I am sure I will have many many posts about roller Derby on my blog, so I thought I should start with my story.
I love my life. It
is filled with more richness, love and joy than I could have ever imagined. I
have two beautiful children, and an amazing husband. I am fortunate enough to
be self-employed and I work from home doing something I really love. I am consider
myself to be an athlete and I’m healthier and happier than I have ever been,
and I really feel like my life gets better every day. So what has been the most
pivotal event of my life so far? While getting married, having children, and
starting my own business were all momentous, I contribute all of those
happenings to one even bigger event… deciding to play roller derby.
In 2005 I was
22ish and I moved from Savannah back to my hometown, Albuquerque. I needed to
end long relationship and be back in the revitalizing sunshine of the
southwest. I reconnected with a childhood friend through a social networking
site and she was part of a group that was starting a Roller
Derby league, Duke City Derby (now Duke City Roller Derby). I didn’t really
know what Roller Derby was, but I loved roller-skating, and was excited when
she told me about Duke City Derby’s first exhibition bout on October 22nd 2005. The
teams in the exhibition season were Dead Man’s Curves and Big House Brawlers. The
bout was held in a bar that was once a roller skating rink. There was a slightly raised wooden area in
the center of the building that was surrounded by seating and looked a little
like a death trap, and that is where my friend and the founders of Duke City
Roller derby skated that day. I fell in love with Roller Derby before the first
whistle blew. The skaters had cute, sexy uniforms, like pleated jailhouse
skirts and short zip front mechanics dresses paired with fishnets and knee
socks. There were girls with all body types, from all walks of life, and just
watching them play felt empowering. Skaters had funny, cleaver names and
numbers and some had larger than life personas. There was a penalty box with a
dominatrix scolding players as they served their time and even a catfight. The
spectacle was so amazing, and so cool that I was intimidated, but I knew I had
to be a part of what was happening.
By the time the
second exhibition bout was held on December 10th 2005 I was not only
involved, but drafted to the Big House Brawlers team. I had never been a very
athletic girl, and I was overweight. I was on the swim team off and on when I
was a girl and played basketball for a few years, but never really thrived at
any of the sports I tried, and always thought I was just not the active type.
Now I realize I was just not playing the right sports. It is kind of funny to
think back and wonder why I ever tried playing basketball, as an adult I stand
at 5’2” and was always shorter than my peers as a child. I’m not sure if I have
ever made a basket in my life.
I started by
attending an open skate at the roller rink here that was then called Roller
King. I remember being worried I was not cool enough for all the awesome women
in derby, but everyone was friendly and welcoming. They had special deal on Sunday nights that
allowed a group of 5 admission for only $10, so we would meet and get in groups
of 5 to get the deal. When I first started, I could stand up and propel myself
on skates, but that was about it. I was pretty terrible, but I would go every
Sunday and just skate for the full two hours, and eventually I got better. We
also practiced at a small covered area we called “The Pavilion”. The track we mapped out was half the size of
a current regulation flat track… maybe even smaller. We practiced falling, whipping, skating and
hitting, and sometimes we would scrimmage. There was a minimum skills test we
had to pass in order to bout and be drafted; there were about ten skills we
were tested on, and I did my skills test with old skates I bought from the
thrift store. One of my wheels actually fell off in the middle of my skills
test and I had to finish it with borrowed skates! I have taken the skills test
three times since then, twice after my first daughter(when she was born I lived
in Portland and I had to retake it again when I returned to Albuquerque) and
once after my second daughter. The skills test now has four pages of skills and
a long written portion ensuring that skaters understand the rules.
The Day after the
skills test, I remember my first pair of skates arriving. I had shipped them to
my new boyfriend’s house since I worked during the day and my apartment was in
a sketchy part of town. I was so excited when he called to tell me they
arrived. The smell of new skates is
really something else (and is much better than the smell of old skates). I
imagine the sensation I experienced when I opened the box to be similar to the
euphoria a car fanatic gets test driving a Ferrari.
Within a few
months of playing roller derby I went from a flabby 200 pounds down to a dense,
lean 145 to 150 lbs. In addition, I feel like my entire identity changed, in a
positive way. I went from wanting to be invisible to loving my body and feeling
like living was less of a task, and more of an adventure! It was really
exciting and fun to be part of such a diverse and interesting group of women,
and it was priceless to learn that I was not the uncoordinated slob I always
thought I was. Now I get to see new skaters join and go through their own
transformation, and it makes me so happy to see the positive effect derby has
on so many women.
My first bout was
the second game in Duke City Derby’s exhibition season, and remembering it now
is evoking goose bumps. I was so nervous I felt sick, and I still get that
nervous before games. I had spent longer getting ready for the bout then I
spent pampering myself before my senior prom. My team got together and did
visualization with one of the skaters mothers before the bout. At that time we
had three 20 minute periods and in our league we played 4 on 4 for home bouts.
