Two years ago a friend and I were at the movies going to do a double feature for the day. She looks over at a poster and says "hey, what about this one", I say, "I never really liked horse movies", she says "no, Whip It is about roller derby not kentucky derby". I had never heard of the modern day version of roller derby and like so many people I meet these days, assumed it had withered and died in the 70's.
We see Whip It. Somewhere in there the character Iron Maven is talking with Babe Ruthless and mentions that she is 36 years old. I am not too old for this sport! I get a handful of girlfriends to come to the local roller skating rink with me on "adult skate" night to see if I can still stand up and make it around the track. One of them finds a flyer for the local roller derby leagues "Fresh Meat Night".
Cut to today. That's me in the blue. I am jamming for some reason unknown to me as I am always a blocker, usually swing. Up until that night, I had jammed only a handful of times at practice. This was our last home bout, and the best attended to date. My mom had come up from North Carolina to watch me play and I had an awful lot to prove. We lost horribly. And I sat in the locker room with my teammates and cried and consoled.
In the little over a year and a half I have played this game, I have seen countless broken bones, dislocated shoulders, and am now myself suffering a sprained ankle (although it happend with derby folks, but not on the track). I am now 40 and know my days of beating myself up for fun and giggles are, well, not as many as I may like. In derby the body wares itself out long before the passion of the skater dies.
I have a good day job and I own a small business on the side. A pottery studio. Up until I started roller derby I spent most weekends making pottery and doing craft fairs. This year I am on hiatus. Living a triple life was wearing me down, and I can always come back to pottery. I don't want to still be skating when I am old and broken. I want to know when to say when. Shuffle my aching, battered body back into the clay studio and quietly make some pots.
My team is coed. We skate with our guys every night, and scrimmage against them and with them once a week. Although I can't say I love to scrimmage against them, sometimes I need the kick in the butt to push me to the next level. And I must add, our guys are amazing and the best of gentlemen. In general, skating with and socializing with a group of people 3 or 4 days a week, you become a family. So, in my case, I inherited 16 little and 3 older brothers. Sometimes, I have been hurt by those guys, but honestly, as mad as I got at them for not taking it easy on me, I would have been doubly mad if they had treated me any different.
So, here is where my story begins. I am off to put some heat and arnica on my ankle and say a little mojo over it so it heals in time for next Saturday's bout against Ithica.
Cheers,
Halle PAIN Yo
