tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89944967871728952722024-03-13T10:26:38.715-07:00On my way to play (Roller Derby)I am keeping this Blog, to have a place to document my journey of becoming a Roller Derby girl!
I also want to share my passion, so putting a lot of links to cool and important websites here as well. Enjoy!Furrrocioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15330727443636785973noreply@blogger.comBlogger50125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994496787172895272.post-22971724741530974222013-10-27T08:28:00.003-07:002013-10-27T08:28:45.468-07:00Being involved in derby - part 2: Coaching<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b>Being involved in derby </b><br />Roller derby can take over your life. It can and with me it pretty much has. In the first place I am a skater, but I do a lot of stuff in and around derby that doesn't have to do with playing directly. That's why I want to talk about the other ways that I am involved in derby and what I take from it. The first one I wrote was about being an official. This time I will write about coaching. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3lSv6c2_JBk/Ul_oTCzgstI/AAAAAAAAA70/qFwWABA8iQ0/s1600/coaching+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="263" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3lSv6c2_JBk/Ul_oTCzgstI/AAAAAAAAA70/qFwWABA8iQ0/s400/coaching+1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Picture by <a href="http://www.jurifoto.nl/" target="_blank">Jurgen Rijsdijk</a></td></tr>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I started coaching before I even really knew that much about derby myself. When I was barely skating for 6 months I got in touch with a few girls starting a league in my home town of Utrecht. I met up with them and before I knew it I was trying to teach them whatever I learned from my own coaches. </span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Without really realizing it I started coaching other skaters. </span></div>
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This was back in July 2010. Now October 2013 I am coaching on a regular basis. Last season me and Hurricane Hayles started coaching our b-team; the Amsterdam Derby Dames B.ADD girls. </div>
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Also I started running our scrimmage practice every other week with a hour of drills. I really started to get a taste for coaching. </div>
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This season I'm coaching our b-team by my self, of course with the help of other skaters in our league, but unfortunately I have to do this without the lovely Hurricane Hayles as she has moved to the UK... :(</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0SJ9eSDKp_8/Ul_uWgFrMFI/AAAAAAAAA8A/lmhDH0yGZf8/s1600/coaching+b-team+Jurgen+Rijsdijk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="233" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0SJ9eSDKp_8/Ul_uWgFrMFI/AAAAAAAAA8A/lmhDH0yGZf8/s400/coaching+b-team+Jurgen+Rijsdijk.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bench coaching our B.ADD girls. <br />
Picture by <a href="http://www.jurifoto.nl/" target="_blank">Jurgen Rijsdijk </a></td></tr>
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Coaching our B.ADD girls brings me so much joy. Its cool to be able to work with a team every week, and work on skaters individual strengths and weaknesses. Getting to know the girls better and understanding their individual coaching needs. Then seeing them grow as a team and play together and coach them during their games, is just icing on the top. You can see that all their hard work paid off and it fills me up with such utter pride. I am super stoked for this season for the B.ADD girls, as there are now 18 players and they will be participating in the very first National Championships. And I can see they are working their asses off to show everybody what they are made off.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cS70sRjAkmk/Ul_xhO3fD6I/AAAAAAAAA8I/e2HDaB02i5s/s1600/coaching+2+-+Jerry+Vinke.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="258" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cS70sRjAkmk/Ul_xhO3fD6I/AAAAAAAAA8I/e2HDaB02i5s/s400/coaching+2+-+Jerry+Vinke.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bench coaching the Northern Lightning Roller Girls at their game vs East Side Rock n Rollers<br />
Picture by Jerry Vinkel </td></tr>
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Last year me and Fist Fucker coached the Rotterdam Death Row Honeys before and during their very first bout. It was a lot of fun working with a team that isn't your own. Seeing their possibilities with a fresh and objective eye and trying to make sure they work hard to the best they can be.<br />
Since then I have also coached the Northern Lighting Roller Girls from Groningen and the Dutch National Men's team. And I really enjoy benching. Its fun. <br />
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Teaching people new skills and strategies is great and I really
love it when you see that something is "clicking" and they really get
it. As a skater I have experienced this myself with different coaches.
And it's such a joy to have that "clicking moment" and as I coach I
really enjoy trying to make this happen. </div>
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It's so funny tho as I never expected to be this invested in any sport as a participant, let alone as a coach. </div>
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I've been
really lucky that so many people have given me the opportunity to coach.
As I feel I have gotten better and better each time. I learn so much
from coaching, and try to take what I learn and improve for the next
time.<br />
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- Furrrocious <br />
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Furrrocioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15330727443636785973noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994496787172895272.post-61501357445489514882013-09-15T05:50:00.001-07:002013-09-15T05:53:08.267-07:00Block around the clock - 24 hours of Roller Derby awesomenessOver 2 years ago I met Sum Mo Payne and PBR through my friend Tigre Force from Helsinki Roller Derby. We got in touch as these awesome ladies had the great idea to skate around the Netherlands. And not just for fun either, but for a good cause. As they have been Skating the State for MS in the USA for several years, they wanted to do something special here as well.<br />
At the time I started talking with them about it, I couldn't imagine us pulling this off, I personally just started a masters program next to work and just could not see it happen. Luckily they had also gotten in touch with the wonderful <a href="http://www.domcitydolls.com/" target="_blank">Dom City Dolls</a>, and they took on the challenge of organizing this <a href="http://sk8thenetherlands.blogspot.nl/" target="_blank">Sk8 the Netherlands</a> trip. And from the 5th of September till the 13th of September 2013 this group of strong awesome women skated around the Netherlands. They skated around the country to raise awareness and funds to end sex trafficking. A very big problem which is not given enough attention. <br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5VI48dQDVRA/UjWgHMeuu-I/AAAAAAAAA5I/2bA2b89xPc4/s1600/SK8+Nederland.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5VI48dQDVRA/UjWgHMeuu-I/AAAAAAAAA5I/2bA2b89xPc4/s400/SK8+Nederland.jpg" width="311" /></a></div>
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The Dom City Dolls asked all the different leagues in the Netherlands to contribute. By organizing an event or hosting a sleeping place for this group while they were on the road.<br />
As we are located in Amsterdam, which is definitely one of the epicenters of human and sex trafficking in the Netherlands and because I felt connected with this project from the get go, we felt like we should do something big and extraordinary. <br />
While talking to my team mate Vegan Vengeance in a bus on our way home from practice we came up with the idea of a 24 hour scrimmage marathon. And slowly started fantasizing about pulling it off. Having an event with 24 hours of roller derby scrimmages. <br />
When didn't dare to actually think about if this would work out, because our biggest challenge was finding a venue that would have us for the full 24 hours. But once we got that problem covered, our ideas seemed to be able to become reality. <br />
With a core group of ADD girls we started getting organized. We looked at how RollerCon and ECDX organized their challenge bouts, with time slots and no breaks. It seemed like a very good formula to go with for this event as well. We ended up making a schedule for two tracks, with a total of 47 scrimmages, each lasting 30 min (except for the first 1, going for a full hour). There would be team scrimmages, challenge bouts and open scrimmages to fill up the full schedule.<br />
It was a hell of a lot of stuff that needed to be arranged. And we as the Amsterdam Derby Dames had not before pulled off an event like this. To say the least, it was a bit of a challenge. Especially when a lot of the organizational work had to happen over the summer time. When a lot of our girls weren't around to help out. It took some blood, sweat and tears. But we did it and even though we did get the 12 teams and around a 150 skaters to sign up (we got 6 and around 70) we were still determined to pull it off. <br />
One of the very notable things about this event, is that the first ones to sign up were the officials! Officials from ALL over Europe were very excited to come and help out in this event.<br />
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I was one of the people working on getting sponsors for this event, and I have to say the Derby community (and its derby owned stores) really stepped it up! We got sponsoring in many ways even from teams and companies in the USA. Which meant a lot to us. One of the more remarkable sponsoring items we got was the artwork for our event. Seeing how I had met Tara Armov at several occasions and had seen and experienced the amazingness of her artwork I kind of wanted that for our event. As I felt we deserved something special for such a unique event. I contacted her through facebook, and there was no doubt she wanted to help us out. Which was very cool! As in this same time period she was kicking off her new company Notorious RED and going to RollerCon to promote this. <br />
Even though she was very busy, she pulled off providing us with this amazing artwork.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-i1jmT4FN-nM/UjWj-sHuQnI/AAAAAAAAA5U/1Kbq_XGlacw/s1600/tara+block+around+the+clock2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-i1jmT4FN-nM/UjWj-sHuQnI/AAAAAAAAA5U/1Kbq_XGlacw/s400/tara+block+around+the+clock2.jpg" width="341" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Artwork by Tara Armov - Notorious RED</td></tr>
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The week before the event I had to miss out of every practice of my league, as I was working around the clock (after work..) to get the last things organized and sorted before the big day. On Friday the 6th of September I think my nerves pretty much got shot. To a point where I started to relax, as there wasn't a lot more I could do now anyways, I would just have to go which ever way it was going to go. <br />
My house filled up with a little German invasion on Friday night and it was nice to have the distraction of London playing the playoffs in the US to take my mind of things.<br />
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Saturday morning the fun started. I had to get up wayyyy too early, to be at the venue at 9 am. Before getting to the venue me, Vegan Vengeance and Shanty Core made sure people could find the venue by hanging up some signs. While doing this I started feeling the gitty excitement in my belly that this was actually happening. When we walked around the corner at the venue there was a big LED display above the door welcoming everybody to Block around the clock. I think this was the point when I got REALLY excited. As it was so cool and big. You couldn't miss it.<br />
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The first three hours the volunteers worked their asses off getting everything set up, tracks laid, registration of skaters and officials started, VIP room set up and everything else that needed to be done. Those first three hours were a bit of a blur to me, as I was trying to coordinate everything. But I guess everything went pretty well as the venue was ready and the officials were ready at 12.00 to start. However the skaters in Europe apparently had not encountered the concept of an "open pick up scrimmage" before. So when everything was ready there weren't a lot of skaters to start of the first scrimmage. The start of our 24 hours of scrimmage madness started a little slow, but as soon as stuff got started it just went smoothly.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yMDDbrw32kk/UjWnUOamD5I/AAAAAAAAA5g/68hRE2eKkns/s1600/scrimmathon-2013-bco-001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yMDDbrw32kk/UjWnUOamD5I/AAAAAAAAA5g/68hRE2eKkns/s400/scrimmathon-2013-bco-001.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Picture by Branko Colin</td></tr>
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Around 13.00 I sat down to watch a little derby. As it seemed like everything we organized was working out and people were doing what they were supposed to be doing. I took a lot off and chilled for a minute. But not long, as I wanted to get out there and start having fun myself. So it was time for me to put on my skates.<br />
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The whole event went pretty smoothly. It was between 2 and 5 am I think we when hit some issues, with not having enough skaters to keep to our schedule. But it didn't stop the fun, with the great coordination of Event Head Ref Cherry Fury we changed up some of the scrimmages and kept it going as much as possible. <br />
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In the end I personally played 17 scrimmages and coached 1, making it a total of 18 scrimmages. And I slept 1 hour. <br />
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There is so much more to tell, as there was 24 hours of awesomeness. But I just cant tell it all. What I will say is that we got a ton of compliments after the event, which makes me believe that this was truly a very successful event. Also notable is that we raised 2100 euro's for Sk8 the Netherlands and Fier Fryslan. Which we are very proud of, it shows how much we can accomplish together as a derby community. <br />
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I will now post some different pictures and links, so you can get a bit of a feel for what was going on.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yulhNyCzIMg/UjWp9xfn5tI/AAAAAAAAA50/pa88JLi6r0A/s1600/scrimmathon-2013-bco-007.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yulhNyCzIMg/UjWp9xfn5tI/AAAAAAAAA50/pa88JLi6r0A/s320/scrimmathon-2013-bco-007.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Derby Shop - the newest derby shop in Amsterdam was present for all your gear problems<br />
Picture by Branko Colin</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sEin9v2vid4/UjWp99dK9II/AAAAAAAAA54/xaKV0AuuLZI/s1600/scrimmathon-2013-bco-016.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sEin9v2vid4/UjWp99dK9II/AAAAAAAAA54/xaKV0AuuLZI/s400/scrimmathon-2013-bco-016.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There were womens games as well as co-ed games. <br />
Picture by Branko Colin</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x8JhdIYhV_8/UjWp88kcTQI/AAAAAAAAA5s/PaPlURv0NOQ/s1600/scrimmathon-2013-bco-024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x8JhdIYhV_8/UjWp88kcTQI/AAAAAAAAA5s/PaPlURv0NOQ/s400/scrimmathon-2013-bco-024.jpg" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There were 6 teams competing against each other. <br />
Picture by Branko Colin </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5KZPOBSvChE/UjWqAtxIlSI/AAAAAAAAA6E/amqW1pnCb6w/s1600/scrimmathon-2013-bco-028.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5KZPOBSvChE/UjWqAtxIlSI/AAAAAAAAA6E/amqW1pnCb6w/s400/scrimmathon-2013-bco-028.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Officials from all of Europe! <br />
Picture by Branko Colin</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-X471fhchYzg/UjWqA4x9RgI/AAAAAAAAA6I/DNyVRGTNd8E/s1600/scrimmathon-2013-bco-038.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-X471fhchYzg/UjWqA4x9RgI/AAAAAAAAA6I/DNyVRGTNd8E/s400/scrimmathon-2013-bco-038.jpg" width="185" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We had a live stream and shout outs. This was our very sophisticated shout out system. <br />
Picture by Branko Colin</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jAtbqvIjvcQ/UjWqByRI2jI/AAAAAAAAA6U/QNL6LX7egl4/s1600/scrimmathon-2013-bco-044.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jAtbqvIjvcQ/UjWqByRI2jI/AAAAAAAAA6U/QNL6LX7egl4/s400/scrimmathon-2013-bco-044.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The wall of awesomeness! Where people could sign up for Challenge bouts.<br />
Picture by Branko Colin</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5LM-lqoujXc/UjWrqnfsXtI/AAAAAAAAA6o/FHFWuJgsV5o/s1600/scrimmathon-2013-bco-070.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5LM-lqoujXc/UjWrqnfsXtI/AAAAAAAAA6o/FHFWuJgsV5o/s400/scrimmathon-2013-bco-070.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The ladies from Sk8 the Netherlands arrived around 20.00 after skating +/- 130 km to Amsterdam<br />
Picture by Branko Colin</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-W_zW2dvtmfs/UjWrp9fRSsI/AAAAAAAAA6g/d3BXjM_pzaU/s1600/scrimmathon-2013-bco-155.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-W_zW2dvtmfs/UjWrp9fRSsI/AAAAAAAAA6g/d3BXjM_pzaU/s400/scrimmathon-2013-bco-155.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of my very favorite challenge bouts men vs women. And yes the women won! :)<br />
