I'm a Real Life Derby Girl

Derby is my new life form, the extra beat in my heart that gets me through the day. I never thought I'd find an enjoyment of a sport as much as I Love Derby! Not sure if it's the family bond of all the derby sisters, or the joy of knocking a few ladies around. Or maybe it's my 3-5 hours of quality "mom" time away from the kids that I really enjoy.


I'd been keeping tabs on the local derby league, Electric City Roller Grrrlz, for about a year. My friend Katy ended up joining in September, and convinced me to come along in November to watch a practice. That one practice was all I needed to jump start me onto my way into Derby Land. I was able to borrow a pair of skates from a derby sister to get my feet back under me. Granted I hadn't been skating in oh.... 5 or 6 years, and that was on roller blades. I was probably in grade school the last time I strapped on a pair of quad skates.
But it's just like riding a bike, you only really get rusty. It comes back to you, and after watching a few youtube videos, I was teaching myself how to cross-over. I'm still currently a "fresh meat" derby girl, meaning I'm a newbie on the team.

There's a series of skills you have to pass to be certified as a true derby girl. Properly falling, stopping, being able to glide down the straight-away on the track on just one foot..... and my biggest challenge of all is skating 25 laps in 5 minutes! There's also a fairly large rules and regulations book to read to learn about proper hitting/blocking, zones on the body to hit, and penalties for improperly blocking (ect...) The handbook is actually longer than my employee manual at the hotel. Go figure.
We held our first Inter-league Exhibition Scrimmage on Sunday to show Great Falls what Derby is all about. And there was a fairly big turn out for the show! Our first actual Derby bout is in Billings on May 7th. We are also going to be having a bout in Helena on May 21st. Oh, I forgot to mention there are several Roller Derby teams across Montana. Billings has two teams, Missoula has a rocking team, the Flathead Valley has a team, and Helena is just putting together their first team. Plus all across the country are derby teams.

To further explain the idea of Roller Derby and the basic idea behind it, I will share a simple youtube video with you... .

And if you would like to keep further in touch with me and my derby team, please look us up on Facebook under the Electric City Roller Grrrlz.