Serving Up Derby – The Waitress

Sometimes I see a skater who is far smarter than I am pull off some badass move and I am simultaneously stunned, humbled, and wicked envious. I want to know how on earth they thought of that, and how I can become that derby-smart. Do I need to sell my soul? Because I will, just let me know where to sign.

This was one of those moments. I've seen Bonnie D. Stroir's (of the San Diego Derby Dolls) instructional videos before and they never fail to be inspiring, not to mention charming # no fair to be so talented and so cute! This is a newly released video and I haven't been on the track since I saw it three days ago, but i've been dying to get out there and start working this. Check it out (skip to 2:40 if you want to get right to the good stuff):

Get out of town! That's just way too slick. Tonight, it's on. I'm going to be a waitress if it kills me.

Set It Free

You've heard the saying if you set something free and it comes back to you, you know it was meant to be. I'm not sure i'm convinced of the truth of that in every context, but this summer i set something i love free. After the Port Authorities' last game on June 13th, Maine Roller Derby officially went on a seven-week summer break. This meant no official practices, no events or appearances, nothing but the monthly dues we each pay to be a member. We've had breaks from practice before, our last one being a brief four-week break last December and January, but after that break we went non-stop with practices (two to three times per week), events, meetings, committee work, bouts, scrimmages, and so forth since January. That's a very long time to be doing something which takes so much time and energy, mentally and physically, without a break.

During league breaks in the past i was always doing a good bit of work for the league as i was the head of Public Relations and Media, a position which entails not only the work described in the title but also serving as essentially a league director, one of the group of other directors who steer the league on a daily basis in both the immediate and long-term sense. Try as we may, the league directors have never been able to truly take a break from the work of running the business because the work never stops even if we're not actively skating and competing. But this year in June i stepped down from that position, so my only responsibility during this break was to relax and to stay in shape.

On previous breaks i worked out like a fiend, fearful of losing the level of fitness needed to play this grueling sport. You can train as hard as you want but what we learned long ago is nothing keeps you in skating shape except for skating. Still, you don't want to lose your overall endurance and strength that was so hard-won. On our break last summer we had one open-skate practice each week, unstructured but available to any skater who wanted to come and workout on skates and hone personal skills. I went to all but one of those last year. This summer was totally different on that level too. I didn't work out at all for a week after our last game. Then i tried to run a few times a week and do some weights and other resistance training at home. I only attend one non-required practice, the last one before break was over. In short, i didn't allow the fear of losing my fitness level haunt me on a daily basis. After two years of training constantly both on and off-skates, i felt it was finally time i take a mental and physical break from that pressure as well and decided to just stay active but not frantic.

Last week, on Monday to be exact, the break was over and practices began. We have slightly less than a month to prep for our first bout, a home game on August 29th with the Port Authorities playing the D.C. Rollergirls. I'll be honest, i wasn't exactly relishing that first practice. Summer break was good to me (despite the distinct lack of summer weather), and i wasn't quite ready for it to be over. I've spent three years thinking of and doing little other than Derby Derby Derby. It's been my passion and my main activity outside of work. This summer i let that go in order to rekindle the love. I still spent time with my derby family, but we kept the derby talk to a minimum as we all needed a break from it. It felt bizarre not having skates on my feet, not talking about strategy and teams and promotion every day, not checking scores of other games happening around the nation. For a while i feared the love had left me.

But what i realized is that you can take a true break from the relentlessness of it and still love it. Our first practice felt good. Ok, not all good - it was really painful! The calluses on the feet had softened, shoulders which had just started healing from injury were battered once more, and the heat! oh the heat. Of course the heat had to hit us for that first night back in the stuffy, un-airconditioned Expo, and then it hit even worse on our second practice. But i felt the beauty of eight wheels under my control. I snuggled in a giant pack with my leaguemates as we skated in close-quarters, getting used to the feel again of jumping and swerving around basically on top of each other. I remembered what truly rested muscles feel like and what they can do - amazing, explosive, powerful things! In one jam i felt like i basically flew through the pack, my rested leg muscles propelling me around and past blockers in big leaps. I had let all that go, and now i can feel it coming back to me with all the love i've always had, but also with a newfound balance that i hope i can maintain.

Defeat: Nutritious, But Not Delicious

Ah, defeat. You are not a delicious treat, but you are nutritious.