Picture by Branko Colin</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-V_-i6pdyQnQ/UjWrrV8WUtI/AAAAAAAAA6w/tGNlgRXT_4A/s1600/scrimmathon-2013-bco-161.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="185" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-V_-i6pdyQnQ/UjWrrV8WUtI/AAAAAAAAA6w/tGNlgRXT_4A/s400/scrimmathon-2013-bco-161.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What a great game! <br />
Picture by Branko Colin</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zh3gPJvdPyw/UjWsOgXfxQI/AAAAAAAAA7A/cdXtTcGojcs/s1600/scrimmathon-2013-bco-187.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zh3gPJvdPyw/UjWsOgXfxQI/AAAAAAAAA7A/cdXtTcGojcs/s400/scrimmathon-2013-bco-187.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The wonderful Officials that worked their asses off to make this event into a success. <br />
Picture by Branko Colin</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OcBhpUlmrdM/UjWsNkB_eEI/AAAAAAAAA64/l6YjdJi5OWs/s1600/scrimmathon-2013-bco-188.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="185" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OcBhpUlmrdM/UjWsNkB_eEI/AAAAAAAAA64/l6YjdJi5OWs/s400/scrimmathon-2013-bco-188.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A big part of the skaters, officials and volunteers of Block around the clock! <br />
Picture by Branko Colin</td></tr>
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And here is a video made by the wonderful people of <a href="http://www.bureaufeestbeest.nl/" target="_blank">Bureau Feestbeest </a>who made sure there was 24 hours of DJ'ing during this event. <br />
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=457422721023733<br />
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It was a wonderful event. Thanks to everybody involved. <br />
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- FurrrociousFurrrocioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15330727443636785973noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994496787172895272.post-48727241125314429602013-08-15T08:42:00.002-07:002013-08-15T08:43:53.486-07:00Being involved in derby - part 1: Officially Official<strong>Being involved in derby </strong><br />
Roller derby can take over your life. It can and with me it pretty much has. In the first place I am a skater, but I do a lot of stuff in and around derby that doesn't have to do with playing directly. That's why I want to talk about the other ways that I am involved in derby and what I take from it. This is the first one, all about being official. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dUwLn5P1_Jw/Ugv4Jf0SwZI/AAAAAAAAA2w/0nf2IltZ-T0/s1600/Official.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dUwLn5P1_Jw/Ugv4Jf0SwZI/AAAAAAAAA2w/0nf2IltZ-T0/s400/Official.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Picture by <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.208607969296321.1073741878.108363409320778&type=3" target="_blank">Christopher Yarrow</a></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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When I started Roller Derby I had no idea what this game was all about. Seeing how derby was still pretty new in Europe and we were the first league in our country there was not a lot of derby around to go and see and learn from. The first time I went to even see a bout after I started was 9 months later in Berlin. Not really around the corner, cause it's a decent 6 hour drive from Amsterdam to Berlin.<br />
But even when I did get to watch bouts live or online, I didn't necessarily understand all of what was going on in the game. Especially cause I seem to have a little "condition" called "hooliganism". Whenever I get to watch a bout I turn in to a total hooligan and scream my lungs out. Which is all fine and dandy, and maybe fun for the teams playing, but it doesn't leave a lot of room for focusing on the game and whats going on.<br />
The other thing was, that in our first year we were focusing mostly on skating skills and basic derby skills and we weren't scrimmaging yet. When you haven't played a scrimmage yet (or worked a bout for that matter) you don't really have that "feel" yet for the game. You don't <i>feel </i>the excitement you feel right before the first whistle, you don't<i> feel </i>the pain shooting through your body when you get a great hit, you don't <i>feel</i> your body working hard and you definitely don't get the same <i>feel</i> for the game as when you play. <br />
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So what can you do to get more of a <i>feel </i>for the game when you cannot play yet? When you are still fresh meat, or even when a certain injury makes it that you cannot play.<br />
I found that a good way was by being a part of the game. And not as the hooligan, but as an official.<br />
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The first time I ever worked a bout as a Non Skating Official (NSO) was in November 2010 in Stuttgart; Stuttgart Valley Rollergirls vs Go Go Gent Roller Girls. I had the position of outside white board and had no idea what I was doing. I of course had read about what I was supposed to be doing, but I had no idea what it would mean to be a part of the officials crew. I understood, of course, that I wasn't supposed to cheer. And I was supposed to be impartial. But I didn't really understand what it meant until I was working that very first bout.<br />
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Being part of an officials crew, means that even though you are impartial and not supporting one team, you are supporting roller derby it self in the highest way possible. Cause you are making sure this game can be played the way the girls want to play it. </div>
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For me, being a skater (first and foremost), this made a huge impression. Realizing how important our officials are for our game. </div>
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But it did more then just give me respect for officials. It gave me that <i>feel</i> for the game, without being able to play. </div>
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I was part of the action. And because of officials role, I for once got to focus on all going on, cause I had to keep my "hooliganism" in check. </div>
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And it was a great experience. </div>
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After this first time I went on to NSO the first German <span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Meisterschaft: Roll DMC.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">That's when I got a real feel of what it meant to be a part of team No-Fun.... It's so much FUN! I don't mean to say that officials secretly have a lot of fun and don't take their jobs seriously. Cause I think they take their jobs very seriously. But I did also see the "other side" of the officials. The side that they do not show on track. And that is a very fun side. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-9OkCrqgsmIU/Ugyil929wyI/AAAAAAAAA3Q/FyahZixH9Ic/s640/blogger-image-1094720890.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-9OkCrqgsmIU/Ugyil929wyI/AAAAAAAAA3Q/FyahZixH9Ic/s400/blogger-image-1094720890.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The officials crew for Roll DMC<br />Picture by Michael Wittig</td></tr>
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Accept for feeling like a part of the game, getting more of that <i>feel</i> for the game and gaining more respect and understanding for officials I also noticed something else. </div>
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As I started working more and different NSO positions I felt like my understanding of the game and the rules improved immensely. And I am not saying that the only way of getting this understanding is by officiating. But I sure do think it helped me a whole bunch. There are several reasons why. First of all because in officials meetings and during the games you hear all about how refs call certain penalties and why. Another reason is that refs love to discuss rules. All.the.time. And even though I might not be the best rules nerd in the world and I will probably zone out after 30+ minutes of rules discussion, I do think I have picked up quite a lot of the years by hanging out with officials. <br />
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Also just the NSO jobs it self teach you a lot about how the game has been set up, how it works, as NSO's are there to make sure the game runs smoothly. And even though everybody (should) reads the rules, I still see that many people don't understand all the rules when it comes to the penalty box and jammers. Also being able to fill out all that paperwork and knowing what says what, where and why, makes it a lot easier to understand the stats book and to analyze it.</div>
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Now 2,5 years after I started NSO'ing, I've been playing bouts as a skater for 2 years, but I still love to NSO. I don't do it super often, as derby takes over you life enough as it is with "just" being a skater. </div>
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But I do try and NSO at tournaments and a bout every now and again. </div>
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And I still feel I learn something new every time. </div>
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Last month I was working the Men's European Roller Derby Championships and in my very first bout I was working the penalty box and all ready learned something new. The blockers and jammer of one of the teams were super communicative while in the box. As in when their jammer had lead but there were several of their blockers in the box, the blockers would communicate to their jammer (every time he lapped the box) what their time was, so he would keep going until their box was empty. And therefore they could start the next jam with a empty box. </div>
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I am sure this sounds like peanuts or basic stuff for some. But it was kind of an eye opener for me. As we have never really did it that way. Of course we try to empty out our box, but never like that. It was a very confident and "in control" way of running the game. And it was good to see. I am not sure I would have noticed the same thing or as quickly if I would have been in the audience. But because I was working the box, and the blockers kept asking every few seconds what their time was I noticed a lot quicker why they were asking, what their strategy was behind it. </div>
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So yeah the conclusion of this blog post is that I love NSO'ing. For several reasons:</div>
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<li>You get to be part of the game and get a feel for the game more then when you are in the audience. </li>
<li>You get to be part of the funnest team no-fun there is</li>
<li>You get to facilitate the BEST sport in the world</li>
<li>You learn so much more about the rules and the way stuff is called</li>
<li>(a lot of times) I learn more about game play then while screaming my lungs off in the audience </li>
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- FurrrociousFurrrocioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15330727443636785973noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994496787172895272.post-68755792845784884582013-07-02T08:05:00.001-07:002013-07-31T14:00:48.945-07:00ECDX day 2 & 3These weekends are always long and tiring, which is way I didn't get to blog when I wanted to, just because the weekend it self was too amazing (and exhausting...).<br />
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So therefore I need to recap now, now that I have the energy to do so. :)</div>
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But have to recap a weekend of amazingness, is not that easy. Cause where to start? I guess I could start by saying the a pool party combined with roller derby is a very good idea! It was really nice to be able to chill pool side. </div>
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The Saturday and Sunday were both filled with a crazy amount of bouts. There were 50something bouts in 3 days, and seeing how there were 4 on Friday, that left 46+ bouts to be spread out over 2 days, 3 rinks.</div>
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I can honestly say that I never expected to say there is a thing as too much derby, but I guess in a way there was this weekend. The only "bad" thing about this much derby, was that it was impossible to see it all. </div>
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Having to choose between one good bout or another is a very hard thing to do.</div>
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And then I had two moments where I had to choose between playing myself or watching a few of my favorite teams playing. I chose to play, like any derby girl would (I guess...). </div>
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On Saturday I got to play for team drunks vs team stoners. A fun challenge bout, that was 30 mins long. </div>
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The drunks took the win and it was fun to be a part of the team. It's so weird to play with other people, but so much fun!</div>
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The rest of the Saturday I got to enjoy some great games, like Auld Reekie vs Dominion and Montreal vs Charm. </div>
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<i>Auld Reekie you're so fine!</i></div>
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<i>Montreal won 211 - 168</i></div>
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Also I had to make so signs of course, to show my love for these teams. :) </div>
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<i>The kind of derby we love to play and watch!</i></div>
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It was great to see all these amazing teams play live. I appreciate the Derby News Network and WFTDA tv bringing all these great teams into my little Dutch home. But sitting track side at a Gotham, Philly or Montreal bout (to just name a few...) is just a whole different experience. And I have to say I loved every minute of it.</div>
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What was extra cool, was that I actually got to see some people play live that I've met before. Like Georgia W. Tush from Montreal, who coached us in Amsterdam a few years back. And Teflon Donna (Philly & Team USA) who was a coach at derby revolution last year in Ghent. </div>
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It was just great to watch them play and cheer them on. </div>
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<i>My sign for Philly vs Texas. Love both teams, so had to support them both. </i></div>
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Sunday started with the best.breakfast.ever! As the first bout of the day was Glasgow vs Long Island. I mean oh boy oh boy! That was the most exciting bout of the weekend up until that point. A true nail biter. Definitely a fan of Lawless, Rogue and Mcmillen and all the Glasgow blockers too of course. </div>
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TAPS AFF for Glasgow. :)</div>
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<i>Still think Glasgow should have won...but I guess with a game that exciting both teams won!</i></div>
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<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875);">That game definitely set the tone for the rest of the day. The Auld Reekie bout after that was super exciting too. Especially the first half, which was a half with a lot of lead changes. But the second half was dominated by Auld Reekie. </span></div>
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<i>Auld Reekie team huddle</i></div>
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I had to miss seeing Montreal play as I was playing myself, but I was lucky enough to watch the thrilling game between Philly and Windy City. </div>
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At first it looked like Windy was going to take the win for sure. But it wasn't a sure thing at all, because Philly put up a great fight. And at ended up in a tie! With an overtime jam that had to decide the win. </div>
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And Philly won with 1 point! It was crazy, everybody was screaming and it was amazing to be a part of the crowd at this bout. I thought the Glasgow bout was going to be the best of the weekend and then this bout happened. Just amazing. </div>
