I love NHRD

I just needed to say that. The more I think about it, the more I mean it. If I wasn't already married I would propose to the league.

Not only do I now have a physical outlet and a way to help me get in shape, but I have a mental/emotional outlet too. I love being able to immerse myself eyeball deep in promoting and growing such a wonderful league. I am so thankful for the opportunity to be a part of something this amazing. Regardless of skating ability, I hope to be a part of the league for many many years to come.

Every skater, ref, and volunteer rocks my socks.

That is all. <3

PS: Don't forget to get your tickets for the bout tomorrow. Available online at http://www.nhrollerderby.com (pick up at will call) or at the door. 6pm. Be there or be vaguely square-shaped.

Off-Skates Derby

Most people think that roller derby involves dressing up in tutus or rufflebutts and knocking people around on the track. Not only is that perception inaccurate, it's flat out wrong. Roller derby is a LOT of work and, to quote my favorite movie ever (The Princess Bride), "anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something."

On top of knocking each other around in front of throngs of adoring fans there is a lot of physical preparatory work involved. There's league practices full of plyometrics, agility drills, endurance marathons, and scrimmages. There are also separate team practices to work on more of the same along with team-specific strategy. Skaters also often cross-train during their non-derby time to help get them in tip top derby shape.

As much work as there is on-skates, I think there is even MORE work to be done off-skates. Roller derby is a DIY, skater-run sport. Most of the time there are no owners, no managers, no paid staff to make everything run like clockwork. The skaters, after long days at "real" jobs, work together marvelously to do their derby jobs.

I am heavily involved in the PR/Marketing committee of NHRD. I absolutely love it. I am a marketing manager in my "real" job and I really enjoy being able to apply some of the same principles to derby life. It's my nature to be a bit obsessive so I'm trying to learn everything I can about sports-specific marketing, including buying a couple of books on sports promotion and attracting fans.

The non-skating roller derby work will completely take over your life if you let it/want it to. I probably spend two to three times more hours working on committee things that I actually spend skating in a given week. I WANT to be this involved, though. Some people prefer to do a little bit in a lot of different committees. I like to go head first into just one.

Completely on accident I have also fallen into a fairly substantial role within the stats committee. It started out by just doing stats during a scrimmage. Then, DKB was out for a couple of weeks and I stepped in to coordinate finding people to do stats. Now, I always coordinate scrimmage stats, scan the sheets the next morning and send them out to captains, bench managers, and coaches. I am also coordinating the stats during our home opener (with the help of the lovely and talented Dirty Kat Box).

My first love will always be marketing and PR. Without being too selfish, in addition to just really liking promoting, improving the perception, and increasing awareness of our league, it also looks darn good on a resume. I often find myself wanting to work on derby stuff at my job and I need to resist. Real jobs pay, which is important for maintaining my derby habit!

I would encourage people to consider the amount of work when thinking about joining derby. I'm not trying to discourage anyone, just help them realize that derby is what we make it. Just as we all want to take our skating to the next level, it takes a lot of off-skates work by the wonderful women involved to take the league as a whole to the next level.

<3 NHRD!

How awesome is Riedell?

After another frustrating, painful practice last night I came home and made a post on my Facebook page.

"I think it's time to visit a foot doctor. New skates are still 2-4 weeks away unless I can sweet talk someone at Riedell to make them faster! Foot pain is changing now. It started as a cramp but now it's starting to become sharp under my arch and just north of my toes if I flex my foot. Happens off skates too and I haven't been able to stretch it out. :-S"

The "Riedell" bit was tagged because I'm "friends" with their company's Facebook page. This morning, a couple hours after I got to work I received a direct message from someone by the name of Zach who worked for Riedell. He had been checking their account and saw that I had tagged them in a post.

He sent me a very nice note explaining that they have hit a busy patch and that any boots that are out of stock will have a lead time of about 4-5 weeks to get produced. Obviously my sweet talking failed but he did offer to check on my order if I gave him some details and see where it was at in production.

I sent him the basics on my order and thanked him profusely for his excellent customer service. A few hours later I got a message back that my custom boots (in two different sizes) are in the finishing department having the outsoles attached and that they would be finished in roughly 7-10 days. Tack on a few more for shipping and he estimates that they'll arrive in Nashua the week of April 14th.

Working in distribution myself I know there is likely a little flexibility in those dates but I'm still SUPER excited! You don't get that level of customer service most places these days so major props to Zach and the rest of the gang at Riedell for going the extra mile!

