Amber Waves of Pain: 2010 WFTDA South Central Regional Playoffs

This weekend I was lucky enough to get to attend Amber Waves of Pain in Lincoln, NE for one day.  We saw some amazing bouts, got some sweeeeeet gear, and hung out with some great fans.  I wanted to share some highlights (including my personal best of list of derby names from this weekend), and also share some links I've found in the last week or so that I think are pretty invaluable.

First: The best intro ever!  (Also the opinion of one of the announcers who's been involved in derby for 6 years).  Houston and Tampa had a dance off in lieu of the traditional skate around or stationary intro, which was amazing!  Words cannot describe it.  There's obviously a lot of love between these pink and black teams.  I hope someone posts a video of this on YouTube (I'll be watching and post a link if that happens).

The best of names list (in no particular order other than they are grouped by team):
Frieda Killigan (25-Life)
Ram ‘em Noodles
--Tampa
Anna Wrexx-It (Size 0)
Princess Lay-Ya Flat
Drop Kick Muffy
--No Coast
Jekyll and Heidi
Hot for Teacher
--Houston
Miley Virus (28 Days Later)
--Dallas
Britches and Hose
--Nashville
Merchant of Menace
Queen Loseyateefa
Amelia Scareheart
--Atlanta Dirty South

REFs
Conan the Vegetarian
The Panti-Christ

For a complete list of derby names (which are only awarded to team members, refs, coaches, and occasional other supporting members who meet specific qualifications, and must be unique) see go to http://www.twoevils.org/rollergirls/.

Some other links of note:
Official Magazine of Derby (you can download their first issue as a .pdf):http://fiveonfivemag.com/
Official Ouchy Care of WFTDA:http://www.drhauschka.com/rollerderby/ (homeopathic, natural, good for you and they work!)
Great tights/leggings: http://www.welovecolors.com
Used skates and other gear from fellow derby girls who have moved on or moved up: Second Hand Roller Derby
Hand-made Customizable Toe Guards: http://www.etsy.com/shop/BabyBitch and http://www.etsy.com/shop/derbyvixen
I got myself some some this weekend (unofficial booty wear of derby): http://derbyskinz.com/ 
(They make custom stuff, including non-derby gear--my hubby might have them make him a motorcycle helmet to boast of his derby widow status.)
I also got some orange toe guards and fun multicolored polka dot on black skate laces from http://www.derby4all.com/

Derby Inuendo 101: If you lose your nuts, you lose your trucks!

Our Skates 101 demo proved that even grown women can enjoy some dirty jokes. "Some girls like 'em loose, some girls like 'em tight" caused a cacophony of giggles, although slightly delayed compared to the reaction to all the talk about nuts.

Last night we got a break from the brutal off skates cross-fit style training, and got a lesson from one of the vets on how to care for (and upgrade!) our skates. It was really cool to learn all the ins and outs of skates that don't have Fisher Price or Barbie decorations (I disassembled a few of those in my day), but it mostly made me even more frustrated that mine haven't arrived.

For more helpful tips, check out http://missmisery101.blogspot.com/

The skate order (which the league put together for a pretty substantial discount for us, which is awesome) got hung up at customs and still hasn't arrived. I can't tell you how frustrating it is to have to use the rental skates for practice. They absolutely suck--I feel like I'm going to fall over when doing crossovers at full speed, they smell like someone peed in all of them, and they make it really difficult to do a lot of the things we're learning. Plus it makes it hard for me to accessorize appropriately if I can't see them before choosing my laces, toe guards, etc.

We learned baseball/figure four stops tonight (think sliding into home base), which are sort of ouchy on the hip. I imagine they were even worse for the handful of girls who didn't have tights on--I'm betting there are a few girls nursing rink rash this morning. This stop is not nearly as fun as the Rock Star, or even the four point fall. At least on those you get to slide on your knees (where there is adequate padding). :P

Nothing's Sexier than a Bunch of Girls Grabbing their Vags (or Girls have Groins Too)

Boot camp tonight was rough on a lot of us. There were many limpy girls hobbling off the track by the end of the night with various ailments. My knee tells me that it's gonna rain (or maybe that it's just not happy with all of the lunges, one knee falls and the likes), and I managed to pull my groin in a way that hurts from my, well, groin all the way down to my mid calf. I've got the ice pack on it, but I'm not sure how much good it's doing (a good bendy ice pack is a highly recommended derby accessory). Hurts so good.

