I wish I could play mens roller derby. I can’t because there isn’t a league that is within reasonable distance of where I live...but if there was, I’d totally play. And I alreaady have a great derby name picked out if I ever get the chance!. I have a love for derby...actually if you ask my sister or SWGMID, I’ve probably crossed moved from love territory to passionate territory because I catch myself talking about it when I don’t mean to. Since I can’t play, I’m learning to ref. If I can’t ref, I’ll NSO. If I can’t NSO, I’ll......well I’d figure something out.

There are a ton of volunteers in every derby league that keep things going. Many of the NSO’s, referees and other people who keep things running are the friends, significant others, spouses and family members of participants that get them hooked. Even when players retire they stay involved via these avenues. It is rumored that all derby photographers are friends who were lured to a bout with their camera and are then locked in a back room between bouts so that they never leave and leagues will always have amazing pictures. True story.

Since the last blog post I was able to NSO another bout and attend another practice. NSOing was another learning experience and this time the announcer said my name right! Yeah!

Saturday I had to go to Buffalo to clear out my office because a new graduate student is moving in there. I also decided to stop at the skate shop and see what they had. When you join derby there is no “just stopping at the skate shop” thing that exists. Every time you go in, you get something. Even if it is just a pair of laces. It also helps that the two people who run Turnaround Skates are pretty amazing people. This day I left with a new pair of insoles.

Sunday’s bout was the QCRG Queens Court team vs The Bombshell Battalion from Alliston, Ontario. (Sidenote: Ontario has a lot of derby leagues. Rollery derby seems to be almost every where. I can think of at least 5 leagues within 2 hours of Niagara Falls) I saw some tactics from the visiting team that I had never seen before. When ever their jammers would get out of the pack, or be sitting in the penalty box they would take their helmet panty off. There were a few times where we (the lineup trackers) thought they were puling off a star pass but in reality they were trying to hide the position of the jammer on the track. You would think this would be illegal because it confused the officials and the fans right?  Well....in my studying of the rule book, I found out that it is only against the rules if they do it as the lead jammer. You learn something new every day! 

Also...I was right....I do look good in pink.

I’ve been reading the rule book a lot and it isn’t as difficult read as one would think. I’m slowly picking up the rules with emphasis on slowly. I want to concentrate on my skating until I pass my assessments and then I’ll hit the rule book harder. I figure if I can read scientific articles on a regular basis, knocking off a 79 page rule book should be no problem.

Sunday’s boot camp was cancelled but I made it to another Tuesday practice and SWGMID was able to drop in!  It was pretty cool to skate a practice with her. This week there was someone different running the practice so it was a change of pace. The support and positivity was still there with an added sprinkle of innuendo and dirty jokes. We worked on the usual transitions and backward skating. One of these days I will be able to do a backward crossover. This day was not that day.  I can now skate multiple laps backwards without falling and carrying some speed. PROGRESS! I think I am on track to possibly pass my next assessment. There was also another bonding moment between Bilbo and I. If by bonding you mean me making a sarcastic comment and her coming after me. All in good fun!  

My skates were doing something funky all practice. My one foot was a little squirrelly and I was consistently losing it in the turns. I couldn’t figure it out. At first I thought it was my new insoles that I got. While I do have a little more room in my boot because of them, that wasn’t it.  I did have a loose toe stop but that wasn’t the issue either.  Then I decided to chalk it up to a bad night. At the end of practice I happened to wiggle one of my trucks on the bottom of my skates and I had one on each foot that was way way way loose.  I tightened these up and took a few practice laps and everything seemed to be back to normal. We’ll find out the next time I skate.

Speaking of gear modifications, I added a sticker to my helmet!

Not sure how I feel about that. It is a laptop decal that I cut and stuck it on my helmet. I think I am going to inquire about a special helmet sticker that I won’t explain to you....I’ll just have to show you when it happens. 

On that note, I realize these blogs are probably becoming more mundane as time goes on and I will try to continue to entertain.  If there is anything you would like me to blog about or if you are interested in me possibly posting a guest blog from other people. Let me know. I am very receptive to feed back.