Now the game is played with each team fielding five players. By the third
period of that first bout a lot of my team had suffered injuries, and I had to
play the entire third period without taking a break, which was equally
exhausting and excellent!
Before the
2005 ended, I went with Duke City Derby’s Munecas Muertas to our first travel
game against Sin City’s Neanderdolls. They demolished us, winning by over 100
points. I remember feeling so broken after that bout, but still having a great
time with them at the after party where I very randomly kissed a stranger and
tried a Bacon Martini made with bacon infused vodka. The next day the
Neanderdolls were kind enough to lead a practice and give us some tips on how
we could become better. At a later date we played them and won, and Trish the
Dish- who had helped us after that first bout- jokingly commented that maybe
they had taught us a little too well.
After the
exhibition season the league restructured into three teams. As a league we
decided on new themes. The themes were sexy spies, robots, and mad scientists.
Somehow the mad scientist theme was changed to a post-apocalyptic theme, and
the three teams were named Derby Intelligence Agency, Ho-Bots, and Doomsdames.
I was a Doomsdame and my team was undefeated for first several seasons.
During my second
season a referee named Adam who went by Fowl Play started with duke city derby.
He had been friends for twenty years with one of the founding members, the ref
Fair Game, and that was how he was introduced to Roller Derby. While he was
profoundly attractive, I was in a relationship and did not really pay much
attention to him for almost a year, and actually thought he and another
skater’s husband were the same person for quite a while. I ended the relationship I had been in, and
around the same time started to notice that Fowl Play was not only a very
diplomatic ref and a kind person, but also exceedingly attractive to me. He was
not really the type of man I am usually attracted to, and despite the
confidence that roller derby gave me, I thought he was too good for me.
Fortunately, I was wrong. I invited him to come to an art show I was having,
and that lead to our first date. We went to a nice restaurant and then I went
back to his place to see the knives he hand forges and have a margarita. After
sharing a bottle of wine at the restaurant and an excessively strong margarita
I spent the night there. I have spent very few nights without him since.
In November of
2008 Adam was laid off right before thanksgiving. By February, we were making
plans to move, and before the end of February we found out that I was pregnant.
We packed up our belongings and stored them at my dad’s shop while we decided
what to do. We spent a lot of time camping, visiting his parents in Michigan,
and my mom in Savannah. In April he was hired by a company in Portland. We
drove from Michigan back to Albuquerque to get our things. From there we headed
on to Portland stopping in Las Vegas along the way to elope. Everything was
wonderful, but looking back I wish someone dressed as Elvis had performed the
ceremony.
After my first
daughter, Autumn was born I stopped working, and started selling crafts on
etsy. I started playing roller derby again as soon as my doctor said it was
safe, approximately 8 weeks after my C-section. It was very difficult to come
back after having a baby, I gained a lot of weight during pregnancy that I
eventually learned was due to a glucose intolerance and my body was completely
different. I could not do what I had been able to do before I had my daughter
and am still working on losing the weight I gained during the two pregnancies.
I now need to lose 70-80 pounds. I only spent a few months skating in Portland
with the Rose City Rollers before I became homesick and needed to come back to
Albuquerque. There is a reason people refer to this place as the land of
entrapment, and I am definitely a desert flower.
When we came back
to Albuquerque I worked at my dad’s shop for a while, which was really nice
because I could bring my daughter with me, and she got to spend a lot of time
with her grandfather. I taught myself how to screen-print and started selling
tshirts on etsy too. My business, Caustic Threads far exceeded my expectations
and within a year I had to choose between my job and my business. While I
really enjoyed working with my dad it was a pretty easy decision to make. It is
so much fun to spend every day designing, dying and printing tshirts. Most of
my top selling items are Roller Derby themed.
I had another
daughter in 2011. I considered retiring from roller derby, but I love playing
roller derby so much that within the first few months of my pregnancy I already
missed so much about it. My husband no
longer Refs, and often wishes he did not have to share me with roller derby, as
it is very time consuming. As I mentioned, I have several pounds to lose, but I
still consider myself to be an athlete and quite fit. I am careful to eat a
clean diet that gives my body the proper fuel that allows me to play the best I
can. I cross train and skate several days a week. I feel like I am healthier than I have ever been, and if I had never
started playing roller derby I would probably still be sedentary and eating all
of the unhealthy packaged food-like-product that I ate before I played. I have had periods of burn out, and am coming off a long break that I needed to remember how important the sport is to me, but it seems to always be part of my life.
Roller derby
has changed dramatically since I started in 2005, the rules are different, the
sport is worldwide and the skill of the skaters is greater. Some changes have been easier to adapt to
than others. Over the years, I have changed with the sport. I have gained
confidence, health, and happiness and that has allowed me to create a life that
I absolutely love. I don’t know if I can say that roller derby has saved my
soul, and I am not going to go into a theological tangent, but roller derby has
changed my life and I can’t imagine my life without it.
Here are some Awesome Derby Items I found on etsy:
These toe stop covers can be purchased here:
And this cute skirt can be found here:
