I got the most beautiful compliment today.. There is a bout this Saturday night being held at its glorious new home at Homebush, and when asked if I was attending and I explained that I wouldnt be able to make it - one of the most beautiful soulful women I know sent me this - "I'm sad you won't be at the bout, you've been a big part of making roller derby in the area what it is today and I'd love for you to see it in that big beautiful arena" - totally made my day and brought a tear to my eye.. Without naming names - I hope this woman knows how much she means to me and how much strength she gives me <3
People often ask one another how they got into derby and everyone usually has wonderful stories to go along with it. They may say they are boring stories, but to me, every one of them is interesting and I love knowing them all.. SO let me share mine with you...
It was early 2008. I was 28 and I had 3 children. An autistic step son who, at the time, was 11yrs old. A daughter who was 9yrs old and a little baby boy who wasn't even 1yrs old yet.
For Christmas the older children had both gotten new scooters - so I spent my afternoons taking them to the local skatepark so they could ride them around. I would sit in the car and read, or crochet while the baby was at home with his father. My son would always last longer than my daughter as she would get bored, especially of the boys crap (smart girl ;) ).. So she would sit in the car and chat with me until my son was ready to go home. Then slowly she started riding less and less and would bring along books to read or stuff to draw with or her own knitting while my son would play.
One day I was walking through Rebel with her and we came across Starfire rollerskates and I asked if she wanted a pair. The skatepark was directly next to a whole bunch of netball courts that she could skate on. She was keen so I bought them for her..
I tried to teach her to skate, but I was never fabulous at it myself as a kid so it was a case of the blind leading the blind and it was hard to show her things while I was off skates.. Soo.... back to Rebel we went and bought me a pair hehe.. Oh the good ol' starfires! So for a few months she and I spent our afternoons zooming about the netball courts - and I gotta admit, I felt like a total fool! I took a spill and tore up my jeans and grazed my knee quiet badly.. so with a bruised knee and ego I went home to research roller skates for adults and some protective gear so I didnt die, cause I figured if nothing else it would be great exercise!
Well wasn't I delighted when I discovered the 2 things that totally changed my life!
That there was a local skating rink and Sydney Roller Derby League (SRDL)!
Needless to say the kids and I started to frequent the local roller rink of a saturday night despite me having a panic attack before every session because of the awesome speed skaters that were there and how embarressed I would feel cause I could barely stand on skates lol. I used to just try to think "Its ok that im here and I suck, im here for my kids" lol..
I also started talking online to the founder of the SRDL. I was googling Roller Derby like there was no tomorrow and falling in love with it! Unfortunently the fees, the training times and the distance kept me from joining SRDL.
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