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<i style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875);">Tie at the final whistle</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: .Helvetica NeueUI; font-size: small;"><span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); line-height: 20px;">After that excitement I had to head over to rink 1, to skate myself. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: .Helvetica NeueUI; font-size: small;"><span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); line-height: 20px;">I was lucky enough to be part of team the World. Who took on Fishtown (a neighborhood in Philly), a team made up out of Philly players. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: .Helvetica NeueUI; font-size: small;"><span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); line-height: 20px;">It was pretty amazing to play in this team, as there were several players from team Canada in this team (like 8 mean wheeler & Jenna) and a couple of Auld Reekie girls (Legs and Cider) and a whole bunch of other rad ladies from all over. And not to forget we had the team Canada coach as our bench coach.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: .Helvetica NeueUI; font-size: small;"><span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); line-height: 20px;">Honestly it was quite nerve wrecking to play with- and against people that I look up to. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: .Helvetica NeueUI; font-size: small;"><span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); line-height: 20px;">Pretty sure that those nerves effected my game play, but I did do my best. Even tried jamming, although that didn't go down that well due to a hit in the face that left me quite dizzy during the whole jam... I did keep going though and even scored some points. :)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: .Helvetica NeueUI; font-size: small;"><span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); line-height: 20px;">It was fun to play. But I just really have some insecurity issues that get into my head when I'm surrounded by such high skill leveled (famous) players. Definitely need to get that out of my system at some point...</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: .Helvetica NeueUI; font-size: small;"><span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); line-height: 20px;">Oh and because of all the "reflecting" i almost forgot that team world won. :)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: .Helvetica NeueUI; font-size: small;"><span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: .Helvetica NeueUI; font-size: small;"><span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: .Helvetica NeueUI; font-size: small;"><span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); line-height: 20px;">One of the things I wanted to do at ECDX was get in touch with a few "derby famous" teams and people to see if they could donate something for our Scrimmathon auction in September. As we will be raising money for the battle against sec trafficking, it seemed like a good idea to get some good auction items. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: .Helvetica NeueUI; font-size: small;"><span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); line-height: 20px;">The Gotham girls were nice enough to arrange something special for us and I met up with Slaydie at ECDX and she handed this one of a kind bag for the auction. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: .Helvetica NeueUI; font-size: small;"><span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); line-height: 20px;">I'm sure a lot of people will want to get their hands of this....</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: .Helvetica NeueUI; font-size: small;"><span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); line-height: 20px;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-BSUpvCwD3N8/UdPILDisbSI/AAAAAAAAA1Q/Xx80eNkfm0I/s640/blogger-image-1389777709.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-BSUpvCwD3N8/UdPILDisbSI/AAAAAAAAA1Q/Xx80eNkfm0I/s640/blogger-image-1389777709.jpg" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: .Helvetica NeueUI; font-size: small;"><span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: .Helvetica NeueUI; font-size: small;"><span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); line-height: 20px;">After all the excitement of Sunday's bouts the cherry on top was being able to watch Team USA vs Team Canada live from the suicide seats track side. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: .Helvetica NeueUI; font-size: small;"><span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); line-height: 20px;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-PKD5yP_fVyI/UdPIMDQbhUI/AAAAAAAAA1Y/SJUPV-QfvPg/s640/blogger-image--1615800977.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-PKD5yP_fVyI/UdPIMDQbhUI/AAAAAAAAA1Y/SJUPV-QfvPg/s400/blogger-image--1615800977.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: .Helvetica NeueUI; font-size: small;"><span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); line-height: 20px;"><i>First points on the board for Canada</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: .Helvetica NeueUI; font-size: small;"><span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: .Helvetica NeueUI; font-size: small;"><span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); line-height: 20px;">I was not expecting the game to be extremely exciting, as we all knew USA would win, but watching so many very skilled players battle it out, was going to be exciting enough for any derby girl. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: .Helvetica NeueUI; font-size: small;"><span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); line-height: 20px;">The thing that made it special for me, was that I've had the pleasure over the passed week to scrimmage with and/or against skaters from both Team USA and Team Canada. And in the last few years I've been lucky enough to be coached by both players from both teams. So yeah, it was exciting enough for me to watch. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: .Helvetica NeueUI; font-size: small;"><span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); line-height: 20px;">The Canada crowd was supportive of their team, the whole way through and I was definitely rooting for them as well. </span></span></div>
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<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-NM6wYcxooM4/UdPINGjvkqI/AAAAAAAAA1g/iBx5RPUpsLM/s640/blogger-image--1486262556.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-NM6wYcxooM4/UdPINGjvkqI/AAAAAAAAA1g/iBx5RPUpsLM/s400/blogger-image--1486262556.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Proud Canada crowd </div>
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<span style="font-family: .Helvetica NeueUI; font-size: small;"><span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); line-height: 20px;">At the end Team USA won, but not by as much as you might have expected. Canada did a good job at scoring points and holding the jammer back as much as they could. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: .Helvetica NeueUI; font-size: small;"><span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: .Helvetica NeueUI; font-size: small;"><span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); line-height: 20px;">The highlight of this final game of the weekend has to be when V'Diva was backwards blocking 8mean Wheeler and seeing how Diva is pretty tall, 8mean was just at the perfect level to motorboat Diva. And she did! That was a funny moment. Really showed that even though these players fight to be the best, </span></span><span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); font-size: small; line-height: 20px;">they are still having fun in derby. And that's what it's all about in the end. </span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); font-size: small; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: .Helvetica NeueUI; font-size: small;"><span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); line-height: 20px;">While we walked back to the car we bumped into my very favorite NSO in the whole wild world and NSO inspiration;The Prosecutor, from Houston, TX. The first time I saw her NSO was in Austin, TX almost 2 years ago. When I went to see Texas vs Denver. She was the jam timer at that bout and her form just blew my mind. I remember that me and Dr. No-No just enjoyed watching her work so much we sometimes forgot to watch the game. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: .Helvetica NeueUI; font-size: small;"><span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); line-height: 20px;">At the first day of ECDX I saw her again and was immediately mesmerized again. I have gotten inspiration of this lady when I work as an NSO myself. And being able to tell her that this weekend was definitely one of my highlights. </span></span></div>
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<a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-582bgAshwOU/UdPIJC4aU2I/AAAAAAAAA1A/5kpIcgykjmQ/s640/blogger-image--1212057761.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-582bgAshwOU/UdPIJC4aU2I/AAAAAAAAA1A/5kpIcgykjmQ/s640/blogger-image--1212057761.jpg" /></a></div>
<i>Furrrocious the NSO fan girl </i></div>
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<span style="font-family: .Helvetica NeueUI; font-size: small;"><span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); line-height: 20px;">All with all this whole weekend and this whole trip in the USA, was a great derby experience. Got to scrimmage with and against great skaters and teams. Got to meet a bunch of new people and reunite with derby friends from all over. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: .Helvetica NeueUI; font-size: small;"><span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); line-height: 20px;">It was a great experience and I would highly recommend going to the East Coast Derby Extravaganza to anybody!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: .Helvetica NeueUI; font-size: small;"><span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: .Helvetica NeueUI; font-size: small;"><span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); line-height: 20px;">- Furrrocious</span></span></div>
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Furrrocioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15330727443636785973noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994496787172895272.post-62344827263887042562013-06-28T22:28:00.001-07:002013-07-31T14:01:11.216-07:00East Coast Derby Extravaganza - DAY 1<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-6atMxGO8g2c/Uc5wkBWzV0I/AAAAAAAAAyo/P2AN66dLzCI/s640/blogger-image-2087044828.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-6atMxGO8g2c/Uc5wkBWzV0I/AAAAAAAAAyo/P2AN66dLzCI/s640/blogger-image-2087044828.jpg" /></a></div>
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Oh boy, oh boy, where to start...</div>
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Day 1 of ECDX, is the "easy day". Bouts don't start until 6 pm and there are only 2 rinks in use and 4 bouts in total. </div>
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Which seems like not too much if you realize there are 50 in 3 days!</div>
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However I found it was not an "easy" day at all! There were a few really intense bouts this first evening at ECDX. The one sticking out was the bout between the two men's teams; New York Shock Exchange and Mass Maelstrom. These two teams were ranked #3 and #6 in the MRDA rankings and was promising to be a very exciting bout. And boy oh boy oh boy it was! </div>
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<a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-vvuf9lzLbc8/Uc5z-XMuiFI/AAAAAAAAAy4/BwkfOF6VrC0/s640/blogger-image-1029544376.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-vvuf9lzLbc8/Uc5z-XMuiFI/AAAAAAAAAy4/BwkfOF6VrC0/s400/blogger-image-1029544376.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<i>NYSE warming up</i><br />
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This bout was an absolute nail biter. At first it looked like NYSE would dominate, but maelstrom would not let NYSE conquer without a fight. And what a fight it was. It was epic. I saw amazing agility and hard intense hits. I loved every minute of it. </div>
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<i>NYSE won by 12 points</i><br />
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Another thing that was very exciting and overwhelming some times was the amount of awesome people. :)</div>
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I met up with Georgia, Beater and Mark from Montreal who visited Amsterdam almost 2 years ago. It was so good to see them again. And I cannot wait to see the New Skids play tomorrow and cheer for Tush! </div>
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The other bout that was very exciting to see live, was the bout between Gotham and Texas. There are so many "derby legends" (or hero's if you like) in these teams. And watching them play in real life is pretty mind blowing. </div>
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Again there was some really amazing skating, super agile jammers, tough blockers, great technical game play. Loved it. Gotham dominated the first half, the second half Texas came back, getting lead the first four jams of the period. But Gotham, the great team they are, did not let Texas get ahead much and blew them away. <span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);">Although Texas kept fighting till the end, and because of both the teams amazing game play it was not a boring game at all. </span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-wrsYY008H3w/Uc52NVL_NhI/AAAAAAAAAzQ/pEkByFFy6TE/s640/blogger-image-1589753248.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-wrsYY008H3w/Uc52NVL_NhI/AAAAAAAAAzQ/pEkByFFy6TE/s640/blogger-image-1589753248.jpg" /></a></span></div>
<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);"><i>The unofficial final. Gotham takes the win</i></span><br />
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This was a good day and I cannot wait till tomorrow. Cause tomorrow I'll be watching some amazing derby, with awesome people. I'll be playing at least one challenge bout myself and I'm sure I'll be joining the pool party. :)</div>
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On to day 2....</div>
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- Furrrocious </div>
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Furrrocioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15330727443636785973noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994496787172895272.post-71225929530126773472013-06-27T08:19:00.001-07:002013-06-27T14:51:16.256-07:00Banked track adventures<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-pJvLLm9-EEY/UcxYDEnRUhI/AAAAAAAAAw4/TYp_DzZTZyU/s640/blogger-image--1089910004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-pJvLLm9-EEY/UcxYDEnRUhI/AAAAAAAAAw4/TYp_DzZTZyU/s400/blogger-image--1089910004.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The door of the PJRD warehouse. </i></td></tr>
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When you play roller derby in Europe, you hear about banked track and you can watch it online, but there isn't a roller derby banked track anywhere in Europe.<br />
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When I knew I was going to Philly, I got the tip to get in touch with Penn Jersey Roller Derby to try out the banked track. </div>
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So I did, and last night I went out to the PJRD warehouse to give the banked track a try.</div>
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First of all I have to say, that I don't think I have ever felt this welcome anywhere before. The ladies and gents from the Penn Jersey Roller Derby league were so nice and welcoming, it made me a lot less nervous. Cause yes, I was pretty nervous. :) </div>
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Before I came out to try the banked track Tara Armov all ready gave me a few pointers, and that made me feel better. As she basically told me to rely on my normal (derby) skating skills, staying low etc. And her tips helped, because they did make me less nervous. But when I actually climed onto the track, I just didn't know how to "start". The PJRD girls just encouraged me and I gave it a try. It was very strange at first. But after a minute or so I started to enjoy it. </div>
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Three of the PJRD teams; Sadistic Sweethearts, Dishonor Roll and the Hooligans (men's) were about to do some "light" scrimmage jams. As the girls were prepping for a bout this coming Saturday.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Sadisctic Sweethearts on the track</i></td></tr>
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I expected to sit out and watch while they were scrimmaging. But their coach "little Richard" (former old school roller derby skater) got me back on track. He explained how to skate the banked track. Then they put me on the team with the Hooligans and after watching a few jams they let me play some myself. </div>
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It was a strange and exciting experience. The first jam was like my very first jam on the flat track... It felt like complete chaos and I had no idea what was going on. </div>
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But as the jams went on it got a little less scary and weird to skate on the banked track and I could focus a little more on the game it self. </div>
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Although, that by it self was hard enough too, as the rules on the banked track are a lot different then on the flat track. There are a lot of different rule sets in the USA. Different rule sets for flat and banked track. And the ones that PJRD play by have some fun elements that seemed very forgein and weird to me. Like the fact that the pivot can become jammer as soon as the opposing jammer has passed her or him. That way the jammers are actually always racing. And the lead jammer, is just the jammer that is in lead. Another thing that is a lot different under the WFTDA rule set.</div>
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It was a lot fun to play these jams. The only thing I found very scary was to actually hit people. We are used to hitting a certain way on the flat track and it is just not the same on the banked track. I just felt like I would injure somebody if i would hit them normally. I think the gravity thing in combo with hitting on a banked track just freaked me a little. The other coach, former old school roller derby skater, Skip, explained me later how the hitting differs from hitting on the flat track. And it made more sense then. </div>
