Roller Derby Practice

After the devastating fire at Skateland Summer, there was a frenzy of emails and maneuvering. The first Memphis Roller Derby practice was officially relocated to Skateland Raleigh, a venue I had only just heard of a few days before.

Despite the shared name, I don't think Skateland Summer and Skateland Raleigh are related. Skateland Raleigh is nice enough, but nothing special--i.e. instead of a winged skate and outer space mural, there's flourescent tweetie birds and stripes. Instead of an owner who loves to talk skates, there's a big guy in a hunting jacket telling us not to try and sneak our boyfriends in for free.

But I shouldn't complain. Raleigh Skateland opened its doors to us in our time of need and I am happy for that. One of the derby organizers, Vic-Vicious, totally knew how to handle the husky owner and had him eating out of our hands my the end of the evening. Elle Tempered and Snark Attack are equally charming and I have no doubt that the three of them are really going to pull this off.

"Wanna go get a tattoo tomorrow?" I asked a fellow skater.

"Are you serious?" she asked.

I had to think about it. "No, not really," I said. "I'm just feeling a little...I don't know...frumpy?"

She gave me an empathetic smile.

There were over thirty women in attendance last night, a handful of whom I know from various places, who ranged in age and ability. So far I have identified one other mother and two step-mothers. There was a lot of black hair dye, tattoos, and piercings; big butts, big boobs, and big personalities; and most importantly, a lot of enthusiasm.

Our practice was little more than two hours of free skating and chit-chat, which was a good way to break the ice and ease into things, I think. It was pretty clear that this was the first time in a long time that many of the women had been on skates. The plan is to practice once or twice a week for another few weeks and then have official try-outs. After try-outs we will form individual teams and start playing against each other.

Looking around at the group, it was clear to me that I needed to get in shape and really learn the game if I wanted to not only make a team, but stand out.

"Just think, a year from now, we'll all be beating the crap out of each other," I happily said to a friend of mine.