A few details I left out from yesterday's post about my hearting roller derby: I was scared. I arrived early and got suited up. Then I warmed up by skating a few laps around the floor. This feeling came over me. It was nervousness.
What if I tanked completely?
What was I doing out there?
Then as the regular team members entered the rink I slowed and kept out of the way and was rather put in my place. I'm not terribly steady on my quads. I'm not as good a skater as I want to be. But I usually out-skate all the other adults who come to skate with their children on Sunday afternoons and week nights.
That's some consolation, right?
After leaving practice I went to my mom's house. She was watching Elsa while Ian slept--he'd worked third shift and needed his sleep. Plus, it was my papaw's 82nd birthday party and I was late. Already sacrificing family for roller derby, is that the way of it?
My Aunt Donna met me at the door and asked me where I'd been. I told her trying out for the roller derby. She's almost 60 and her response was "Shut up!?" Then she told me how she dreamed of playing roller derby in the 1960s and 1970s but that she only got to watch it on television because there were no leagues around here (or there, she lived in Ohio for a bit, too). She demonstrated the best way to use your elbows to knock someone in the face, etc.
So maybe she'll come to the next local bout and get to see it in person. I told her she should come to fresh meat. She laughed. So I told her that my friend said there was a 60-year old woman who came to fresh meat a few times several months back. Donna is 58 or 59, so she's still young enough. And she's a hell-raiser, too. She's perfect for derby. Maybe if I work on her, she'll come practice. And we might be the first/only aunt-niece roller derby athletes.
I explained to her about the local derby being flat track. What she remembers is the banked track and the fear/excitement when one of the players went over the rails. My uncle Donald, her brother, said if I played on the team he'd come to the bout and film me. I cautioned them not to get their hopes up too soon.
But, the FM coach said the goal was to get our skills up to par so that we could possibly play in September.
Another thing I forgot to mention was that we bought Elsa her first pair of roller skates two months ago. They're the expandable ones that go over the shoe and have velcro closures. She has a helmet and knee/elbow pads, too. She loves her skates and tries putting them on as often as possible, but then when we work with her on learning to skate she's not so interested. Three to four minutes is her limit.
Admittedly, it's slightly crazy to have her skating so soon. But after watching Blood on the Flat Track instantly on Netflix and hearing the story of those sisters.... well, I was convinced. I don't remember their names, but their mom was into skating, maybe owned or managed a skating rink. And so the girls were on skates as soon as they could walk, but somehow tethered to a walker. They went to on win tons of speed skating competitions and then eventually became roller derby athletes.
What's so awesome about the movie, besides it being about roller derby, is that I watched them do leg whips. If you've never seen one before, you're missing out.