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It was a very fun and educational practice for me and I loved it. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A few of the Sadistic Sweethearts and their trophy</i></td></tr>
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Except for the girls and guys from PJRD being super welcoming at practice they also showed me around town in Philly. :)</div>
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General Tso Fine (The Hooligans) and his sister Misfortune Cookie (Sadistic Sweethearts), took me to a few bars and hooked me up with some awesome PJRD merchandise. And to top it all off they dropped me off at home safe and sound as well. :)</div>
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It really was a pleasure to join a practice with PJRD and hang out with some of them. Any European that's ever around Philly and wants to try out the banked track, make sure to contact PJRD!</div>
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Want a preview of their warehouse? Here are a few more pictures:</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The track</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>They have their own lockers, love that!</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>I don't care bear from the Hooligans is a H.O.S.S.A. fan. ;)</i></td></tr>
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- Furrrocious</div>
Furrrocioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15330727443636785973noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994496787172895272.post-41162330964286219222013-06-25T06:40:00.001-07:002013-06-27T14:51:00.234-07:00Party! Party! Party! BLOCK PARTY!Last night I was lucky enough to attend a Philly Rollergirls league practice.<br />
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First of all, coming from a little league in Europe it is pretty awesome when you get to skate with a league like the PRG. There are some really amazing skaters on PRG. Several of which play in a little team called team USA. </div>
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I'm sure that people who skate with such "derby famous" and just all round amazing skaters it might not be such a big deal. Cause I'm sure it becomes "normal" at some point. But again, coming from a league in a country that never heard about roller derby 4 years ago, it's a pretty big deal when you get to skate with people that have over 9 years experience. </div>
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When I arrived at practice I heard that they changed some stuff around and there would be 1 hour of drills and a 2 hour scrimmage. Normally they don't have visitors participate in scrimmages, but because this change was made last minute, they would make an exception.</div>
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I was super stoked and quite scared at the same time. But especially stoked! </div>
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I was glad to see some familiar faces when I was warming up. Damage Dahl visited the Amsterdam Derby Dames about 2 years ago. And it was good to see her again. </div>
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Also a new friend, Wendy Whiplash, was there and I was happy to see both of them. </div>
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The first hour of drills was ran by Diva, a very experienced skater, who also happens to skate for team USA. </div>
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It was great to work on backwards blocking for an hour. And I learned some new stuff that I'll be able to bring back to my league. </div>
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After the hour of drills the 30+ girls there split up in the three travel teams that PRG has; The Liberty Bells, Independence Dolls and Block Party. </div>
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I was able to join the Block Party. </div>
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All three teams scrimmage against each other, so by playing with the Block Party we were up against The Liberty Bells and the Independence Dolls. It was such a great experience to scrimmage against such experienced skaters. </div>
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Here I am on the line as a jammer. </div>
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I jammed several times and even got lead jammer once. :)</div>
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It was really fun to play with the Block Party, we rocked it. </div>
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Me and the Block Party.</div>
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I'm so grateful to get the change to skate with and against the Philly Roller Girls. It was a great experience. </div>
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I sure hope I get to skate with them again this weekend at ECDX. </div>
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Furrrocioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15330727443636785973noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994496787172895272.post-20182176664886510992013-05-24T07:52:00.002-07:002013-05-24T07:55:33.119-07:0024 straight hours of roller derby madness...Sometimes in life it happens that you come up with a crazy idea while talking to a team mate in a bus... And now here we are, turning our crazy ideas into reality. Today ADD announced that we will be hosting an actual 24 hour roller derby scrimmage marathon, or scrimmathon! :)<br />
There will be room for womens teams, mens teams, pick up scrimmages (female and co-ed) and challenge bouts (more info, scroll down). <br />
I'm just so stoked that this is happening. It makes me giddy, slightly nervous and hyperactive all at the same time. :)<br />
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Here is the press release from our league:<br />
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<i>Don’t you just wish to play roller derby all day long? Did you ever
wake up at 4am wanting to scrimmage? Well, hold on to your toe stops,
because it’s happening. On September 7th and 8th the Amsterdam Derby
Dames are hosting a 24hrs Scrimmathon! </i><br />
<i>And we are not just hosting this epic event for shits and giggles,
it’s serious business. In the first week(s) of September 2013, a group
of positive roller derby enthusiasts will be skating across The
Netherlands in an effort to end sex trafficking. They will try to
educate the public and raise awareness to all the people they meet.</i><br />
<i>This group reached out to all Dutch leagues asking them to organize
something to raise awareness and funds along their trip. Amsterdam being
a city where sex trafficking certainly is an issue, the Amsterdam
Derby Dames want to step up to the plate and do something extraordinary
to really get some attention for this great cause. For more
information about Sk8 The Netherlands check out their <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Sk8TheNetherlandsToEndSexTrafficking" target="_blank">Facebook page</a>. </i><br />
<i>When we got the dates for this trip we realized that in these weeks
the Amsterdam Derby Dames are also celebrating their 4 year anniversary.
All the more a reason to make this a memorable event. </i><br />
<i>An event of this magnitude needs a lot of bodies: skaters, refs and
NSOs are essential to keep the games going for 24 hours. We invite teams
to play, but we will be opening the event for individual skaters as
well, to partake in challenge bouts and pick-up scrimmages (girls only,
but also co-ed). That’s why we are asking you right now to <b>SAVE THE DATE!</b> You surely don’t want to miss this.</i><br />
<i>Registration for NSO-ing, refereeing, announcing and volunteering
opens up soon, and so will ticket sales for skaters. But for now, make
sure you mark those calendars for the 7th and 8th of September. </i></blockquote>
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For more info keep an eye out on our <a href="http://www.amsterdamderbydames.nl/" target="_blank">website</a>. <br />
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- Furrrocious Furrrocioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15330727443636785973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994496787172895272.post-79669239751938403502013-05-21T04:17:00.001-07:002013-05-23T16:29:08.676-07:00Communication and appreciationI like organizing small communities, groups of people, organizations and events. It's what I do as a social worker in community development every day, and I enjoy my work. <br />
When I got into derby, it took me a while to get "sucked" into the organizational part of the league. But I did and I enjoy it and have been enjoying it for the past (almost) 3 years. <br />
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When you are in a organization like a roller derby league, there are always people that have no idea what goes on organizational wise. And in a way that's okay, cause not everybody needs to know exactly what it takes to run your league. But it gets to be a problem when people start feeling unappreciated, taken for granted or just completely unnoticed. Everything that keeps your league rolling takes effort from somebody (or several somebodies) within your league. The hall you are skating in needs to be rented. The bills need to be paid. Posters need to be designed. Bouts need to be booked. Etc. etc.<br />
I know it's stating the obvious, but all those tasks take time, energy and effort. Some tasks are smaller, some are bigger. But non the less, they all need to be done.<br />
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Communication is another key word in any organization. Being able to talk to each other, ask questions or help and giving each other feedback. It's all a part of making sure an organization like a derby league can keep growing and evolving. </div>
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Again, this will feel like I'm stating the obvious. And in a way I am. But I see every day that groups of people (in communities or organizations) fail because of communication issues. </div>
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In roller derby we have to work with lots of different people. People with different characters, language barriers (we for instance have people from a lot of different countries) and many more differences that effect the communication between members and between committees. For instance if one of your members bark, this doesn't mean they will bite too. If one of your members is super shy, this doesn't mean they don't have valuable ideas to and cannot be the greatest asset to your leagues organization. </div>
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<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875);">In order for a roller derby league to work smoothly I believe you need to have a good system of supporting everybody in the league to rise to the best of their abilities. </span><br />
There is no one right way of organizing your league. There are several ways of doing it and to each their own. We have a system with a board, committees and heads of committees. <br />
It works for us, or it does right now. Cause you also cannot forget that what might work now, might not work in a year. And that's ok. You need to keep evolving and growing as an organization. <br />
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But one thing that will be the same everywhere is that people need to feel useful and appreciated. This is universal. I see it in my work every day. Volunteers that have a job welcoming people in the community center and giving people coffee, need to know that what they do is important. As it is. And a "pat on the back" goes a long way.</div>
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In a roller derby league, this is no different, if somebody does something for the league they need to know that what they do is important. <br />
I know that I, as president of our league, do not tell people this enough. But I hope that by writing this blog everybody from my league who read it, will know how important I think all of our members are.<br />
I will make it a point myself to tell people more often. As while writing this I do realize I really don't do it enough, and there are no excuses for that.</div>
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I want to end this blog with the following message:</div>
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Take care of your league. Invest in communication and in appreciating the members in your league and all the work they do. It's very important to do so, or at least I think it is. Cause nobody runs a league by themselves, it is, like playing roller derby, a team sport to run a league!</div>
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Furrrocioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15330727443636785973noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994496787172895272.post-46696424858366296262013-05-17T15:38:00.000-07:002013-05-17T15:38:31.937-07:00Back to Blog Its been a while... more then a while actually... its been over a year. <br />Two years ago I started in a masters program next to my full time job and derby. One of the things that I have let go because of it, was my blog.<br />
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<i><span style="font-size: large;">"Life gets in the way of Derby" </span></i></div>
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But now I am back! Cause well, I loved keeping track of my experiences in derby. And this blog helped me do that. So I will try to keep it up again. We will see how it goes...<br />
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For now I have been updating my pages, I have updated my page about myself, I have added a page about Men's Derby, and have updated the Dutch League page. Hope all the info on there is now correct.<br />
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I have also added a page that links to the website of a very awesome company, called Deadbolt Pads. I am currently a sponsored rider for the Deadbolt team, and very proud to be part of the team too. As their pads are the most comfortable pads I have had until now. And I have not had any issues with my knees since wearing them. Yes, I am totally spamming you right now. But anyways, go check em out.<br />
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I hope you'll enjoy my blog. Make sure to drop me a line in a comment or hit me up on facebook.<br />
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Derby love,<br />
<br />Furrrocious <br />
<br />Furrrocioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15330727443636785973noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994496787172895272.post-26360670524021682692012-02-24T04:55:00.001-08:002012-02-24T05:02:41.175-08:00I love it when a plan comes together...As most leagues that have been around for a while know is that it's not easy to organize a bout. Like winning a bout, it takes a team to make it into a success!<br />
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One day before our very first home bout and the first ever live Roller Derby bout in the Netherlands, I'm getting a happy kind of nervous and super freaking excited. As president of our league I cannot be anything more then so incredibly proud of our league and all the people involved making sure this is going to be an event of epic proportions to never forget.<br />
And to give all our girls the credit they deserve I want to dedicate this blog to all the members of our great league that have put so much effort in to this. <br />
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There is so much work that goes into planning and organizing a home bout. And in our league we have a committee structure, so all the different committees have been responsible for different tasks. <br />
If I look at how things went a year (or so) ago, there were only a handful of committees really active and functioning properly. If it would come down to organizing something it would usually come down to just a few people working their asses off.<u> This time this was not the case at all!</u><br />
All the different people in the committees have really taken on their tasks and made sure they were done they way that should be. <br />
Of course certain committees had a lot more work then others. But still the work load of the organization as a whole has really been spread out over all these different people of our great league. <br />
And this just makes this day before our big day so much more relaxed. <br />
Knowing that everything is taken care of. <br />
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They say it takes a village to raise a child. Well let me tell you, it takes a derby community to hold a bout! <br />
No less then 100 people are involved in some way to make sure that this bout will be a success. <br />
From skaters to Refs and NSO's. From Medics to Security. From Volunteers to Photographers. So many different people are involved. And we all know and realize we would not be able to play this great sport of ours without all these people. <br />
You can have 100 skaters if you want, but without an officials crew you can't have a bout. <br />
And without all our volunteers we as skaters would have to work the register, the merch table and all those other jobs and skate too. Which would be pretty stressful to say the least. <br />
I guess I don't just want to dedicate my blog today to all members of our league, but to EVERYBODY involved in making this happen. Without all of you there wouldn't be Roller Derby!<br />
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I cannot begin to state or name all the people that have been involved in working so hard to make this happen, because it's so many of us. But I can state a few things that I am very impressed with. <br />
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Our design committee.... Oh my gosh. They have worked miracles with everything that needed to be designed for the bout. Starting with our bout poster, which is just amazing. They took the theme and made sure it all comes together in every little aspect, from the passes for the volunteers to the decorations. In one word: Incredible. <br />
