Monday, April 06, 2009

Roller Derby!

Well, a few of you know that I picked up a new sport a couple of months ago, and yes, that sport is roller derby! And no, for those of you who grew up with me, I did not magically learn how to skate during these last 4 years in Bake-town. The ladies, or Divas I should say, are a great bunch and I'm happy to be on a team again. Although, I must admit that I am not happy to be just about the least talented on the team... lots of work to do!!!

Anyway, this weekend we had our first "bout", against Visalia:

I was not playing (thankfully!) and unfortunately 2 things lead to the less-then-fabulous 2 photos that I have below. 1) batteries died. 2) even if they hadn't, I got so into cheering for my team - I would not have gotten around to taking photos anyway. Our girls did amazing for their first ever bout. We were almost tied at the first half. But then endurance failed and fatigue set in, and we fell behind unrecoverably in the second half.


Here our team is warming up. We're on quad skates, not inlines. This is a terrific opportunity for fun socks (don't worry, I have plenty!). The belts are actually more functional than fashion accessory, the jammers can grab a belt to help them get pulled through the pack and whip themselves around the track. The tights are also functional... darn it. This is a fundamental way to prevent your skin from peeling off onto the floor... which means that I will have to invest in some tights before our next bout on May 9th.

She's "lead jammer" - check out the stars on her "helmet panty" (yes that's what it's called).

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I don't know anything about this sport other than you skate a lot and fling bodies around.

Still, I can't tell you how fabulous I think it is that you are roller derbying! I can't wiat to hear all about it and learn about the sport through you.

I imagine that since you posted this you've played more and have more to tell. Share share!!

Do you have nicknames? If so, what is your?

How do you score? How long is a game? I have so many questions!