Making the best out of the worst part of roller derby!

Since June 2009 I have been a member of Roc City Roller Derby. I am Farrah Daze Rage... Number 49.

I love roller derby. When I moved to Rochester in April 2009 I was a broken person. I had just ended a very long, unhealthy relationship. I only knew about one or two people in Rochester that I wasn't related to, and jet lag was kicking my ass.

Social networking rekindled some old relationships. One was with a friend I had known since middle school. She was posting all this interesting stuff about roller derby, so I texted her and asked about it. She invited me to check out a practice and said, "Get ready to spend some money on gear, cause you're gonna love this!"

Thanks Kaite. I really do love it! :)

Over the past five years I've had an insane amount of fun, met and bonded with some of the most marvelous people the world has ever known, learned lots of new things and experienced lots of pain.

Derby is a full contact sport... and we don't pull punches. Most of my friends have broken a bone (or two), torn ligaments, sprained joints and been bruised so badly it looks like someone glued a piece of Starry Night onto their thigh! Oh, and then there are the concussions...

Two weeks ago I tripped over a teammate at practice and injured my shoulder. What does a derby girl do when she's injured? Well, I can tell you what this one does!

NSOing and volunteering.

NSO stands for Non Skating Official. They are the people who make roller derby legit (along with the refs.) Without them we wouldn't be able to track scores, penalties or really do much at all during a game. We even need someone to watch the clock... I mean, it's kinda hard to keep an eye on the game clock while you are running for your life! :)

I had the opportunity to help out at a tournament as an NSO in the first week of my injury. I was the penalty box manager. I made a few mistakes... and that's a GREAT thing. I learned so much... and not just about managing the penalty box. I learned how hard all the NSOs work, and how serious they take their job. They often refer to themselves as "team no fun"... but I had a lot of fun... I think they call themselves that because they need to look, act, and be very serious about their position. Us skaters are serious most of the time... but we also screw around on the track a lot... especially during looooooooong time outs! ;) But the NSOs are always serious... it was not an easy task for me :)

One of my favorite parts the big NSO meeting that happens before the game. I always wanted to know what they talked about! It's funny... they do pretty much the same thing we skaters do before a game. They talk about important things to remember, they remind each other that mistakes happen and how important it is to move on  rather than dwell (skaters call that jamnesia) and most importantly, they remind each other that they can do this... that they will do a great job. They support each other like any great team should :) And I felt very fortunate to be a part of that team.

During the second week of my injury I was supposed to play a game. I was looking forward to it, my team was filled with great skaters, and the opponent was worthy! It was going to be a great, competitive game.

I watched my team lose from about 500 feet away as I ran the merch booth. Selling our t-shirts and stickers and buttons to make money and promote our league. Win or lose, I would have wished to be out there skating with my team. Though I am glad I could still help my league in some way... it hurts to sit and watch.

Many of my teammates are hurt much worse than I am right now. I have teammates with broken bones, badly sprained knees and ankles, concussions and so on... Sometimes a skater gets hurt so badly, she can't skate anymore... ever! Some of them leave... but others make the best of the worst situation... they stick around and NSO and volunteer!

I'm going back to practice tonight. I still have a brace on my shoulder... I don't think I'll do much hitting... but I miss my team and I miss my skates. I miss the way it feels to race around the track, to spin around an opponent, to pop back up from the floor and try again... I miss it all so much.