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The PR and communications committee worked really well together in making sure the world knows we are here and having this bout. On the website, Facebook and twitter we have been more then visable! And this was also due to all our members, friends and family reposting everything! Thanks for that. <br />
This past week they also showed it's not impossible to work the media to your benefit. On Tuesday night we were featured on national television at BNN - De week van filemon.<br />
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(<a href="http://www.uitzendinggemist.nl/afleveringen/1241161">View it here online</a> - starts around 14.55).<br />
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And on Thursday two of our members were featured on a radio show. <br />
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But also a very important (and a lot of times forgotten) committee like the finance committee has worked miracles. Keeping track of our budget and pre bout ticket sales. Don't forget all the work involved with the ticket sales... Lists that need checking and updating and making sure people that pay through bank accounts actually pay, and kicking their asses if they don't. A lot of work!! But it was worth it, because to top it off on Monday at midnight we closed our pre sale for the bout, with 425 tickets sold!! With 500 tickets available this is pretty impressive for our first hone bout. <br />
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As I said it's to much to name. So I won't go on. But I am just so proud of everybody! I can't even believe the day is almost there....I just love it when a plan comes together!!<br />
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- Furrrocious</div>Furrrocioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15330727443636785973noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994496787172895272.post-80673505440641846082012-02-12T11:34:00.000-08:002012-02-12T11:34:21.284-08:00Everybody can be a hero in Roller DerbyLike loads of us 'newer' derby girls, we'd seen <a href="http://www.foxsearchlight.com/whipit/" target="_blank">Whip it!</a> and got enthusiastic about the sport.<br />
The one message in Whip it! that stuck by me, is "You can be your own hero!".<br />
That message combined with the main character going from hardly being able to skate to be an actual Roller Derby girl was the reason that I thought "fuck it, maybe I can do this too! Maybe I can be my own hero.."<br />
When I started looking in to Roller Derby, I saw that girls from all shapes and sizes played this wonderful sport. For me that was the push I needed to think I could actually do this, or at least give it a shot!<br />
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When you start Roller Derby with absolutely no athletic background, its not easy. You find out you have muscles you have never used before, or let alone even knew excised. And its hard, at first, you will have ups and downs, moments where you think you will never get better.<br />
But the cool thing about derby is that that you have a team around you, to motivate you, to push you when you need it, and to hug you when you feel like you can't do it anymore.<br />
I have definitely struggled to get where I am now, and I am not even it the maximum of my abilities. I cried on the track out of pain and utter frustration, but in the end I kept going, because I have had amazing girls around me to support me when I needed it.<br />
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I am a big girl, and playing Roller Derby did not make me any smaller. I gained more muscles, got stronger, tighter and fitter, but no smaller, and no lighter either! In stead of feeling down about my size and weight I embraced the fact that my body type could be of use in this sport (just as any body type has its place in Roller Derby). I became proud of my body and all it brought to my skills in Roller Derby, so I made my number my weight, #105kg (230lbs) I found out that it wasn't just good for myself, but it also works as a great scare tactic! ;) <br />
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The reason I am writing this blog today is because about a week or so ago a saw this post on Facebook of a Nike commercial. I reposted it, because I loved the text that goes with it, I could have written that myself.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NrOD8DjrgQ4/TzgGn1dT0kI/AAAAAAAAAlU/d0UqZF3zIZ0/s1600/nike.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NrOD8DjrgQ4/TzgGn1dT0kI/AAAAAAAAAlU/d0UqZF3zIZ0/s320/nike.jpg" width="292" /></a></div>
<i>My BUTT is big</i><br />
<i>and round like a letter C</i><br />
<i>And ten thousand lunges </i><br />
<i>Has made it rounder</i><br />
<i>But not smaller</i><br />
<i>And thats just fine.</i><br />
<i>Its a space heater</i><br />
<i>For my side of the bed</i><br />
<i>It's my embassador</i><br />
<i>to those who walk behind me</i><br />
<i>Its a border collie</i><br />
<i>That herds skinny women</i><br />
<i>away from the best deals</i><br />
<i>at clothing sales</i><br />
<i>My butt is big and that's just fine</i><br />
<i>And those who might scorn it</i><br />
<i>Are invented to kiss it</i><br />
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The only thing was that the picture didn't fit for me...<br />
So I made a new one:<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mwQpoIXPwbQ/TzgHAaTQDkI/AAAAAAAAAlc/HBjribR2YL0/s1600/Nike+vs+Derby.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mwQpoIXPwbQ/TzgHAaTQDkI/AAAAAAAAAlc/HBjribR2YL0/s400/Nike+vs+Derby.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
I made this because I am proud of myself, especially when I am surrounded by Derby people. They give me the feeling that it's okay to be me and that I have a body I can be proud of. Something society does not tell you with the commercials we see everyday. I deal with trying to fit in to jeans all the time, because my body type is not standard (not in Holland anyways) and because clothing designers and store focus on the small sizes instead of bigger ones.<br />
I felt like showing the world that having an actual big butt is something I can be proud off. As a Roller Derby girl and as a woman.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RtMs0qshJRg/TzgKovoJCtI/AAAAAAAAAlk/8tUowtl1wus/s1600/sreenshot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RtMs0qshJRg/TzgKovoJCtI/AAAAAAAAAlk/8tUowtl1wus/s200/sreenshot.jpg" width="200" /></a>I was hoping people would like it as much as I did myself but little did I know people would like it so much that they would share this with their friends. No less then 79 people liked my picture, that alone is pretty insane! <br />But then it started to get shared by different people. Even people I didn't know.<br />
It also got shared by a league called Stone Cold Foxes Roller Derby from Junction City KS, and their founder and coach <a href="http://www.facebook.com/FlukeSkywalker/posts/10150778242574972?ref=notif&notif_t=feed_comment_reply#%21/JerseyVicious77?sk=wall" target="_blank">Jersey Vicious </a>re-posted it, with a messaged that I related to very well, she pretty much grasped the idea of it the whole picture:<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-V_QY8jD8P64/TzgMp60yeaI/AAAAAAAAAls/EWQ5yvovRok/s1600/jersey+vicious.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-V_QY8jD8P64/TzgMp60yeaI/AAAAAAAAAls/EWQ5yvovRok/s1600/jersey+vicious.jpg" /></a></div>
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The fact that she called me one of her "derby heroes" was very touching. I can't believe anybody would see me as a hero at all. And it is in no way my goal to be anybodies hero, derby or otherwise.<br />
So I wrote this, because even though I don't have to be a hero, I love to share my story in which I am my own Roller Derby hero and let everybody know that we can all be our own heroes! I have come a long way from stumbling and falling over on skates, to playing bouts and having the best time in my life with this sport.<br />
So put on those skates and work hard, because you can be your own hero!!<br />
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- Furrrocious <br />
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<br />Furrrocioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15330727443636785973noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994496787172895272.post-88041320647805030792012-02-11T14:46:00.000-08:002012-02-11T14:46:15.370-08:00Back on track...Holymoly its been a while since my last blog! <br />
It's bad but the blog has just not been on my priority list with everything going on.<br />
However I am back now, and I will try to get back on track with blogging.<br />
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So much has happened since my last blog. I will do my best to update you a little.<br />
<br /><b>ADD's Monthly Mixed Scrimmages</b><br />
The Amsterdam Derby Dames have started organizing monthly mixed scrimmage open to all. The first few weren't that crowed, but they have turned out to be super busy and successful! The last two mixed scrimmages there were at least 7/8 different leagues present from all over Holland. <br />
It's been a great experience to skate with all of these different skaters from all these different leagues. You learn so much from skating with different people. I think it has also been a very good learning experience for all the different Dutch Leagues. We, as a country, are so new to Roller Derby and all the leagues are dealing with not always having enough players to scrimmage. These monthly scrimmages give everybody a chance to scrimmage on a full size track with a full officials crew. <br />
Which is another reason why these monthly scrimmages are so amazing. The officials get an opportunity to practice reffing and nso'ing at a full scrimmage. As some refs skate for leagues that don't have weekly scrimmages. So they don't always get the chance to practice. This way everybody wins! <br />
Here are a few pictures of the mixed scrimmages we've had.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pwNQ50VOkPg/TzbTru4WRPI/AAAAAAAAAg4/6UAqJ0Mk5Rk/s1600/ADD+mixed+scrimmage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pwNQ50VOkPg/TzbTru4WRPI/AAAAAAAAAg4/6UAqJ0Mk5Rk/s400/ADD+mixed+scrimmage.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mixed scrimmage 7-1-2012 (picture by Kees Rijken)</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kljTHwJsR_M/TzbU16gfsNI/AAAAAAAAAhA/-MdEF7HqQqw/s1600/captains.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kljTHwJsR_M/TzbU16gfsNI/AAAAAAAAAhA/-MdEF7HqQqw/s320/captains.jpg" width="213" /> </a></td><td style="text-align: center;"></td><td style="text-align: center;"></td><td style="text-align: center;"></td><td style="text-align: center;"></td><td style="text-align: center;"></td><td style="text-align: center;"></td><td style="text-align: center;"></td><td style="text-align: center;"></td><td style="text-align: center;"></td><td style="text-align: center;"></td><td style="text-align: center;"></td><td style="text-align: center;"></td><td style="text-align: center;"></td><td style="text-align: center;"></td><td style="text-align: center;"></td><td style="text-align: center;"></td><td style="text-align: center;"></td><td style="text-align: center;"></td><td style="text-align: center;"></td><td style="text-align: center;"></td><td style="text-align: center;"></td><td style="text-align: center;"></td><td style="text-align: center;"></td><td style="text-align: center;"></td><td style="text-align: center;"></td><td style="text-align: center;"></td><td style="text-align: center;"></td><td style="text-align: center;"></td><td style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Captains talking (Picture by Wolf Schouten)</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LYV3vsG8dDM/TzbV0sN0KSI/AAAAAAAAAhQ/uGJU2UfsnKw/s1600/open_scrimmage_add_apollohal_04-02-12_0019.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LYV3vsG8dDM/TzbV0sN0KSI/AAAAAAAAAhQ/uGJU2UfsnKw/s320/open_scrimmage_add_apollohal_04-02-12_0019.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Team Black mixed scrimmage 4-2-2012 (picture by Dennis Stempher)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wuf0zyOgWZE/TzbVPETpR4I/AAAAAAAAAhI/_YOL1PsEKC0/s1600/scrimmage3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wuf0zyOgWZE/TzbVPETpR4I/AAAAAAAAAhI/_YOL1PsEKC0/s320/scrimmage3.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Megabyte going for Vegan! (picture by Wolf Schouten)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vqu11C_kI70/Tzba-HDh7OI/AAAAAAAAAhg/zg3m3cTKeU0/s1600/I+heart+derby.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vqu11C_kI70/Tzba-HDh7OI/AAAAAAAAAhg/zg3m3cTKeU0/s320/I+heart+derby.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our girl Jamakaze had the best Derby bruise ever! </td></tr>
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<b>Cork City Firebirds vs Amsterdam Derby Dames</b><br />
So after our first amazing bout against the Devil Dolls Essen, we played our second bout against the Cork City Firebirds in Cork, Ireland. Oh my...how can I explain how freaking awesome it was... It was mind blowing! First of all to pick up 16 derby girls and putting them in a plane, is pretty much an experience all together. :p We did a ref dance in the boarding area, but except for that I guess we behaved pretty well! <br />Unfortunately when we arrived in Cork my bag wasn't there. Luckily I brought my skates and all my gear except my helmet and knee gaskets on the plain with me. So when we got to Cork I had to go shopping for a bout outfit (which was also in my bag that they conveniently left in A'dam) and some knee gaskets. I could luckily borrow a helmet from the Firebirds. <br />The bout it self was amazing! It was super exciting and there was not one dull moment. We didn't know much about CCF before we played them, as they play in Ireland, it wasn't like we had been able to skate together before. This was a very new and exciting experience. We lost with a pretty big loss. But we kept fighting till the end and to be honest I didn't realize we were as behind as we were cause the game was so exciting!!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kRSEXD5XDtc/TzbaivrSi7I/AAAAAAAAAhY/To9JMhf3zOI/s1600/cork.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kRSEXD5XDtc/TzbaivrSi7I/AAAAAAAAAhY/To9JMhf3zOI/s400/cork.jpg" width="291" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Poster of the bout</td></tr>
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<br />The Cork ladies were the greatest hosts. They made sure were taken care off and all had the sweeties hosts to stay with. At the after party the girls introduced us to Thigh Wrestling and I LOVED that!! I pretty much kicked everybody's ass at thigh wrestling, so I had a great sense of accomplishment at the end of the day! :p <br />I also got voted best blocker by the Cork girls, which made me feel very special! Especially because I know we have a lot of amazing blockers and I wouldn't say I am the best one. But the other team decides. So I'll take the complement. :)<br />
Here are some pictures of our Cork adventure:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uZUV0PFG3sQ/Tzbdr4O5CQI/AAAAAAAAAho/Nd-Hyb7RSZw/s1600/Cork+skate+out.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uZUV0PFG3sQ/Tzbdr4O5CQI/AAAAAAAAAho/Nd-Hyb7RSZw/s400/Cork+skate+out.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Skate out <br /><span class="fbPhotoCaptionText">Photography by Marcin Lewandowski at soundofphotography.com</span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="fbPhotoCaptionText"> </span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="fbPhotoCaptionText"> </span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="fbPhotoCaptionText"> </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SaA5tEPp61Q/Tzbd80WZ4sI/AAAAAAAAAhw/cCAARkrS_Ac/s1600/Lola+Bench+cork.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SaA5tEPp61Q/Tzbd80WZ4sI/AAAAAAAAAhw/cCAARkrS_Ac/s320/Lola+Bench+cork.jpg" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My wonderful derby wifey was our Bench Coach <br /><span class="fbPhotoCaptionText">Photography by Marcin Lewandowski at soundofphotography.com</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h1M_uZZX15M/TzbeI3HAJuI/AAAAAAAAAh4/upTSuLsq5ig/s1600/Vix+cork.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h1M_uZZX15M/TzbeI3HAJuI/AAAAAAAAAh4/upTSuLsq5ig/s400/Vix+cork.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Vix rocking as Jammer<br /><span class="fbPhotoCaptionText">Photography by Marcin Lewandowski at soundofphotography.com</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zRKRfdlG2RE/TzbeWDp9K4I/AAAAAAAAAiA/lPF_5qzzJ84/s1600/Furr+and+Crow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zRKRfdlG2RE/TzbeWDp9K4I/AAAAAAAAAiA/lPF_5qzzJ84/s400/Furr+and+Crow.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me and Crow Jane right after the Bout! <3 <br /><span class="fbPhotoCaptionText">Photography by Marcin Lewandowski at soundofphotography.com</span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="fbPhotoCaptionText"> </span></td></tr>
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<b>Derby hurts...</b><br />
If you have been following me on my blog for a while you will know I have been hurting a lot while skating. Well they finally found out what the problem was.<b> </b>After more then two years of 'not knowing' they finally figured it out: <a href="http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/leg_injuries/a/leg3.htm" target="_blank">Chronic Compartment Syndrome. </a><br />
I could try and explain it in my own words, but this website does a great job:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>a tough tissued called a fascia surrounds the different muscle groups.