Going to do some super stretching tonight. Everything from my knees down feels really really unpleasantly tight. In fact, I am going to be good and go get on the bike for 30 minutes. The elliptiwotsit (as Mr. Carnate dubbed it a couple of years ago) is currently blocked in by four winter tires and the stock exhaust for his car. Sigh.


Even though I didn't have a very good practice last night I was very glad to see my NHRD sisters. I missed everyone loads while I was away!

Recruitment Night!

NHRD had an AMAZING recruitment night tonight at Roller Kingdom.We had seventeen potential freshies show up and I personally know of two who were not present. That makes 19 if everyone joins. That's almost a full 20-person roster team! :-D

Not only did we have 17 newbies, we have more than 67% of the league skaters showed up! It was so awesome to see so many derby people together in public representing the league.

I got warm fuzzies thinking about how excited all the new people must be - I know I was when I started! I can't wait for April 5th... it's going to be such a great, energetic, shiny, happy-vibe practice! I have no idea where we're going to PUT everyone!

I also had the opportunity to try on a couple of different people's skates. I tried May's Hellcats and Bettie's 122's. I definitely like the all-leather boot. It feels so much less bulky than my Vixens! I'm going to try to get down to the Bruised Boutique shop this week and try on some skates. I'll shell out the extra money to get boots in different sizes if I have to.

Skate considerations from one freshie to another...

So... I am in no way an expert in skates but there are a few things I wish I had considered when I was buying my skates. I was so excited to be buying my derby gear that I tried on one skate and bought it. I wish I'd taken a little bit more time and tried some additional boots on.

Leather vs. Synthetic. My current skates (Riedell Vixens) were manufactured in China using synthetic material. They were on the cheaper end (under $200) and have a considerable amount of padding. After trying on thinner, all-leather skates I am in love. It felt so nice to not have the extra bulk around my feet.

Foot shape. I have skinny feet - I always have. In my rush to buy skates I didn't stop to think how my foot feels when it's sloshing around inside the boot. Skates come in men's sizes only at this point and men's feet are shaped differently than women's feet. I should have gotten a boot with a narrower heel to account for my skinny feet. Think about the shape of your foot and get a boot that works for your foot shape.

Plate material. This was sort of a no-brainer for me, given the size girl that I am. Plates are commonly made out of nylon and aluminum. If you're little, you should have no issues with a much lighter nylon plate. If you're big, or tall you will need to get an aluminum plate as soon as you start hopping/jumping (it happens sooner than you'd think!).

The moral of the story is, don't rush into buying your first skates unless you're not 100% sure you want to go all the way with derby. If you're just testing the waters then go ahead and get a cheap skate with the understanding that you'll probably end up buying a nicer pair once you're hooked and have gotten used to the derby style of skating.

A pint down...

I gave blood for the very first time today and it didn't involve a skate to the face or a toothpick-sized splinter. Today NHRD sponsored a blood drive with the American Red Cross of Manchester, NH.

I had tried to give blood once before while I was in the Army but was turned away because they couldn't find a suitable vein. They may have been onto something because it took my 19 minutes to fill my little bag of blood (the ARC worker said that it normally takes 7-12 minutes).

I had done my homework in advance. I popped multi-vitamins, ate lots of spinach and red meat (I know, twist my arm, right?) and tried to drink lots of water. I passed all the screening questions, though I was nervous that they would chuck me out because Mr. Carnate is from the other side of the pond.

They sat me down in a lovely lawn chair where I proceeded to relax while two technicians poked around both of my arms. In the end, it took a very patient tech to hold the needle at a precise angle to get things to flow at a reasonable speed.

It was so great to see how all the women of NHRD came out for this. Although our goal had been 50 units, we racked up a total of 37 units and a couple of platelet donors. 12 of the 37 units came from NHRD skaters; many of whom, like me, were giving for the first time. I blame the absolutely GORGEOUS weather on the lack of donors.

After I had donated and recovered, Hearty and I took our bout date banner (which is ten kinds of awesome) down to the corner of Bridge and Mammoth in Manchester to wave at cars and try to attract some attention. Heart had brought her gear so she suited up. I think her hot pink helmet helped us get noticed.

We had lots of people waving back, honking, and smiling at us. After an hour or so I could tell when people were mouthing the words, "roller derby". I can only hope that some of those smiles, honks, and waves translate into warm backsides in the stands at JFK in April!

