Roller Derby: It Saved Her Soul and Broke Her Ankle

Hello, Dire Skates fans! It's your newest derby girl here, SeanA the Dead--you may remember just reading about me a few weeks ago. I was the one who was super excited about just passing my laps, officially making the team, and preparing for my first big game and all that good stuff. This right here is pretty much sums up how I felt after the practice when I finally got that last lap to pass my minimum skills: 

Well fast forward to now and I am awaiting an ankle surgery next week! I was going hard at practice and let's just say it didn't end well for me.

 How I felt when the doctor came in and told me that I did in fact break my ankle.

I have to say I never would have thought that I would miss my skates as much as I do considering I am new to skating, but they constantly are on my mind. I am so determined to be back in them as soon as I can. I have so much support from my family and friends. The ladies and coaches on the team have been so supportive and I honestly didn't expect anything less. I have had a couple of teammates suggest things that I could do for the team because there are always behind the scenes things to do. It's all about staying involved and being a part of the team.

So in the mean time I am finding motivational quotes through Pinterest, looking up ways to strengthen my ankle after the surgery recovery, keeping up with the team and attending practices to watch while I can.

Not to mention some great exercise!

I may have gone down before my first chance to play, but SeanA the Dead will be back and I can't wait!

Much derby love!

SeanA

Body Image, Roller Derby, and the F Word

Editor's note: Please welcome The GOREgon in her first guest blog. This is part one of a two part exploration of body image and the power of roller derby.

You may have noticed that most roller derby teams are populated by women (and as an aside, there are plenty of men's roller derby teams) and that these women train hard and slam into each other a lot.

What you may not notice at first is the incredible confidence and drive that roller derby has helped these women to achieve. Keep watching, though, because you will eventually see it. It only gets stronger in each player as the season goes on, no matter how many points they win or lose by.

Roller derby is also a very welcoming sport and offers a place for women and men (and junior players!) to become part of a team. No matter your age, race, body type, athleticism, sexuality, gender identity, religion, or class--roller derby is for you. In fact, if you never felt like you fit into team sports in school or always felt like you couldn't do it, you should try roller derby! As Bonnie Thunders, super-star derby player for the Gotham Girls Roller Derby, stated in an interview with the Huffington Post :

Bonnie Thunders of Gotham and Team USA

"[Roller derby is] kind of secondary to the more popular sports, which allows it to attract the people who didn't fit in in the primary sports.”

As a fat woman, roller derby has been the only thing in my life that has inspired me to become more physically fit and to increase my skill set to improve my team. For the first time, I feel like I am a part of something and not an outsider looking in. I have gotten teased and harassed for being big in weight and physique as well as for not being as fast or fit as others. Fear kept me from the gym and from team sports until the ripe old age of 31.

This is nothing new for derby 'girls' as any one of them can tell you. Contrary to popular belief, a lot of us wear clothing that is quite normal for a team sport! We need to move around so we wear tight shorts and leggings or tights and tank tops because boy, it gets hot when you work as hard as we do. We sweat, get disgusting, stink to high heaven...and love it. We build sisterhood with our team-mates (and often, the opposing team, too!) while we work on team strategy and toward building up each others’ strengths and weaknesses.

A lot of us, no matter our shape, size, height, race, etc., hate our bodies. We struggle to either accept ourselves or to fit into an idea of what we should look like. It doesn't help that everywhere we turn, we are bombarded with images and messages telling us how inadequate we really are. I have always had a hard time, still have a hard time, loving my self and my body. I thought roller derby would be a sport for fit, athletic women and that I would have a hard time keeping up. I thought that big girls wouldn't be welcome in any sport save power lifting and shot put.

Demanda Riot of B.A.D.

I was so wrong. Roller derby takes ALL kinds. Look at the stars of our sport like Demanda Riot, Jackie Daniels, Bonnie Thunders, Scald Eagle, Bork Bork Bork, Beyonslay, and on and on and on. My point is, women of every age range, weight, height, build, fitness level, ethnicity, religion, and race play roller derby. Will roller derby help you love yourself more? It did for me. Will roller derby help you lose weight? Maybe. I haven't lost a pound yet but I replaced a lot of fat with muscle. Some do and some don't. You can't join just to lose weight, though. Roller derby requires you to WANT it.