This fascia is a small compartment that holds the muscles, blood vessels
and nerves. It has limited flexibility so if the muscle swells beyond
the fascia's ability to stretch it puts pressure is felt on the nerves
and blood vessels in the small space. If swelling continues blood flow
to the muscles will decrease, nerves get compressed and it can cause
numbness or tingling in the feet and lower legs.
</i></blockquote>
So basically this is what had been causing me all this pain. And kept me from skating to my full potential.<br />
In December I finally got tested for it, which they do by letting you run and then poke needles in to your muscles, very enjoyable...let me tell you...<br />
But it turned out the pressure values were very high, and therefore and operation would probably be useful.<br />
On the 17th of January it was my turn. I got operated on both the side of my leg and the front on both legs.<br />
It looked pretty horrible at first when they were done.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0no8fLTiX-I/TzbkJcIoQhI/AAAAAAAAAiI/knwcyJu03O0/s1600/legs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0no8fLTiX-I/TzbkJcIoQhI/AAAAAAAAAiI/knwcyJu03O0/s400/legs.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In the hospital after my surgery</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Right after my surgery I had to start walking, to make sure the fascia wouldn't stick back together. <br />It was really painful at first, and I was so incredibly slow. The day after my surgery I had to start a training schedule that they normally give to Military people who have this surgery. <br />It basically said I had to walk three times a day for 30 min for four weeks, and then start a running schedule were I will be running 3 times a day for 30 min. I am starting running this Tuesday. I have not ran for more then to catch a train or something since High School, so I am not looking forward to it. But my friend Asa Spades will be coming over tomorrow to show me how its done. We will see how it goes....<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GqiH2OY5gFs/TzblSmg2M7I/AAAAAAAAAiQ/giKjVq0WwF0/s1600/legs2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GqiH2OY5gFs/TzblSmg2M7I/AAAAAAAAAiQ/giKjVq0WwF0/s200/legs2.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZwAh3cXQB8s/TzblTmTjKbI/AAAAAAAAAiY/ye9y3BOoXsY/s1600/legs3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZwAh3cXQB8s/TzblTmTjKbI/AAAAAAAAAiY/ye9y3BOoXsY/s200/legs3.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<br /> This is what the wounds looked like after a few days. It was very tricky for me though, as the wounds on the outside were so small, but the incisions they made on the inside were over the whole length of my lower leg, on two sides! But because the outside was so small I couldnt always understand why I would hurt so much all over. :p<br />
Luckily I have had a great surgeon who was very helpful in answering my questions when I had them.<br />
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After only 2,5 weeks I was back on skates and skated a scrimmage with NO PAIN!!! It was amazing!! <br />I think I might have been almost as excited as I was when I played our first bout. <br />
I even jammed and got Lead Jammer, and I called it scoring three points before the other jammer could score any. I was so proud of myself. Before my surgery I wasnt able to keep up with the intense skating that comes with Jamming. And all though I am no where near a great jammer, I would love to keep trying and maybe one day I'll get good at it!<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GDMH3Y92PZs/Tzbm9igWiXI/AAAAAAAAAig/VjxgsTcmwOk/s1600/lead.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GDMH3Y92PZs/Tzbm9igWiXI/AAAAAAAAAig/VjxgsTcmwOk/s400/lead.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Getting lead jammer is the best feeling in the world!! :) (picture by Branko Colin) </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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I am one of the lucky ones though... I realize this every day. Being able to be back on skates after a surgery in such a short time is amazing.<br />
My wifey Lola Rock 'n' Rolla has been injured since the bout in August. She finally found out what it was months later, that she has ripped her <span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps">posterior cruciate ligament and they will have to operate on it. They will take a piece of something (cant remember what...) from her upper leg and make a new ligament for her knee. Which is a really intense surgery, she wont be able to walk for a long time, then will have to learn how to walk again and she wont be able to skate for 9-12 months. When you are as derby crazed as Lola is, and working your ass off for two and half years, this is pretty much hell. But then again, when she gets back on her skates I know she will kick some ass!! And in the mean time we will make sure to train her for our bench team so she will still be part of the amazing team of ours. </span></span><br />
<span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps"><br /></span></span><br />
<span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps">Another one of our skaters got injured, Nasty Moves, while playing a mixed scrimmage with merby players at a One Love Roller Dolls Bootcamp. She has broken her leg, and wont be skating for a while either. </span></span><br />
<span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps">She needed to get surgery too. Her recovery time wont be as crazy as Lola's, but it still blows when you have to keep your leg up all the time and can't hardly walk. </span></span><br />
<span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps">ADD has had some surgery filled months in the beginning of this year. <br />January: Me February: Nasty March: Lola </span></span><br />
<span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps">Boy oh boy, it better not be a trend for this year...</span></span><br />
<span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps"><br /></span></span><br />
<span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps"><br /></span></span><br />
<span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps"><b>First home bout (ADD vs RGA) </b></span></span><br />
<span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps">But there are also up sides on Derby for ADD. We will be playing our very first home bout, and the very first Roller Derby bout in Holland, on the 25th of February. </span></span><br />
<span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps">We are so freaking excited about this!! We will be playing against the lovely Roller Girls of the Apocalypse (Kaiserslautern, Germany). </span></span><span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps"> </span></span><span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps"> </span></span><br />
<span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps"><b> </b>Our locations committee found an amazing hall, the Apollo Hall in Amsterdam, its a hall mostly used for basketball, and is four basketball fields long and has a wooden floor. Amazing... </span></span><br />
<span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps">It did however cause some concern, when we test the floor we noticed our pads were leaving some serious markings. Luckily we were able to put together a group of our girls for a temp sewing committee that tested different fabrics until they found the right one to use. And then made covers for all of us. Awesomeness! Thanks to Minnie Misschief, Red Peril and all others that helped put this together! </span></span><span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps"></span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_bXCar_juMg/TzbtFYYZcfI/AAAAAAAAAio/B6nSzxaMj3U/s1600/covers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_bXCar_juMg/TzbtFYYZcfI/AAAAAAAAAio/B6nSzxaMj3U/s320/covers.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our crew at work with the covers. (picture by Dennis Stempher)</td></tr>
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<span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps"><br />It's so great to see the whole league pull together to put this home bout together and pull this off. We have one coordinator Vix Vendetta making sure all the committees are doing what they should be doing. And our head ref Belle Anger is pulling together the officials crew for the bout. <br />I am so very proud of all our girls putting the time and energy in to make this all work. And so very happy with all the officials coming in to make sure this will be a fair and awesome bout. They will be coming from as far as Malmo Sweden! That's pretty amazing!! </span></span><br />
<span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps"><br /></span></span><br />
<span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps">So on <b>Saturday the 25th of February 2012 at 17.00</b> I hope to see you all at the Apollohal in Amsterdam for Hollands first ever live Roller Derby Bout. </span></span><br />
<span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps">You can get your tickets on our <a href="http://www.amsterdamderbydames.nl/" target="_blank">website</a>. Let us know you will be coming on our <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/319448454762330/" target="_blank">FB event</a>. </span></span><br />
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<span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps"><b><span style="font-size: large;">AmsterBAM!!</span></b> </span></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qSPFXD91W_M/TzbuqN7i-JI/AAAAAAAAAiw/6cRtDun1On0/s1600/Poster+Bout.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qSPFXD91W_M/TzbuqN7i-JI/AAAAAAAAAiw/6cRtDun1On0/s640/Poster+Bout.jpg" width="451" /></a></div>
<span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps"><br /></span></span><br />
<span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps">I cannot wait to finally be able to show all my friends and family what I have been working for all this time. Of course we all ready played before. But not in Holland. So only my brother and my mom have been able to watch me play. </span></span><br />
<span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps">I hope everybody will be able to make it out and watch and cheer for us!! </span></span><br />
<span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps"><br /></span></span><br />
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That's all for now!<br />
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<br />- Furrrocious<br />
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<br />Furrrocioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15330727443636785973noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994496787172895272.post-62170326396181839132011-08-19T10:20:00.000-07:002011-08-19T10:20:32.926-07:00WOW!!!!! First bout madnessIt took me a while to get my thoughts together and start writing this blog. Because to be honest the feeling I had last Saturday was incredibly overwhelming, to say the least....<br />
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<b>Saturday 13th of August 2011 </b><br />
The day the first team of the Amsterdam Derby Dames played their very first bout!<br />
10 am the ADD gathered around at a train station in Amsterdam to travel together by a large coach bus to Essen, Germany. Where we would play our first bout against the Devil Dolls Essen (Ruhrpott Roller Girls).<br />
The bus ride over was fun, some of us were nervous, but mostly everybody was just very excited!!<br />
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It's hard to explain, but most of us have been working over a year to get to this point. And the feeling of finally making it there.... is just indescribable.<br />
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After the three hour drive (with a little detour here and there...) we made is to the Eisssporthalle in Essen.<br />
When we got there Ruhrpott Roller Girls where working hard on getting the place in order for the bout, setting up the dressing rooms, laying the track, etc. They did a great job in getting the place ready for a great night.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uA6G_lYTLI4/Tk5chrTmdSI/AAAAAAAAAdw/BkvrcHg7dXk/s1600/Party+bus+blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="196" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uA6G_lYTLI4/Tk5chrTmdSI/AAAAAAAAAdw/BkvrcHg7dXk/s320/Party+bus+blog.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Supporters bus!! - Picture by Grumpy Crump</td></tr>
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Around 5 the bus arrived with our very own supporters showed up! Girls from our own league, friends from our girls and people from several other leagues took the bus we arranged and came to support us.<br />
Other people came by car, and all with all, there were people from 8 other Dutch Roller Derby leagues, and a whole bunch of friends and family to cheer us on! My brother and mother also made the drive out, and it was great to see them there.<br />
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We warmed up together and got to get used to the floor, which of course we never skated on before.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rEi29r7GLnI/Tk5af_lfHLI/AAAAAAAAAds/GcnDGshbk1c/s1600/Warm+up+bout+me+and+kim+blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="270" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rEi29r7GLnI/Tk5af_lfHLI/AAAAAAAAAds/GcnDGshbk1c/s400/Warm+up+bout+me+and+kim+blog.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Warm up with Kim Wilde - Picture by Blauwe Bil </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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The floor was great, my new skates felt good, my ankles weren't hurting, and my broken little toe wasn't bothering me while skating. So I felt as ready as I ever would for our very first bout.<br />
Although everybody seemed excited and the team spirit was definitely there, I think we all were starting to feel the pre-bout jitters right before we had to skate out.<br />
For the team skate out we picked a really cool song. Unfortunately we couldn't really hear it at all... We also couldn't really hear Puppi (announcer for the Rotterdam Death Row Honeys) call out our names, luckily she was awesome enough to run with us and call out our names, so we knew it was out time to show our selves :)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BizGuyUHp8Y/Tk5eTUuMC8I/AAAAAAAAAd0/D3jOEdYhX3k/s1600/blog+skate+out.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="216" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BizGuyUHp8Y/Tk5eTUuMC8I/AAAAAAAAAd0/D3jOEdYhX3k/s320/blog+skate+out.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Puppi running with us - picture by Kristian Sunder</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-t6bmTW1tuEE/Tk5fWKWk7sI/AAAAAAAAAd8/EbalOFy9KhQ/s1600/skate+out+blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="216" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-t6bmTW1tuEE/Tk5fWKWk7sI/AAAAAAAAAd8/EbalOFy9KhQ/s320/skate+out+blog.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Acting all cool! :p - Picture by Blauwe Bil</td></tr>
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I was crazy, our skate out wasn't necessarily very spectacular or anything, with the music not being heard and all. But having the crowd going wild when we did something as little as skate out, was amazing! It filled me up with the warm fuzzy exciting feeling that I guess is so very normal for your first bout! :)<br />
It was just great. When we were taking a knee for the Devil Dolls Skate out, I saw my wifey's friends in the stands holding up 'Lola' signs and then I saw it, my mom and my brother holding up a banner, just for me! It was so great to see all this support, by our friends and family and our derby friends from all these other Dutch leagues.<br />
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We started the bout with our 'power line', which consisted of me, Abs of Steel, San Solo, Monstah Megs, Vegan Vengeance (jammer). <br />
I was in the penalty box before I could say "Roller Derby", which to be honest bummed me out more then you can imagine. But when I got back into the game I played the best I could, we ALL did!<br />
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I did a several things I am proud of, like hits or certain strategies that worked out, and the feeling of pulling of a great legal hit or having your line pull off a strategy is just the greatest feeling in the world. I would come back to the bench after the jam just completely SICKED!!! :)<br />
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The emotions also ran high on the bench, sometimes by frustration (luckily not because of people getting badly hurt), but also because of crazy exciting jams, like Armorkillo's 38 point jam!!! <br />
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The bout was amazing... I have no idea how to describe it... there was action, strategic, great hits and blocks and fast jammers...<br />
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It was simply amazing! So I will just post some pictures here, so you can see for your self how great it was.<br />
