So I’m about to go medicate myself heavily and slip in to bed. Which means this is super-short… but mostly because I want to hear from people who read this.

What do you do when illness keeps you from workouts? I’m gonna be beating myself up about this because I WANT to work out, but I NEED to rest. Lately I’ve had roller derby on the brain non-stop, so knowing I won’t be able to do anything today and maybe tomorrow kinda sucks!

(note: i do not actually have the h1n1 strain of the flu. it’s a joke that my department has swine flu whenever one of us gets sick. this is most likely just the extreme change of temperatures making my body very, very unhappy.)

Expert Village has expanded to the world of roller derby. This video explains derby stance well, but then says that skating with your elbows up is a foul- unless I’m wrong, it’s only a penalty if you make contact with another skater. Minor issue, but probably a good thing to tell newer skaters since some of us (me) have an issue using elbows during blocking drills. The whips and pushes video does a passable explanation, but I’ve never seen someone give a whip with their elbow at their side how she explains (and neither does the girl shown giving the whip). She also doesn’t clearly explain that when you give a whip, you have to give your partner a direction. Minor detail? Maybe, but when whips were explained to me I felt like it was essential that you knew you had to direct your partner.

All in all, I feel like the general problem with ALL Expert Village videos is the time constraint. If she had more than a minute and a half to get her point across in most of her videos, she’d probably have a better explanation. It’s hard to teach anything with a time limit. (I watched some more of her videos, and it’s not that they’re bad- they’re just so short!) The videos get some bare bones down, but with derby it’s probably best to get a teammate to show you something at practice rather than go off what you see on these videos.

If you want to see some better videos on derby techniques, the San Diego Derby Dolls have a YouTube channel. However, only two videos are on basics. The rest are on more advanced techniques.

To just see some derby techniques, all of these videos are good. But the overall verdict for a new girl is to get face to face training instead of trying to learn off these videos. If you’re more advanced you can learn from the Derby Dolls videos. For newer girls, time on YouTube would probably be better spent looking up bouts to and familiarizing yourself with the game more.

That said, the cursing is all because I’m not skating fast enough. I’m not getting up fast enough. I’m not hitting hard enough. I’m not stopping the right way.

Zan Axe asked me what I put in my Wheaties today… and I honestly couldn’t tell you. Work’s been good, and I caught on fast to that. Maybe I just want to catch on to skating the way I did to my job?

Part of my mindset is where I came from in school. I was a music student, and if you don’t know nothing is ever good enough for a music student. You practice and practice and practice all to get an inch better. I’ve done rehearsals where you go over and over and over the same passage and it’s never good enough. That’s just how it is. And there is no such thing as a half-hearted rehearsal. If you’re not putting 120% in to it, then you’ve failed that rehearsal. I’m not saying I did that my entire time -I know I didn’t. But for the serious students? It works that way.

I go to roller derby practice three days a week expecting to leave exhausted. I want to feel my muscles ache. I want to need to rest. I’m not sure what makes me want that so much, but something does.

I’ve been asked two or three times now when I’m gonna do my assessments. I  need to get a few things down, and I really want to. The idea of actually scrimmaging still makes me nervous, but I want to get over it more than I can really express. I am truly having a Bliss/Babe Ruthless moment. If I can’t deal out and -almost more importantly- take the hits, then skating well isn’t that important.

In other news, I have my finances planned and I know when I can order new wheels- and I’m excited!

I’m using the stock wheels I got with my Carreras when I was in fifth grade. They already were worn when I got to my first derby practice, now I’m starting to feel times when my wheels hold me back. Like I said, I can’t fully blame my gear but with wheels that are just a little bit better I could probably improve a little more easily.

I was talking to Facepalm about wheels last night, and he said wheels made of a urethane material would be good for grip (because that’s what I sorely want, wheels with more grip) and had some basic recommendations. I trust his judgement, but I don’t want to take it on his word alone. So today starts my research in to wheels, for the completely clueless derby girl. What are these numbers the other girls talk about on their wheels? What are the benefits of one model against another? And why the hell do some wheels have the indention in the middle?

If you have any good sources I could read up on wheels, drop me a comment! If you have a brand I should look up, avoid, or another question about wheels I should answer on this quest, just tell me. By the end of this series of entries I want to be able to effectively help other girls starting in derby choose some wheels- and I want you to be able to, also!

Just felt like plugging that, since I’m kinda proud of it!

http://wftda.com/Whip-It-movie-review

(Also, most referred link was from the Omaha Roller Girls Yahoo group… hey Omaha!)