Tomorrow night is recruitment night. In contrast to how terrified I was for my first recruitment night, I am SO EXCITED about this one! It sounds like we'll have a ton of league members there to greet the 16 - yes that's S-I-X-T-E-E-N - potential freshies. My class had 10 and everyone thought THAT was huge!

I think the injection of fresh blood into the league will have a huge effect. I remember how energized everyone seemed when my class started, granted it was also the beginning of our first season affiliated with WFTDA as an Apprentice League!

It sounds like the Charities committee has some more blood drives lined up. I'm looking forward to donating again unless the techs run screaming from me! :-P

Sisterhood of the Travelling Booty Pants

I don't remember where I read it but whoever wrote it wasn't kidding when they said that you make insta-friends when you join a derby league! Every single member of NHRD I have met so far has been fabulous. They are unbelievably caring people doling out endless encouragement.

It started with (I think) Hazel and Bettie trying to help me up off the ground when I bailed during a drill at my very first practice. The hardcore (to me) calisthenics kicked my arse and skating afterward was like trying to push off with cooked spaghetti. I know *how* to get up off the floor, my legs just simply were not working. I tried pushing off of the two lovely ladies that had come to my rescue and STILL couldn't do it (totally embarrassing). Eventually I made it to a cone for stability and hauled myself up.

Everyone has been so friendly, social, and encouraging - even if the progress made is miniscule. They cheer you in your success and support you in your challenges. It's the most awesome team environment I think I have every been in. Basic Training had a similar feeling but everything felt a bit more restrained (we lived in fear of the Drill Sergeants' wrath).

My phone was vibrating what seemed like every two seconds today with all the Facebook friend requests, and NHRD ladies checking up on me after yesterdays relay festivities (Pulled muscle baaaaaad. Heating pad goooood! Think James Hetfield in the infamous Napster cartoon). My derby confidence level is not all that high yet and little setbacks like the pulled muscle don't help but everyone has been so amazingly awesome and encouraging.

While I know some of the derby girls better than others I'm looking forward to getting to know everyone. I'm going to the Marketing meeting on Thursday so hopefully I'll get to know the folks in PR, Charities, and the Street Team a bit better. I'll get there... patience just isn't my strong suit. ;-)

Ow.

I'm not yet sure if it's derby fail or a derby badge of honor but I have managed to acquire my first injury, three practices in. We were doing a relay where we'd skate to one end of the rink and do a baseball slide, then skate back and do a four-point slide. Rinse. Repeat.

It was my second or third trip down the rink. I did the slide (which I feel like I'm getting better at - got to remember to keep the hip up!) and then went to get up. Standing fail. My quads were getting a bit spaghetti-ish and I went to push off my toe stop and lost my balance. I could almost hear Blue Danube playing in my head as my feet went out from under me and I landed hard on the floor.

I managed to avoid the tailbone but I got the wind knocked out of me. I thought that was all until I got up and started to skate back. My lower abs were KILLING me and my right hip felt really tight. Everyone told me to just take it slow and stop if I need to. I'm not as good as I should be at the "stopping when I need to bit" - I haven't been since basic training when my stubbornness led to a nasty pelvic stress fracture. I did another two trips through and then had to stop. It felt like there was a lead weight attached to my right foot.

While the rest of the freshies learned transitions, I had to sit and watch (or risk making things worse). Bettie got me an ice pack (thank you Bettie :-D) and I tried to stay still, and later stretch a bit. I'm having Ian get me a heating pad (and maybe some of those sticky heat packs that Vicious mentioned) tomorrow at lunch. I think I'm going to need them. The unofficial diagnosis is a pulled groin. Who knew that the groinular region extended up into your abs? Certainly not I!

I think one of the most frustrating things for me so far has been the current limitations of my own body. I'm very competitive and want to be able to "hang with the big girls" but it feels like I'm trapped in a fat suit. I remember being flexible and considerably more in-shape than I currently am. I keep thinking to myself, "I should be able to do this!" but my body just won't let me for the time being. I *will* get better at this stuff, I know. I'm just an impatient bitch and I want it to be better NOW!

Everyone in NHRD is just awesome. When I skated back after the fall, the entire league cheered for me. It was both embarrassing and completely awesome at the same time. Emabrrassing because I feel like I shouldn't be having this hard of a time. Completely awesome because it just further backs up everything I have ready about the camaraderie and sisterhood of derby.

I <3 you guys :-)