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<a href="http://www.kizoa.com/slideshow/d1899195k4456136o2/dd-vs-add"><b>DD vs ADD</b></a> - <i><a href="http://www.kizoa.com/">Slideshow Creator</a></i></div>
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<i>Pictures in the slide show are made by Kristian Sunder (black and white pictures), Blauwe Bil (color pictures) and Grumpy Crump (color pictures). Thanks to all three! </i><br />
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After the final whistle blew, ADD blew up too! We were all so happy, proud and ecstatic!!! We did it!! And we didn't suck (yeah, that's for you Eliza ;)<br />
We worked our asses off for the passed two years and it showed off!<br />
The feeling I had at that very moment, I will never forget....<br />
And therefore I would like to take this opportunity to thank some people, who, without them, we wouldn't have made it this far.<br />
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First of all I would like to thank the founder of ADD and of Dutch Roller Derby; <b>Limpin' Lily</b>. Without you, there would be no ADD. And therefore we are all in debt to you for eternity. But next to that, I also would like to thank you for all the blood, sweat and tears you have put into making this happen, taking your dream and making it into reality. I personally would like to thank you for letting my cry out on your shoulder every time I was hurting or frustrated, and for being in the board together and making stuff happen. And finally for being the great person you are, you ROCK!!!<br />
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Second, I would like to thank our coach <b>Hurricane Hayles</b>. Since you have joined ADD we have improved so much! You have a way of motivating us to push ourselves to the very best we can! And I would like to thank you for that. Also I cannot wait for you to give birth to that baby so we can finally skate together!!!<br />
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<b>San Solo</b>, 'captain oh captain', you've done a great job in leading this team to our own personal victory, to do the best we can!! And we did, we worked hard and kicked ass, thanks to you!!!<br />
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There are a lot more people I would like to thank, but if I write it all down, you will all stop reading, cause it's just to many people, so I am just going to list them, and make it easy for all of you! :)<br />
<b>Lola Rock 'n' Rolla </b>(love you wifey!)<b>, Vegan Vengeance, Eliza Do-damage, Armorkillo, Sweet 'n' Sinister, Dirty Job, Mayatollah, Abs of Steel, Monstah Megs, Nasty Moves, Kim Wilde, Minnie Mischief, Nina, Crumpy Grump, Fembot 3000, Jamakaze, Irizzz, Cherry Poppins</b> and all the other great <b>ADD members</b>, <b>ChefX, DI Die</b>, and the rest of the <b>Devil Dolls Essen</b>, <b>Major Madness, Riff Reff, Crank Skice, Pixie Spankalot </b>and the rest of the great <b>ref crew</b> and all the <b>NSO's</b>!<br />
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Okay, I'll stop now :) I just cannot show enough of my gratitude. It takes so much more then 14 players on two teams to play a bout.... Roller Derby is so much more then just girls in cute outfits skating around. It's a group effort of amazing dedicated, slightly crazy, wonderful people! And I am so happy to be a part of this.<br />
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- Furrrocious<br />
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<br />Furrrocioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15330727443636785973noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994496787172895272.post-15282629077012937422011-08-12T14:48:00.000-07:002011-08-12T14:49:17.603-07:00The night before I am on my way to play.....<div style="color: white;">
It's weird, I started this blog to keep track of my experiences of being on my way of becoming a Roller Derby girl. Of being <i>on my way to play</i>!</div>
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So now is the time! Tomorrow is my very first official Roller Derby bout!! How crazy is that?</div>
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Worked so hard for the passed year and 8 months.</div>
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Lets go back in time.....</div>
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On Friday night January 9th 2010 at 02:29 in the morning after seeing Whip it! for the first time I wrote this email: </div>
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<i>Hey Dames!!<br />Ik ben zo blij dat ik jullie gevonden heb!! Sinds ik
in 2007 een Roller Derby Wedstrijd heb meegemaakt in Amerika ben ik
opzoek geweest naar groepen in Nederland, en nu zie ik dat jullie er
zijn! YEAH!!! <br />
Ik zou heel graag mee willen doen, maaaaar..... ik heb eeuwen niet meer
op rolschaatsen gestaan, ben redelijk stevig (weet dat dat ook een
voordeel kan zijn in rollerderby! <img alt=";-)" border="0" src="http://cache.hyves-static.net/images/smilies/default/smiley_knipoog.gif" title=";-)" /> ) En ja, fuck, geen echte excuses dus... behalve dat ik het nog niet kan dan! <img alt=":-p" border="0" src="http://cache.hyves-static.net/images/smilies/default/smiley_tong2.gif" title=":-p" /></i> <i><br />
But I am willing to learn! <br />Dus zijn jullie nog opzoek, naar onhandige, onervaren roller derby girlz? <br />Ik hoor het wel! <br />Groetjes uit Utrecht!<br />Jennifer</i></div>
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<i>Hey Dames!!</i></div>
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<i>So happy I found you!! After I'd seen a Roller Derby bout in 2007 in the USA I've been looking for groups in Holland, and now I see you are here! YEAH!!</i></div>
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<i>I would love to join you, butttt....I haven't been on skates in ages, and I am pretty big (even though I know that can also be an advantadge in Roller Derby!). So yeah, fuck, no real excuses I guess...except that I don't know how to play!</i></div>
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But I am willing to learn! <br />So are you still looking for, clumsy, in-experienced derby girlz? </i></div>
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<i>Let me know! </i></div>
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<i>Kind regards from Utrecht!<br />Jennifer</i></div>
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Limpin' Lily, our proud founder, emailed back the next day, and that monday I was on skates again for the first time in years. </div>
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I stumbled and fell, but all and all I was excited about skating again. Learned my first falls that night. </div>
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And I guess that night the derby bug was planted. </div>
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Cause I haven't stopped. </div>
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I wasn't really involved in the beginning. It took a while for me to understand that this bug was going to take over my life. ;)</div>
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After about 7/8 months I started skating with the Dom City Dolls once a week and twice a week with ADD. My life was all of a sudden all about Derby! And I was loving it. </div>
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Before I knew it I was involved all the way, and I was voted in as president of our league. </div>
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I know that people who don't play derby simply can not understand how this sport can take over your life... and to be honest I don't know if I can explain it. </div>
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Is it worth all the time, blood, sweat and tears? I think so. And I think thousands of derby girls and boys will agree with me. Can I explain it? I guess not. </div>
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What I can say, is that I think it's worth it because, I am enjoying the work out, loving being part of a great team, crazy about my derby sisters and brothers, traveling the world for derby, road trips, great friends, I love it all!!! And it makes every single tear, drop of sweat and pain I feel worth it. Because nothing can beat this feeling I have now, the night before I will finally play! </div>
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<b><i>On my way to play (Roller Derby)....</i></b></div>
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1 year, 8 months and 1 day after I rolled on skates for that first time, I will be playing a real official Roller Derby bout!</div>
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I would like to give a special shout out to everybody who helped me get here! There are to many to name, but you know who you are and I love you all!!! </div>
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Furrrocioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15330727443636785973noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994496787172895272.post-78467510426377074642011-07-29T11:32:00.001-07:002011-07-29T11:32:31.623-07:00Working through the frustration<b>RollerCon: day 2</b><br /><br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=11/07/29/2499.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/11/07/29/s_2499.jpg' border='0' width='281' height='210' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br />After the bit of partying I did on the first day of RollerCon. Day two didn't start out all to early...<br /><br />The first thing I did was meet up with Jennifer from Fast Girl Skates to meet about upgrading my skates, with a better and more durable plate. Being a big girl, at 105kg, my nylon plate is not made for me. Unfortunately the plate I want to get is not available at RollerCon, but luckily Jennifer has it at her store in Seattle. So she will take my skates Sunday, mount the new plates and send them to my family in Texas, so I'll still be able to take them with me next week.<br />I love Fast Girl Skates, they are not only helping you to get what fits you best, but they want to educate you on your skates and everything there is to know about wheels, bearings, plates, etc. And for me that is great. Cause to be honest, I don't know anything about skates. I mean I know more then I did when I started. But there is so much I didn't know yet. <br /><br />After that I woke up looking at different challenge bouts. And oh my gosh it's so good to watch these talented skaters play!! <br />We still have a long way to go. But in such a positive way, we can only get better! And we have a goal to aim for too. It's inspiring to be here. <br /><br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=11/07/29/2500.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/11/07/29/s_2500.jpg' border='0' width='281' height='210' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br />After I woke up watching those games and getting inspired, I was ready to take a class again. And I went to an international class by Trish the Dish. International classes at RollerCon are totally amazing by the way, the have one each day, where people with an international passport and people from Hawaii and Alaska get in before anybody else. Which is pretty awesome. <br />Anyways, the class was all about hitting and timing and working together and positioning yourself in a pack. <br />Trish the Dish is pretty fucking amazing. And I was happy I decided to go to her class. <br />Unfortunately the thing I've been afraid of before I came here happened. My ankles played up again. Within ten minutes my ankles were hurting so bad I had to stop. I am still officially not sure what it is. But it might be shin splints, but then on the sides of my legs, mostly at the ankles height. One of the worst things about this pain is that you never know when it will come. Cause I skated all day Monday, with in total maybe 5 min of pain, and I was able to continue after that. <br />This time I wasn't that lucky... Asa Spades was there as an EMT and helped me stretching both my legs. Which usually helps. And it did for a little bit, so I went back in but with in 5 min I had to stop again. <br />I cried... I get so frustrated when my body doesn't want to work with my mind wants it to do. <br />As I see it we have several stages to work through while <i>on our way to play Roller Derby</i> and for some these stages might not apply as much as for others. But they are there for all. <br />We have to work through getting fit, roller derby is much more of an athletic sport then people think or realize. And getting your body to be able to deal with all the hard work and training is especially hard for people with no athletic background.<br />Then working through frustration... This happens in so many levels. Getting frustrated with yourself for not being the best player you want to and can be. Getting frustrated with your body, pain and injuries... <br />It's a lot to deal with. <br /><br />After I decided it might be better to take it easy and not skate the rest of the day (which isn't an easy decision to make...) I enjoyed the rest of the day by watching the rest of that class (which was absolutely amazing. Learned lots. Fun new drills Hayles!!), watching bouts and scrimmages. <br />Also I did lots of talking again! :) <br />I met so many great people!!<br /><br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=11/07/29/2501.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/11/07/29/s_2501.jpg' border='0' width='210' height='281' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br />Fisty and ChefX inline for the black and white scrimmage.<br /><br /><br />At night there are so many things going on at the same time. There was a pajama party from Riedell. Which I missed cause I was at the scrimmage. There was an 80 dance party, which wasn't really my thing. And then the pool is open 24hr a day especially for RollerCon. <br />I ended up at the pool, and hung out with our delegation from Gent, Rotterdam, Essen and Berlin!<br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=11/07/29/2502.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/11/07/29/s_2502.jpg' border='0' width='210' height='281' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br />Whipping red siren won this great Riedell skate bag at the pajama party.<br /><br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=11/07/29/2503.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/11/07/29/s_2503.jpg' border='0' width='281' height='210' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br />I skate Europe!! :)<br /><br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=11/07/29/2504.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/11/07/29/s_2504.jpg' border='0' width='281' height='210' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br />Pool party!! <br /><br /><br />Of course we had way to much fun in the pool. A small group of about 15 people ended up playing in the pool with a ball (yeah, we might not like a ball on our track, but we sure like it in our pools! :p ) for hours. Never thought playing with a ball could be that entertaining for that long. :)<br /><br />It was a great night. And I am sure the black and blue ball next to the pool will be amazing too! :)<br /><br />Now I am off to see an EMT cause I got a skate on the inside of my ankle Wednesday and it really kind of hurts.... Let's just hope I'll be able to skate today....<br /><br /><br />- Furrrocious <br />Furrrocioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15330727443636785973noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994496787172895272.post-65858840788704634842011-07-28T13:51:00.001-07:002011-07-28T13:51:24.874-07:00"You practice how you play"<b>Day 3 of Vegas, day 1 of RollerCon</b><br /><br />It was hard to fall a sleep last night. A mixture of child like excitement overtook me before falling a sleep. As kid I always had a hard time falling a sleep if I was over excited, you like with Christmas or a Birthday.<br />My feeling of excitement wasn't any less then when I was a kid. Nervous about my very first challenge bout and just excited about what the day would bring. <br /><br />At 7 my alarm went off, and the day officially started!! :)<br />Getting all my stuff together and putting on everything PINK! Yes, pink! Cause I played in a girls vs boys team and of course we were wearing pink! <br /><br />After having a healthy breakfast me, ChefX and Die went to the hall. And that's when it started to get overwhelming... <br /><br />The main hall here at RollerCon has several tracks, one big official sized track where the challenge bouts scrimmage are played. It's a sports court floor that is removable. Really cool, but weird to skate on. The big track has wood underneath, which makes the skating pretty nice. But it's a weird combination between being grippy and slippery. <br /><br />Anyways, to go back to the story, the challenge bout started at 10.00. So warm up was at 9.30. <br />A challenge bout is not the full time like a normal bout. So it went really quick. Also you don't play with 14 girls, but with 20. So more people get a change to play. Which makes total sense. But it did make the whole thing go by even quicker! <br />It was lots of fun playing against guys. Even though I am not that experienced I stood my ground. And I didn't do all that bad. <br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=11/07/28/3594.