How believable are the characters? Very. Bliss spoke to a lot of girls in the league- starting hesitantly and then falling in love with derby. Her secrecy about joining the Hurl Scouts leads to her mother’s obvious extreme objections, and let’s face it, we all know that person who just doesn’t want to get derby. Her mother asks who would employ these women, want to marry them, what do people think of them… when we meet the Hurl Scouts, we hear about their normal jobs and even get to see Smashley Simpson’s (Drew Barrymore) fiance. Smashley is the league’s wild child, but not to a point where you can’t believe it. Maggie Mayhem (Kirsten Wiig) was a mom, and a level-headed source of advice for Bliss.

When it comes to the representation of derby, it’s Hollywood accurate. They did a good job of a thirty second explanation of the rules. While we did see Smashley doing the “turn around and punch her in the face block” plenty in the trailer, in the movie there was a feel for how that was not legal… though one play they used did involve clotheslining the other team. Overall, it wasn’t ridiculously inaccurate and definitely showed derby as a SPORT rather than a spectacle.

The story is cute, too. Bliss discovers roller derby, goes to try-outs on a whim, and ends up making the team and an enemy of the jammer of the #1 TXRD team, the Holy Rollers. (The Holy Rollers are the only name shared with the TXRD teams, though I don’t know if other leagues use the other team names. Most of the derby names are borrowed from actual derby players, too.) There of course is conflict with family, her best friend (cute and slightly boy-crazed Pash), and a childhood-friend-turned-enemy. It wouldn’t be a Hollywood movie without a love story, though it’s not as central as the conflict of being on the derby team and getting the Hurl Scouts to the top.

Overall, I think all the derby girls who saw it could relate. We all had our own experience coming in to derby, but this movie managed to touch part of each of our stories. I’ve heard plenty of girls whose families don’t approve of them skating- ranging from reasons of it’s dangerous to the idea they have of the sorts of girls who do derby. As a team that’s still pushing to get better, DDG could relate to the Hurl Scouts.

It’s essentially a story everyone can relate to, pulled off well. It’s a great job for Drew Barrymore’s first work as director, too. It may not be 100% derby-accurate, but that’s easy to overlook because it’s a good movie. Four out of five skates.

I have a few things going on right now, and I also just got a job. So between work, health issues, and trying to get used to a completely ridiculous schedule, I’m gonna have to put off the post I was going to make. (Amusingly enough, it was about health issues and derby.) The job I got is working mornings.. like, going in at 4:30 am, so really this week will be craziness.

So while it may seem like I’m just abandoning this, I’m not. Just have to get a few things sorted out.

There’s pretty much two things that can happen with the release of Whip It!. The first is… it flops. No one goes to see it, or it ends up being a miserable movie that people mock, and no one cares. This is not only what Fox Searchlight wants to avoid… it’s what the WFTDA wants to avoid, too. I personally think Ellen Page is pretty cool (yes, I loved Juno, but it was a great movie!), so I think it’ll at the very least be a cute movie… but I’m biased.

We all want Whip It! to contribute to the growth of flat track roller derby. Yes, the movie is about banked track. Yes, they use the infamous “turn around and punch her in the face” block that will get you a major (and probably tossed out) in a real derby bout. But most people know movies rarely are 100% true to life, so hopefully girls going to see this will get that. Thank goodness the wonderful leadership of the WFTDA is working to prepare leagues for the potential influx of new girls. I want to see my league grow- I think that if we had more girls skating, then each player would (ideally) push themselves harder to get a spot on the top team. More girls would hopefully also mean the word got out more, so higher attendance. I can just see a lot of positives.

In a way, the impending release and all the things that will come with it make me nervous. There will be new fresh meat, at least one or two girls. Will I be done as fresh meat by then? Will I at least be able to do backwards crossovers (arg)? What will happen if the potential newer-than-me girls move up faster than me? I don’t know.

Guess that means I need to skate more.

It’s The Plateau.

There’s a post on the London Rollergirl’s forum calling it The Meh. But this is my fresh-meat experience of it. I’ve been at practice since July, I’ve been trying to skate as much as I can. I’ve managed to learn somethings correctly (crossing over, stops, some falls), while other things are just simply a heavy push away. Not “out of my reach”, because they aren’t, but a push away.