In competitive sports you want the win, period. There's no point in competing if you don't. But it is a competition, meaning that you have to work to get that win, and sometimes your best work is not enough. Enter the Port Authorities. 2008 brought us nearly flawless glory. We were undefeated in regulation play, and our record was blemished only by a loss to the Boston Massacre in a 30-minute exposition bout at Boston early in the year. Though our wins were sweet and were against teams that looked like excellent matches for us on paper, we decided 2009 was the year to test our limits. Go for the guts and the glory, play some of the toughest teams we could find in the region and likely take our lumps in the form of losses, but learn a lot in the process. Some of the best lessons come from losing and learning what you need to change to stop that losing.

And oh, how we have learned. The Port Authorities have played three of our five spring games, and are 0 - 3. Oof. Ok, yes, we expected at least part of that. Our opener against the Boston Massacre (5th in the East) in Boston, this time a full-length bout, was painful. I'm talking 128 - 24 kind of painful - a bit more of a rout than we had hoped for, but we came out smiling, licking our wounds and with our eyes wide and some plans to put in motion for our next challenge, that being the Charm City All Stars (3rd in the East) of Baltimore, MD. They were our home season opener and we were carefully optimistic that, while victory was unlikely considering the caliber of play this team has been putting out there, we could at least come up with a smaller point spread by putting into effect what we had learned from the Boston game two weeks prior and honing what we had been working on all this year. Turns out not so much - Charm City handed us another loss by exactly the same margin of 104 points (52 - 156). Hey, at least we're consistent? And we did score more points than the previous game. There's always something positive in there.

Once again, our team of warriors came out frazzled, perhaps a little flummoxed, but ready to focus on the next challenge. Ready to go into the most contested game of the season for us; a rematch against the Rhode Island Riveters. After earning a surprising upset win against the Riveters (75 - 64) in April 2008 when we were an unranked new team, both teams were extremely revved up for the rematch in Providence. This was our game to come back, to feel the glory of a win once again. The first period started out looking good and we had the lead and felt strong and cohesive. Then the tide started turning a little and the Riveters put down some big jams and we were feeling the heat, but still right in there. But things started getting shaky when just halfway into the first period one of our three jammers, Olive Spankins, took a hard hit that left her injured and unable to play for the rest of the night. A mere couple of jams later blocker Lois Blow went down with a visibly broken finger at the same time Itsy Bitsy Fighter took a scary fall and stayed down on the concrete. At this point Olive appeared out for the game, EMT's were surrounding Fighter, and several people on the bench were screaming for EMT's to come help Lois. We'd never lost a skater during a bout and now we were suddenly down two major players, maybe three, and it felt like pure, horrifying chaos had descended upon our bench. Lois was out for the game but Fighter was able to recover and continue, but we had to do some major adjusting, and fast. Despite being rattled we kept our heads in there and finished the period behind by 15 points, a spread which was easily surmountable if rather uncomfortable. Half time was spent focusing on filling in the gaps in our defense and getting our heads ready for a hard second period with new lineups. Despite our team being served heavy penalties and frequently fielding lineups short of one, two and even three blockers, we managed to stay within distant-but-conceivable striking distance for most of the second half. The teams traded a number of winning jams back and forth, but as the minutes ran off the period clock the Riveters put up several big jams in the double digits, and the lead became out of reach. The final score was 110 - 59.

So here we are, at 0 - 3. It's an interesting place. It doesn't feel sweet or pretty, but it also doesn't feel as bad as i might've thought. For one thing, it helps put things in a little bit of perspective. Oh, you just lost three games in a row? Well, winning truly isn't everything, and our next win is going to feel especially nice after all this. It's also motivating and clarifying. Our team has mad skills and plenty of heart, but the more we play the more the areas for improvement and growth stand out. Fortunately the Calamity Janes are kicking tail all over the place with a 3 - 0 record for the spring, and they definitely brought the nail-biter excitment in their last win against Jersey Shore, so Maine Roller Derby fans have still had the pleasure of seeing their local rollergirls skate some victory laps.

This Saturday, May 23rd, it's time for the Port Authorities to crack that losing streak. We're ready to do it, and we think you're ready to come watch us do it. We're at the Portland Expo at 6 pm (doors at 5 pm) as usual, with a halftime dj showcase by wepushbuttons and 5% of doors sales to benefit STRIVE U.