WhipKat

Muddy Cross Training.. aka the Red Bull Foxhunt 2017

This weekend I took part in an annual event which, while not roller derby related, has the comeradre and support often associated with that sport. The Red Bull Foxhunt is a downhill, mass start, mountain bike race where, in the female variant, 200 or so ‘Hunters’ are chased downhill on their mountain bike by a ‘Fox’. The Fox being World Champion Downhill racer, Rachael Atherton, well until while…

12 Months ago today I returned to contact after being out for 12 weeks with Surgery.. wait does that qualify me for Team Metal Legs? Anyway I digress, as I am sure many skaters do, I had a plan – a target and the next 3 months were to be spent attempting to achieve that goal. I started that quest representing, for the first time, a team that has become very close to my heart – Team Crazy Legs –…

There has been a lot said about the mental side of Roller Derby, indeed fellow Blogger and team mate, Treble Maker, has a book out all about Mental Toughness available here. More specifically she talks about Jamnesia in posts such as this one in her blog. Jamnesia being the practice of forgetting what happened in a Jam before you start the next one. At Sci Fight III this year, I unintentionally…

I’m Back!!

So it’s been 18 months since I posted and a lot has happened. I’d almost forgotten about this blog until a friend said he had read it and enjoyed it. He asked me to resurrect it so I thought why not, so I’m back!! Unsurprisingly a lot has happened since I announced I liked to NSO, so this post will be a quick summary of what I’ve been up to. I carried on NSOing alongside Freshmeat practice…

Week 93 – Day 2 : On the home run!

Sorry I have been quiet, I have been going through a period of ill health and as a result I have found it difficult to motivate and find things to write about. I am definitely on the mend, although definitely not fixed, however I had probably the most important appointment yet, today, so absolutely had to write a blog post to update you. This afternoon I visited the Northamptonshire Gender Clinic…

Week 88 – Day 2 : Making progress..

I do intend to get this blog back up to weekly but over the last few weeks I’ve been struggling with my health, combined with starting a second job and other things I simply didn’t have the motivation to post. This week things have been happening, however, and I am pleased to say I finally have my next GIC appointment. But the first thing that happened, late last week, was sorting my DBS for my…

Week 85 – Day 1 : Just do what you want and get involved!

The big message I try to get out with this blog is that people who identity and live as a gender other their birth gender can live life and have fun no-matter what part of their journey they are. The trigger for this weeks post, sorry about missing the last two weeks I’ve been extremely busy, is the fact I’m in a cast for Pantomime. I fancied giving it a go and auditioned and got a part. I didn’t…

Week 82 – Day 4 : What’s expected of me?

I’ve seen several posts of this ilk from people who are about to go through treatment for Gender Identity Disorder GID. They are naturally nervous about the whole process and unsure what to expect. Also, while things have improved, myth and rumour still exist. On top of there there’s the confusion of terms and what they mean, why do I use GID and not ‘trans’ related terms? Gender Identity…

Week 81 – Day 4 : On Holiday

 As regular readers of this blog know I started it for a number of reasons, but centre to them all was an appreciation that, despite the fact my journey has not been anything like straightforward, indeed some of my friends who started transitioning before me are post-op, I am incredibly lucky. As such I wanted to share my journey when I started hormones in the hope that people in a similar…

Week 79 – Day 6 : Lifes on hold..

Or at least it feels like it… This week has been pretty tough for me as frustration finally got the better of me resulting in a week that really could have been a lot better. In some ways it’s been a good week, so it’s not all bad, I finally got to my first HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) session on Tuesday, going with one of my best friends and in doing so ticking off one of my little…

Week 78 – Day 7 : Oh dear.. oh dear..

This weeks blog was triggered by this photo that one of my friends shared on facebook. The photo can be found here and on the face of it looks innocent.. until you read the text. The photo was posted by a proud father who’s son, Beau, was born with a condition called Fibular Hemimelia which resulted in him having to have both his feet amputated. Obviously that has caused Beau’s life to be not as…

Missed a week that is!! My excuse is I was very busy and I’m sticking to it!! I’ve actually got on and done things, it’s amazing really how much better I feel. Stress crept up on me without me knowing, but the fact a lot of the time I’d just mess on the computer and wouldn’t really feel inspired to do anything was a symptom I didn’t notice until the last week or two. Whereas the only ‘going out’…

When I started Roller Derby I was not in the slightest bit surprised to hear that Derby Leagues expect their members to contribute to the running of the league and it’s matches. I was even less surprised to hear that part of the requirements included doing some work as a Non Skate Official (NSO) and pretty much immediately volunteered to help out. My sporting background includes Cricket and while…

I decided to keep the blog quiet over the last few weeks because we were going through a period of testing in the league and I wanted to concentrate on that, and then do a reflective post, rather than try to write about things as they happened. There is still one more chance to test, but this isn’t for a little while so I decided the time was right to write and reflect. Some might remember that…

You might recall, back in April, me talking about the loss of a 15 year old, young Roller Derby player, Sam Taub, a loss that effected me quite strongly simply because I connected with him in a way I never expected. More recently the Roller Derby lost another of their youngsters when a 14 year old skater lost her fight with Depression – both these incidents saddened me, we shouldn’t be loosing…

Stress is a concept that for most of my life has been pretty alien. While my married life was potted with problems, job insecurity, trying to keep family fed etc. it was generally stuff I simply just shrugged and got on with. I couldn’t control it, so didn’t stress over it. My degree was largely stress free, I asked for an extension for my final hand-ins but at the time the marriage was on it’s…

This weeks post is influenced by a lovely conversation I had with one of my best friends last night. As with all my blog posts it’s being written ‘on the fly’, but unlike most of my posts I’m not sure I have an idea of what the conclusion is, so it’s going to be an interesting journey. I expect this post to be something many people can connect with from all walks of life, not just those with…