I think a lot of us were lured into a false sense of security after the weekend of recovering. "One knee turns were easy," I thought to myself over the weekend, reveling in dreams of derby glory. "And I really nailed those crossovers!" (Yeah, I know, I already talked about those, but I'm still stoked.) But the reality of derby practice is if you don't keep your skate close to your knee on one knee falls, you'll pull your groin muscle. And if you don't sit back on two knee falls (aka rock star falls), you can take a lot of the impact in your elbows and shoulders (more aches and pains).

One of my favorite things about derby is the excuse to wear all of my crazily colored tights (and of course the excuse to buy more), although I'm gonna have to invest in some more clear nail polish, because the velcro on all of the pads is not kind to them. "Grown ups" are typically expected to stick to neutral colors when it comes to tights, but I really love bright colors, and funky patterns. The weird looks I occasionally draw from people when I show up at work wearing neon green tights don't deter me from busting them out, but it's a rare treat to get to accessorize them with short shorts and a neon rainbow I heart San Francisco t-shirt.

Despite all of the injuries, derby is still pretty rad. I'm closer to figuring out crossovers the "wrong" way (left footed ones), and I felt the same level of pumped-ness leaving. Tonight I was ready with some Ace of Base loaded on my iPod to rock out old school on the way home! I'm going to have to start constructing the ultimate post-derby playlist. Any suggestions?

Week One: The Beginings of my First Derby Bruise

Today marked the successful completion of my first week of roller derby boot camp. I am so stoked that I rocked the car dance on the way home (which is fairly uncharacteristic of me). I've learned a few things this week:

1. No matter how excited you get about roller derby, don't go out and order skates on eBay unless you know what you're doing, or can get advice from someone who does. Otherwise, you'll end up with skates that don't fit (mine are a size too big) and that don't work (my bearings won't tighten up enough that the wheels don't wobble, which means skating one lap takes as much effort as it should take to skate five).
2. Core strength is your friend. The first week of boot camp you will hurt no matter what, but the more core strength (and leg strength) you have going into it, the better off you will be. Yoga is a big help with this stuff, as well as lunges, squats, and twisty sit ups.
   
3. It's just as important to celebrate the little successes as it is to push yourself to improve weaknesses.

Starting derby has been a complete whirl-wind for me. I randomly decided to find out how to get involved in derby because of a number of things: first, I met some of the derby girls a few years ago at a community event, and they seemed totally awesome; then I came across a story in Bust magazine (one of my fav things) when catching up on my "for fun" reading; the final straw that pushed me to find out more about it was watching Whip It (lame as that may sound) while I was home alone one weekend and feeling pretty down.

It turned out that there was a recruitment night about a week away from when I found out, so I started Googling, found out as much as I could, and dove right in, reading up on the basic rules and watching bouts (derby speak for a game) online. I also made sure to catch the last bout of the season for our girls, which was AWESOME. I have never been even vaguely interested in watching, let alone participating, in a team sport before. Derby just brings out the sports fan in me though.

I'm really excited to be a part of such an awesome community of women. Ever since my best friend moved out of state, I've been feeling very...well, I'm not sure how to put it. There's just something that's different about the relationship between women and the relationship between a woman and a man (although my hubby is fantastic and supportive and I couldn't ask for a better one).

Derby has already boosted my confidence about my body (a problem I've struggled with ever since puberty, like pretty much every girl since the big bang), and I feel like I'm getting into great shape in a really fun way.

I want to end this first post in the spirit of #3 above, and celebrate the fact that I finally figured out how to do crossovers tonight!!! (when I finally stopped thinking about them so hard--although counter clockwise/left side crossovers are still a mystery to me), but I am having a miserable time figuring out T-stops. Something about stopping, in any sport, has always been tough for me, be it ice skating, roller blading, skiing, etc. I just favor the "run into something" method, which won't fly in derby.

p.s. The derby bruise alluded to in my post, is located on the right side of my bum, which has resulted in my sitting in a really funny way for the past few days. You're supposed to fall forward (onto all the pads you're required to wear), but you can't always make that happen.