The blog of a newbie Derby Dame

Schisms and changes

derbydame — Thu, 06 May 2010 22:20:09 +0000

Because of various reasons including a big schism in the league, the Blitz Dames haven’t done very well bouting recently. We’ve lost players to the US and to other teams, people are pregnant, people are injured.

So now we’re setting up a whole new training strategy, including off-skates training and special speed skating lessons. I’m hoping it’s going to work.

My personal contribution to all of this is to work as hard as I can as much as I can. I’ve bought Sleazy Rider’s brand new hand made Riedell skates which she bought in the US at Blood and Thunder Seattle but which she found by day two to be a bit too big. She’s charging me £180 for them – a great price and now I can put my old Riedell R3s out to pasture with my old school disco/outdoor skating wheels on them. The R3 wheels are going on the new skates and until I can buy new indoor wheels they’ll do.

derbydame — Thu, 06 May 2010 22:15:04 +0000

I’m collecting derby blogs at an alarming rate at the moment, partly this is due to the now almost overwhelming obsession with all things roller derby, but partly it’s to do with not being able to afford to be going to Boot Camps and bouts and so feeling desperate to be part of the party by reading about it instead.

So far I’ve missed Texas boot camp and Blood and Thunder. I do hope I get to go to one soon.

I’ll post a list of the good derby blogs I’ve found so far.

“Discontent is the First Step in the Progress of a Woman or a Nation”

derbydame — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:23:29 +0000

That’s not my quote. It comes from the blog of Cindy Lop-Her: http://bigderbygirls.blogspot.com/

I’m posting it here because it resonates for me today. I’m finding roller derby expensive and it’s frustrating when I can’t go to some of the things I want to. I don’t want to be the one left behind. I know what I have to do about this – work harder, make more money, rah, rah, rah.

I’m frustrated with myself for not losing weight, and for not doing enough about it. You can’t whinge about something but still ignore the way to change it…

On pain.

derbydame — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:26:03 +0000

Intermediat epractice today – first ever one…

Owww with the bruises on my arms from blocking practice.

Owww with the sore back from skating derby direction for hours.

Owww with the sore foot because my laces are too tight and I can’t find long enough skate laces to replace my proper laces which broke at Saturday practice.

Owww with the sore knee, who knows why?

Owww with the sore mouth from my new mouth guard.

But still, Hurray for derby!

On how people assume women don’t do dangerous sport.

derbydame — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 22:00:56 +0000

Having now passed my basic skills I went shopping today for a mouth guard. Mouth guards via the dentist are ideal because they’re moulded exactly to your teeth but can cost upwards of fifty pounds which I currently don’t have.

So I went to Sport Direct and bought a ‘boil and bite’ mouth guard, happily reduced from twenty quid to seven quid. I asked the girl at the checkout, “Have you got any mouthguards?” and she looked at me and hten looked at my son who is twelve and said, “How old is he?”

“No”, I said, “it’s for me”.

She looked at me like I had spoken German or Russian or something and got really flustered. She was very apologetic, not that she needed to be, but it made me thin k – why the automatic assumption that it would be for a male?

On passing Basic Skills

derbydame — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:39:46 +0000

So after three months (admittedly with Christmas in the middle and then some weeks off because of my nose operation) on Saturday I passed my basic skills. *Does little glee! Glee! dance owing to the fact I can now go to intermediate practice and will get quickly better and better.*

Basic Skills consists of being tested on:

Skating,

Derby posture,

1-foot gliding,

Crossovers,

Weaving,

T-stops,

1-knee falls,

2-knee falls,

Baseball slide,

5 lap timed skate,

20 laps in 5 mins.

Before the skills test started I was feeling confident in what I’d learned apart from Plough Stops and left foot T Stops, but as soon as I started the test and was being watched I went completely to pieces and started falling over my feet for no reason whatsoever other than that I was supremely nervous. Why is it that you can do a thing perfectly until someone asks you to show them, and then suddenly you completely forget how?

Well anyway, I did it and I was doing alright until my 20 laps test. Then on the first lap of that I fell over, tripped myself somehow trying too hard to do crossovers hit my chest and then the rim of my helmet smack on the floor. And as I was skidding across the floor with a pain in my neck the size of England all that I could think of was how many points it was going to cost me…

On off skates training.

derbydame — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 23:04:37 +0000

I’m doing my off-skates training, so far I’ve been running for 30 minutes three times a week with a whole load of exercises on the off days. Last week I ran 30 secs on, 30 secs walking. This week I ran 2 minutes on, 1 minute walking. I’ve found I’m really enjoying the running, such as it is.

The exercises I’m doing are:

Squats

Lunges

Press ups

Sit ups

the Plank for 30 secs

Leg lifts

Pillow squeezes

Towel pulls

Clamshells (to strengthen and widen your hips.)

I do sixteen of each of these. And then die.

Practice

derbydame — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 17:02:59 +0000

Frustrated now to find out that since I’ve had an operation on my nose I can’t engage in any sport that involves physical contact. For 12 weeks! Apparently I can go to practice, but I can’t do anything which actually involves the closeness that derby itself does.

So even if I pass basic skills on the 12th March (OMG) I can’t go to Intermediate practice.

I’ve taken up the off-skates training regime as well, day one was yesterday and I went running with the dog.

I did:

30 secs running, 30 secs walking, for a total of 30 minutes. Today my legs are very achey and it was my legs that I found got tired first. I was actually okay on the breathing front, not so out of breath I thought I would faint.

In other news, Delilah Dauntless is the current favourite name…

On what it’s all about.

derbydame — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 22:30:32 +0000

So if you’re wondering what this Derby game is all about, I recently heard it explained as like British Bulldog but on skates, on a circular track. Fast.

This little animation on Youtube is helpful: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_T8izdlc-dY&feature=related

And you might want to read this article just because it’s recent and quite interesting. It’s not about the rules so much though.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/feb/04/roller-derby-britain-women

On how to tell when you’re addicted.

derbydame — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 21:59:27 +0000

So I started skating with the Birmingham Blitz Dames on the first Saturday of December 09. It is now the beginning of February, and I now have a brand new pair of (already scratched up) Riedell skates, stripey socks, the full monty with regard to knee pads, writst guards and elbow pads, a helmet and a passion for a sport that I never, ever thought I’d have.

I used to laugh at people who cared about football scores. Now I find myself trawling through the internet watching youtube videos of derby and I think about it all the time. When the Blitz Dames bouted at Tattoo Freeze: http://blitzdames.blogspot.com/2010/01/tattoo-freeze.html I really cared what the scores were. It’s weird. It’s sort of taken over my life.

I can’t say I wasn’t warned though, everyone who is into derby is *into* derby. You can’t stop thinking about it, talking about it.

So yes, that’s what I’m going to be talking about here. Derby, derby, derby. My record of my achievements (and my failures!) and just my thoughts on what it’s like to join an established hard core team like the Dames.