Where it all started.. (the first year)

My derby journey started in Medicine Hat with the girls of Gas City. Derby started as a 6am facebook post. I posted about how much fun it was to go skating at 6am in Kin Coulee park. Mr Fister posted asking if it was roller blades or quad skates. I told him roller blades and that I couldn't even stand on quad skates.. He sent me the link to their fresh meat page. A week later I was at my first FM practice.

There was a total of three people there that day. Sunday afternoon, middle of summer heat and a warehouse type place with no ac. First lesson. Don't wear tripp pants when it's hot out and you are going to be doing a lot of skating. The entire practice was nothing but knee drops. Not so bad.

Fast forward about a month later when I started skating with some of the other skaters. One of the first new people I had met was Strawberry Shortskate. (I say "new" as there were a few others in the league that I had known prior to derby. Mr Fister, Kid Kickurass and Hooten Annie)

That girl could Skate! She was one of their top jammers and I remember watching her do her crossovers and think. Wow, how do you make it look so easy? She would get bashed around and get back up. When on the track she was determined and never gave up. When off the track she was the cutest giggling girl next door I had ever met.

She quickly became one of the many people I wanted to be just like. My first couple months of derby were filled with learning the basics of skating and lots of NSOing. I was lucky enough to go to Regina's summer smackdown and got my first taste of being an official before I had even learned how to stand up right. (Also note.. when still in bambi on ice stage. Not wearing knee pads is not recommended. )

Myself and Shortskate at Regina's Free skate

Still very new to derby and met a lot of awesome people while out there. I got to see the great Tye Die in action for the very first time and was even more amazed at all these fantastic skaters.

My very first rookie game. I got to skate with some of the people I know now.

Myself and Hell's Jezebel Jamming

Managed to get a whole 7 points and lead status my very first time jamming. (I still say however that a jammer is only as good as their blockers and I had some pretty damn good blockers)

Such as......

Razor! (& the guidance of Mortu Mary on our bench)

I was also lucky enough to have Fiver (from rdrda) on my team. However, the red team had Stitch and that girl clobbered me the second time jamming. (and the first now that I think about it. :p)

A whole month later was my first game as a Gas City Roller where we went up against the B52 Bellas from Calgary.

Roxy and Dev making sweet music together. :p

Through the b52 girls I saw once again amazing skaters. Fast forward a couple years later and I'm soon to be able to skate along side Roxy (on the same team even!) and I can't wait.. :)

Humble beginings.

While cleaning up my house tonight.. I found something. It was my first pair of roller skates.

They weren't always that pretty black colour.. There were tan with bright orange laces. Traditional roller dome skates. I spent a couple hours taking the sheen off them and dying the leather such a pretty black. I was convinced and insistent that those were going to be the skates that I benchmarked in.

(First attempt at my derby persona.. Notice the pretty tan skates in the background.. )

Turns out. Not so much.. Which brought me to my new skates.

They were called the Jive monkey on roller girl.. Sounded fun.. and after moving to those things. such an amazing difference. They were so smooth and would glide like nothing. Then.. Tragedy struck. About 6 months into my derby career (and about 2 months after purchasing my new skates) there was a fire. And my skates and all my gear were in the middle of it. The fire fighters were able to quell the fire enough to get my skates and gear out of it. Water and smoke damage but no actual significant fire damage. I was lucky.. To make things even more lucky.. One of my fellow derby girls in the league worked for a fire restoration company. They were able to save everything except my inhaler and my mouth guard.

Approx two years later, I still use those same skates.. Sure the tape and laces and wheels and bearings have been changed many times but the main core plates and boot remain the same. How many people can say that one of their more precious items survived such a thing and that person was able to carry on to greatness with them.. Well.. Maybe not greatness yet.. I'm not quite there but I'm working towards greatness and that counts. I just don't know where that path will take me yet. Will I be great as a player? great as a ref? both? Will I continue as a core Nightshade or move up to someday take a core Belladonna spot? Only time will tell either way but it's the start of the path that matters. The destination will show itself when it wants to and when it's time.

Which brings me to tonight (A team try outs.. Eep! haha) and the reason I started this blog.. Does this world really "need" another derby blog? sure.. why the hell not? and this is my story from freshmeat to pylon, to speed bump, to player ref.