What’s keeping that push from happening? Well, some girls take to skating faster than me. Then the constant overwhelming dread of being in the unemployed masses, when every tells you that all you need to be successful is a college degree. Feeling like the job I had dangled in front of me won’t materialize. Wanting new wheels (and helmet and pads and…), but not being able to afford them. The odd homesickness for college friends, already wrapped up in their semester’s worth of work hours away. The “hometown friends” that I never see because they are still in school or gone on to graduate school. And let’s not discuss my right ankle- a constant problem, mostly in that skating takes ankle strength and there is little there.

What, you say? Most of that wasn’t derby-related? Well, yeah. Because in an ideal world, we’d be able to devote our time to what we loved, and not have to worry about paying back college loans or filling up the gas tank. But, in this imperfect world, I have yet to win the lottery, so I can’t buy myself a skating rink and coach and train all day. And, more than that, I can’t magically make myself forget about life outside of derby the second I step on the track.

So here’s to it. It’s late Friday night, and I have practice in the morning. I’m going. I’ve decided this is the time when practicing is more important. I can’t skip. I have to take every opportunity to get on skates I can. The more I’m on skates, the better I feel. And feeling better leads to more productive practices. Of course, this isn’t an “on my own” move. Other girls will talk about skating outside of practice, so I go with them. They look frustrated, I cheer for them more when we do drills- because I know they’ll cheer for me. They listen to my frustration, and I get some hints about what to do.

This is just a post to reach out to all the new girls who have first experienced the though “Maybe I’m not cut out for this.” Yes, you are. You not only had the motivation to find out about roller derby, you got up, found a league, put on skates, and started training. You’re miles ahead of so many other women who go “Man, that looks cool,” then go back home and just wish they could skate. The hardest part is getting to your first practice. After that, you win every time you put the skates back on.

First, I’ve just graduated college. I’ve heard someone say that only about 20% of college graduates had a job right out of school. If that’s true, then I’m with the 80% who are searching relatively fruitlessly for a job. I’m currently in an awful holding pattern waiting for a job, actually. So this leaves me with free time. When you spend your time checking your resumé, looking for job openings, and wishing you’d get a definitive answer either way from anyone, you need a hobby that is a bit more exciting.

Next, exercise. I’m not gonna lie, I’m not the most active of chicks. I love my video games and Facebook. I try to workout sometimes, but more often than not I fail. Miserably. I was at least a little more active when I was in collegiate marching band (you’re only allowed to laugh if you’ve survived band camp- the real kind, not the American Pie kind). So in addition to getting rid of my restless energy brought on by the fruitless job search, I get to actually work out. Let me tell you non-derby folk- it’s intense. You may have roller skated when you were a kid, but it’s nothing like keeping up with a pack while knocking other girls down and avoiding getting knocked down yourself.

Another reason I tend to be a bit more quiet (read: embarrassed) about is Facepalm. He’s a referee for the Dixie Derby Girls (just reffed his first bout, and did a great job). I may also happen to be dating him. So, yes, being the silly girl I am I let my boyfriend convince me to try this out.

Derby girls are also a sort of local punk rock star. I’ve worn my derby shirt out and had people ask if I skate with them. I was working recruiting at a bout on Saturday and had two kids ask for my autograph. For every person who thinks roller derby is no good, there are three who think it’s awesome and look up to derby girls. I’ve seen more people turn out to a derby bout than showed up to most of the ensemble performances I had in college. It’s crazy, and definitely attracts someone who likes to be in the spotlight.

Lastly… friends. I moved out of my college town two days after graduation back home. Most of my old friends are still in school, or have moved on to graduate school. A precious few have jobs, and a couple have married and are moving with their spouse elsewhere. I was in a music fraternity in college. (Plug- Sigma Alpha Iota, professional women’s music fraternity. If you’re a woman who loves music and is in college, please see if your school has a chapter. It was the best sisterhood imaginable of amazing, encouraging musicians.) I love my sisters. And I miss them dearly. It’s really starting to hit now that they’ve started back to school and here I sit, hours away without them. Since starting derby, I’ve made new friends. I go out after practice and have a beer with the girls, or we go out to lunch after Saturday practice. We get together on weekends. There have been a couple of derby girl cookouts. I’ve been welcomed in to a derby family and it’s awesome.

The best part is it feels like all the derby girls I meet are like this. Much like my SAI sisters from other schools, I’ve met derby girls from other leagues and been able to talk with them like we’re old friends. It’s awesome. I couldn’t love it more. I’ve met girls from Atlanta, Knoxville, and Chattanoga and they all were great.

So that’s why I’ve decided to start roller derby. After a push from Facepalm, I found out it was great exercise, would get me out of the house, let me live some minor rock star fantasies I may hide, and I’ll make some awesome friends while doing it.