, wobbling everywhere. I pushed off and skated slowly around a pole and back. Then I fell on my bum.

Now before I go any further I would like to mention that Roller Derby cares very much about your protection. If you don't have the right safety gear, you dont get to skate. Simple. So wrist guards - check, knee pads - check, elbow pads - check, helmet - check, mouthguard - check.
UM - HELLO! Someone seems to have forgotten about the protection of one very important body part on the backside of the body (see what I did there?) You can get pants with pillows in them (essentially) but they make your rear end look a million sizes bigger than it already is. I'll pass on those thanks.

Back to the story - I got up gingerly and did a couple more laps but my pride as well as my bum was hurt. All was well later on in the week though when Ivy taught me a few tricks - like stopping - that made things a bit easier.
Also during the week Ivy was not-so-subtly hinting for me to join up with one of the leagues back home in Christchurch and give it a go. And I was being every so slowly pursuaded. I had found some old skates in my parents ceiling space and Ivy helped me pimp them with shiny new wheels that actually spun, and sent me back to Christchurch with a bunch of her old safety gear.

I was hooked and spent a couple of nights practicing on our cracked driveway (bad idea) and sent an email out to one of the local leagues to see when the next freshmeat* intake was.

A month or so later I heard back and BOOM I was committed.

Tune in for the next Diary entry coming soon!

*Freshmeat is what they call the 'initiation' and training stage of derby. Before you get to play any bouts you have to pass a skills test that is a good few pages long with all the different skills you need to safely play roller derby. You also get paid out a bit from the skaters and get made to do all the menial tasks at games. It lasts a few months and you train between one and two times a week.  Once you graduate you get drafted into a team and can scrimmage your heart out.