Derby Hangover, why I play this sport...
Until this past weekend, I can honestly say I've never experience a "derby hangover" - which means that you got knocked around so much and so hard that you felt like you got "hit by a Mac truck." It has nothing to do with alcohol (I've had plenty of those in relation to derby too.) I have had a headache about every 6 hours since Saturday. Saturday, Feb 2nd, was the "Rust Riot" - an invitational from Rat City to 7 surrounding leagues to come play in an expo tournament to show everyone who the North West is in the world of roller derby. We were slated to play Olympia weeks ago - a perfectly uneven match up if there ever was one - but we put our hearts into it - with some key players out with injuries and I kid you not - a few playing with the flu (the bio-hazard red puke bucket was in the middle of the floor for a reason). And we lost - as we expected - but not because we didn't play hard and fair (and you can read into this statement we're not a bunch of cheatin', sore sports). Someone had to be thrown to the lions and our team drew the short straw. Honestly, in the end, I was very proud of our team and proud to be part of such a fantastic league. But my clock got cleaned and now I'm paying for it... with three Advil every few hours.
I crawled out of bed early the next morning to assist with the reason I loved this sport - scrimmages with other teams. Skaters signed up from all across the North West with Arson Annie who arranged us into fun scrimmaging groups such as: diapers (under 30) v. depends (over thirty - yes we spanked them); veggies v. carnivores, smokers v. non, moms v. non-moms, etc. It was a great and super fun opportunity to play with skaters you don't ever get to play WITH but usually AGAINST. In the Diapers v. Depends match-up I got to skate with a lot of my pals from PFM days - Mo YaDown, Sassy Chassis, Sara Problem? and Maude Elletee. Libby Raider (RCRG) and I worked together great both as blockers and her assisting me as jammer. Rhea (Rose City – Portland OR) and Roxie Hardknox (Terminal City-Vancouver BC), Petty Rage (Lava City -Bend OR) and I all had blast playing together - assisting and blocking for skaters you just met 10 minutes ago. I got to skate again some of my own teammates - which was funny - because you know them so well. I helped out by "checking in" specific teams and making sure the groups each had enough players. I played in two scrimmages (Diapers v. Depends, and Jammers v. Blockers) and the end-of-the-day pickup game - which was full of crazy diehards - just enough to make up two teams.
And this is why I play this sport. I play it not only for my team and my league but also for the opportunity to play with amazing and dynamic women from other teams, everywhere.
Some photos from the weekend:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/smaira/sets/72157603843196161/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8505592@N05/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/type2b/sets/72157603849837381/
Until this past weekend, I can honestly say I've never experience a "derby hangover" - which means that you got knocked around so much and so hard that you felt like you got "hit by a Mac truck." It has nothing to do with alcohol (I've had plenty of those in relation to derby too.) I have had a headache about every 6 hours since Saturday. Saturday, Feb 2nd, was the "Rust Riot" - an invitational from Rat City to 7 surrounding leagues to come play in an expo tournament to show everyone who the North West is in the world of roller derby. We were slated to play Olympia weeks ago - a perfectly uneven match up if there ever was one - but we put our hearts into it - with some key players out with injuries and I kid you not - a few playing with the flu (the bio-hazard red puke bucket was in the middle of the floor for a reason). And we lost - as we expected - but not because we didn't play hard and fair (and you can read into this statement we're not a bunch of cheatin', sore sports). Someone had to be thrown to the lions and our team drew the short straw. Honestly, in the end, I was very proud of our team and proud to be part of such a fantastic league. But my clock got cleaned and now I'm paying for it... with three Advil every few hours.
I crawled out of bed early the next morning to assist with the reason I loved this sport - scrimmages with other teams. Skaters signed up from all across the North West with Arson Annie who arranged us into fun scrimmaging groups such as: diapers (under 30) v. depends (over thirty - yes we spanked them); veggies v. carnivores, smokers v. non, moms v. non-moms, etc. It was a great and super fun opportunity to play with skaters you don't ever get to play WITH but usually AGAINST. In the Diapers v. Depends match-up I got to skate with a lot of my pals from PFM days - Mo YaDown, Sassy Chassis, Sara Problem? and Maude Elletee. Libby Raider (RCRG) and I worked together great both as blockers and her assisting me as jammer. Rhea (Rose City – Portland OR) and Roxie Hardknox (Terminal City-Vancouver BC), Petty Rage (Lava City -Bend OR) and I all had blast playing together - assisting and blocking for skaters you just met 10 minutes ago. I got to skate again some of my own teammates - which was funny - because you know them so well. I helped out by "checking in" specific teams and making sure the groups each had enough players. I played in two scrimmages (Diapers v. Depends, and Jammers v. Blockers) and the end-of-the-day pickup game - which was full of crazy diehards - just enough to make up two teams.
And this is why I play this sport. I play it not only for my team and my league but also for the opportunity to play with amazing and dynamic women from other teams, everywhere.
Some photos from the weekend:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/smaira/sets/72157603843196161/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8505592@N05/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/type2b/sets/72157603849837381/
No comments:
Post a Comment