Bork Bork Bork of Windy City

 I see it as my job to lift up all of my derby sisters with me, letting them know when I notice them for any reason and trying to be as tactful as possible with criticism. When we have bad days, it helps to have a team full of inspiring women to look up to. No one has told me my ankles are too fat, as my childhood ballet instructor once told me, and no one has told me that I need to remain a certain size or shape to keep playing derby. I get positive reinforcement and constructive criticism, both things I have learned to crave from my coaches and teammates alike. The only thing roller derby requires of you is the dedication and fitness you are willing to put into it to get better.

A Way To Progress

(Editor's note: this is Klept-O's first contribution to our blog--welcome her!)

As a skater, you always wonder, “What can I do to make myself better?” First, don’t take extended breaks from skating. Don’t even take a week off. You would be surprised at how much it affects you. Trust me, I know from personal experience.

Seriously though, skate, a lot. Skate with your team, and skate with other teams. Find local teams who won’t mind the guest skaters, and go as often as you can. The Dire Skates are lucky. They have Gem City in Dayton, and A-Town in Anderson near by. While both are an hour drive or more, it is still well worth the drive to help better yourself as a skater.

Is there a scrimmage near by? Go. Grab as many of your team as you can and head there, asap. It goes back to the skating with others point, but it also brings more than JUST those near by people to you. Recently Em, Terahrizin, Dragon and myself (Klept-O) went to Cornfed Derby Dames scrimmage in Muncie. We met A-Towns GoldyBlox and Faye-Tality up there. It put some of us out of our element. It allowed us to do things we don’t normally do. It also allowed Dragon to put me on my butt once. (Be glad I love you, Wifey, or I would never admit that in writing.)

Watch derby, watch as much as you can. Take and bookmark Derby News Network, or subscribe to WFTDA’s youtube channel. Go to every bout that you can. See things that other people can do. That drill you didn’t understand before? Watching elite teams do it, without fail makes it click perfectly. You may not be able to do it as well, but at least you can go, “I know what it looks like, and I will do it myself.”

Finally, and this is something I fail at, cross train. Do some running, yoga, or maybe even some kick-boxing. Find whatever it is that will get that heart going, and do it. Keeping that endurance high will help in those long two minute jams. Especially when you have to do a few jams in a row.

There are probably many other things that can be done, but these are just a few things that come to mind. They also tend to be the more important things for a derby skater. Maybe that is just my opinion, though.

--- Klept-O-Matic

Pushing Through the Pain

(Editor's note: this is the first of what I hope will be many posts from my derby sisters. We all come from different backgrounds and have different strengths, goals, and interests, even within derby. I look forward to letting my sisters share their experiences with you all! --Bilbo)

If you have ever watched roller derby (either in person, or on tv), you have seen how physical the sport really is. Not only do you need to know how to skate well, but it also takes a lot of endurance. This endurance is put to the ultimate test when attempting to pass your 27 laps in 5 minutes. (Who knew that 5 minutes or 300 seconds could feel like an eternity?!)

When skating your laps, it is hard to keep track of your own, since mostly you are focusing more on not falling, while also remembering to keep breathing.  This is when it is nice to have a derby sister who is willing to count for you.  This way, you can simply focus on being as fast as possible.  

Each week at practice, you are given the opportunity to pass your laps. As you take your place on the line, you can feel the anxiety begin to settle in your mind and your gut. Wanting so badly to be able to bout, you push through the pain, even though it feels like your legs might fall off at any time.  Skate fast, turn left. Repeat.

Finally you hear the coach blow the whistle and you realize you have not passed. As he makes his way over to show you your time, you feel the disappointment set in.  As bad as you want it, you know today is not your day. Then comes the drive home, where you contemplate what you could have done differently and begin to plan your attack for next week’s practice.  Personally, I then come home and look up motivational quotes that might help me feel like less of a failure.  

This is one of my personal faves!

Week after week, you try again, watching your laps go up, then down, then up again. Every time they go up, you feel a sense of personal satisfaction, even though you still didn’t pass.

THEN ONE DAY: You skate the same laps that you have been working at for months now, and you finally pass. I cannot even begin to explain the thrill of being shown the clock and seeing a time that is less than 5 minutes. (4 minutes and 57 seconds to be exact)  Seeing those numbers, you let out a shriek of pure exhilaration and a high like no other consumes your mind and body! You have proved yourself worthy of being able to bout, and all is right with the roller derby world. (You might not be able to walk right the next day, but it is totally worth it.)  

Just remember to keep pushing and know that one day it WILL happen for you.

Much Derby love,

Jenocide