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/11/07/28/s_3594.jpg' border='0' width='281' height='210' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br />It's kind of hard to see, but that pivot with the pink shirt and blue shorts is me! :)<br /><br />After the challenge bout we directly got tickets for the next class we wanted to take. Which was 'Baby's got back' a booty blocking class by Quadzilla. <br /><br />The class mainly focussed on how to use your booty and back while blocking. <br />The floor was really sucky, because this sports court floor was not on top of wood (like the main track), but on top of carpet. So it was really grippy and hard to skate on. But it was a great class. And I learned new useful skills. <br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=11/07/28/3595.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/11/07/28/s_3595.jpg' border='0' width='281' height='210' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br /> One of the rooms for the classes. <br /><br /><br />After we got done with the booty block class (which was a hour and a half long) we again got tickets for a Quadzilla class. This time it was the class 'is a bird showing of when it flies?'. <br />For those who ever saw Quadzilla skate, might guess what this class was about. Quadzilla was basically born on skates and is a phenomenal skater. He can basically do what ever he wants to on skates.... <br />But what this class was about was agility and jumps and stuff like that. But not just how to move your feet, but also really about why and when to move your feet! Therefore if you spin around somebody when they are trying to block you, you understand it's because you are doing everything possible to not get hit and/or smacked to the ground and not because you are showing off!<br /><br />This two hour class was gonna be rough, and I knew it. I all ready had some problems with my ankles and with that floor being crappy and Quadzilla not training for the fainthearted, I was thinking that I should maybe just not do the class. But then again, I didn't go to RollerCon to sit out, I came here to learn and better myself as a skater. <br />So I pushed myself to do it. We started with jumping and footwork/agility. I'm not the most agile skater on the planet and I know that it is one of the things I need to work on more then anything. <br />So when we started with all the footwork it was, well let's say hard for me...<br />I had to drop out a few times, because of being hurt/exhausted or frustrated. But I didn't quit, I kept going back in. And because of what Quadzilla said to the class, "get out of your comfort zone! - "when you fall down, that means you are learning!" I pushed my self to try harder. And I did. I ended up doing things I would have never thought I could do. <br />And at the end of the class I was exhausted and incredibly exhilarated! <br />I went up to Quadzilla and thanked him for the great class. And even though he didn't know, he pushed me to do things I never thought I would be able to do!<br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=11/07/28/3596.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/11/07/28/s_3596.jpg' border='0' width='210' height='281' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br />Me and Quadzilla. <br /><br /><br />The rest of the day, I didn't attend any more classes, cause I was exhausted and my ankles were sore. <br />But I watched some challenge bouts and the black ad white scrimmage at the end of the day. <br /><br />At night I went to the Pub in the hotel to go to the dance of pants off party and witnessed some American derby girls partying.... Oh my..... Those girls know how to party!! :)<br />It was great to meet Dr. No-No at the party, the great lovely head ref from Bear City Rollergirls (Berlin). <br />We hung out and ended up behind a slot machine.....<br />Oh well....it was a crazy ride. Never gambled before, the free drinks and lights and sounds of Vegas lured me in. :) I met Asa Spades, Whipping Red Siren (both Rotterdam) and Sandra Buttblock (Gent) and we got into the had fun! I won a whole bunch and of course lost all of it too! :p<br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=11/07/28/3597.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/11/07/28/s_3597.jpg' border='0' width='210' height='281' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br />Me and Asa Spades!<br /><br />It was a great and overwhelming day. And loved every second of it. <br /><br />- Furrrocious <br />Furrrocioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15330727443636785973noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994496787172895272.post-41996414786030995892011-07-27T08:02:00.001-07:002011-07-27T08:02:03.416-07:00The Northern connection<b>Day 1: The sequel...</b><br /><br />Last night, after I wrote my blog,<br /> I went outside to smoke and saw a couple of girls sitting next to the pool talking. One of them walked by a little later and I instantly recognized her hat, the 'Stockholm hat'. If you have been to bouts in Europe you will see this group of girls sitting there, mostly Malmö girls, but all wearing these same hats. The Stockholm roller derby hat! :) So I talked to her and joined them next to the pool. And that is how I met Fisty (Sweden) and JJ (Denmark). We talked for a long time, mostly about roller derby of course, and it was nice having good company one my first night in Vegas. <br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=11/07/27/1518.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/11/07/27/s_1518.jpg' border='0' width='210' height='281' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br />Me and Fisty found out that they have colored sugar in Vegas, which is pretty much the most bizarre thing ever. <br /> <br />Around 1 in the morning my roommates DI Die and ChefX from Devil Dolls Essen arrived. After a trip of about 24hr they finally made it to Vegas! And it was great to see them again. So of course we went outside again an hung out next to that same pool again. :)<br /><br /><br /><b>Day 2</b><br /><br />I was beat! After not sleeping much before coming to Vegas and then staying up late talking, I was in need of lots of sleep. So when DI and Chef got up butt fuck early...I turned around and went back to sleep for a little longer. <br />Around 10 a decided it was time to get up and start doing things. Of course I had some derby mail to deal with first. ;) I miss my ADD girls so much!!! Wish you could have all been here. <br />After the morning rituals I went to see if registration was open yet, and I was happily surprised to see it was. An hour earlier then expected! So I got my registration fixed and my insurance. <br />RollerCon is so well organized!! The volunteers work their asses off. There were goodie bags for everybody, with great program books and other stuff. It's just crazy! <br /><br /><br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=11/07/27/1520.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/11/07/27/s_1520.jpg' border='0' width='281' height='210' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br />My MVP sticker on my helmet. <br /><br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=11/07/27/1522.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/11/07/27/s_1522.jpg' border='0' width='210' height='281' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br />That's me!!! Now I can get in everywhere (if I am on time and there are still spots available...)<br /><br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=11/07/27/1524.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/11/07/27/s_1524.jpg' border='0' width='281' height='210' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br />The program book! Which looks amazing by the way. <br /><br />At registration I met my friend and fellow league president from the Rotterdam Death Row honeys, Asa Spades. <br />After hanging out with Asa we ran in to our new Northern friends JJ and Fisty. And we basically hung out and enjoyed our selves in the pool all day, together with the other swedes and Germans. It was our own little European take over of the pool and we were getting whistled at by the life guard a lot........ :)<br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=11/07/27/1525.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/11/07/27/s_1525.jpg' border='0' width='281' height='210' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br /><br />In the evening I had to go to a meeting from my challenge bout team, Sugar and Spice. <br />It was good to see all the girls. And it's fun to be in such a mixed group of people. <br />My derby name for this challenge bout is Jawbreaker. And I had to fix a shirt. Cause our color is pink.... And I really don't have that much pink in my wardrobe. :)<br /><br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=11/07/27/1527.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/11/07/27/s_1527.jpg' border='0' width='210' height='281' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br /><br />Now I need to get some sleep as I need to kick some boy ass tomorrow! :p<br /><br />- Furrrocious <br />Furrrocioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15330727443636785973noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994496787172895272.post-75093999165747558942011-07-25T18:15:00.001-07:002011-07-25T18:15:06.432-07:00RollerCon here I come!!!<b>Day one</b><br />After packing about 10 Amsterdam Derby Dames tank tops (with of course my name and number on the back!), 15 pairs of socks and a whole bunch of other stuff, my uncle took me to the airport this morning. <br /><br />Going through security has never been this fun! My carry contained my skates and the TSA guy checking all the bags said "wow, nice skates, do you play Roller Derby?". <br />Now this might not seem strange to anybody in the US. But being from Europe, nobody knows what Roller Derby is, definitely not a guy working at airport security. But here they knew, not just him, but a whole conversation got started on me playing roller derby. Especially because my bag had to be checked. I thought my skates were going to be the problem, but I forgot about a bottle of water that was in the merch bag I stuffed in there last night. :)<br />So they guy took it out and all was fine. Before I left, he asked me one more question: "so you're a blocker right? I bet those skinny girls fly right off of you!". <br />And that was the start of my trip. <br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=11/07/25/4552.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/11/07/25/s_4552.jpg' border='0' width='210' height='281' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br />On the flight (only 2,5 hours) I was able to read up on my derby, in five on five magazine! <br />But derby couldn't keep my eye in the magazine once we started flying over the dessert and some of the most amazing sights were right there outside my little plane window<br /><br /><br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=11/07/25/4553.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/11/07/25/s_4553.jpg' border='0' width='210' height='281' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br />We were supposed to be able to see the grand canyon, but it was a little to cloudy. Maybe on the way back. Still the view from the plane was amazing. <br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=11/07/25/4554.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/11/07/25/s_4554.jpg' border='0' width='281' height='210' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br /><br />Once at the airport in Vegas, it was so funny, I felt like a little kid in a candy store looking around at all those buildings I've seen in so many movies. The MGM, the Bellagio, the Luxor, pretty wild stuff!<br />But the very first thing I saw coming out of the airport was this<br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=11/07/25/4555.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/11/07/25/s_4555.jpg' border='0' width='281' height='144' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br />That just cracked me up!! The first thing I see in Las Vegas is a reference to something DUTCH! :)<br /><br />When I got to the hotel Riviera there where some problems with checking in, but the lady behind the counter was super sweet and hooked us up with a really nice clean non smoking room. The first we had was smoking...and was just disgusting! Crazy thing about Vegas, you need to pay extra for non-smoking!! But as I said the lady hooked us up, so we didn't have to pay that much extra for a cleaner nicer room! <br /><br />In the meanwhile the riviera is filling up with derby girls and boys. I have all ready met a few different people from the US and from Australia. <br />It funny when you look around the hotel lobby, you see all these different derby shirts and derby names printed on peoples shirts. <br />I have never been around as many derby people as I will be this week. And I've got a feeling this will be amazing and overwhelming!! :)<br /><br /><br />- Furrrocious <br />Furrrocioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15330727443636785973noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994496787172895272.post-55920448702829944312011-07-14T23:39:00.000-07:002011-07-14T23:39:09.399-07:00Hotter then hell....Last saturday I arrived in the USA to visit family in Texas. One of the things I did this last week was I went to a roller rink to skate! It's funny how we are not used to having these in the Netherlands (except for the one in Eindhoven..).<div>
It was great skating around in the rink, but pretty soon after I got there, a lot of kids showed up, and I couldnt really skate fast or anything like that. But I started helping this little boy that was on skates for the first time, and skated backwards the whole time, so it ended up still being a good practice! :) </div>
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Today I went to Lawton Oklahoma, to skate with Lawton Roller Girls - 580 Roller girls. </div>
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No you have to understand, it's hot in Texas and Oklahoma, like 100/105, which is around 40/45 degrees celsius!! In Holland it will get up to 30 degrees every once and a while! So you can understand that for me, coming from Holland, I was NOT used to this heat. </div>
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And after the warm up drill I almost passed out. Everything was turning black in front of my eyes and I was feeling sick. I sat down and one of the girls made sure that I got a ice pack to cool down and gave me a drink. By that time I all ready drunk about 3 liters of water. But I was losing more fluids sweating then I could drink water.</div>
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About 20 min after I felt like passing out, I was able to get back on the track and continue skating. I was happy I was able to, cause I was afraid I was going to have to stop totally, and that would have really sucked. </div>
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The Lawton Roller girls are super awesome sweet girls!! I cannot wait to get out there again next week and skate with them.</div>
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I was a great lesson today, hydration is not a thing to take for granted!!! </div>
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Now I need to get some sleep, cause tomorrow I am off to Austin to go to the Austin vs Denver bout on saturday. I cannot wait. This trip is just amazing!! :) </div>
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<br /></div>Furrrocioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15330727443636785973noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994496787172895272.post-34030754207545213232011-06-08T12:42:00.001-07:002011-06-08T12:42:34.992-07:00On my way to...ROLLERCONFor most people it's still a month and a half away. But for me it's never been more close! RollerCon! <br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=11/06/08/2454.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/11/06/08/s_2454.jpg' border='0' width='187' height='281' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br />On the 31st of December last year, I bought my early bird ticket for RollerCon. Not knowing if I would actually be able to go. <br />Because well, when I am not Furrrocious <i>'the-girl-trying-to-become-a-derby-girl'</i>, I have a job as a social worker and tons of student loans. And the USA is just not right across the road... (read: expensive as hell to get to, especially in the summer time..)<br /><br />But this week I was finally able to buy my plane ticket! Flying to Texas first to visit my relatives, while I am there I hope I'll be able to practice with a great league like the Dallas Derby Devils, and go to the Texas Roller girls bout against Denver on the 16th of July in Austin. <br />And then at the end of July I'll go to Vegas for five crazy days, filled with breathing, sweating, eating, laughing, partying smoking and drinking Roller derby!! <br />I am pretty sure it will be wayyyy more then I can handle, but I am super excited about it!<br /><br />I think I will probably only survive one day, and then I won't be able to walk anymore, because of all the pain in my muscles!!! LOL! :p<br />But it will all be worth it. As I will learn sooooooo much, and I'll bring it all back to Amsterdam and put it to good use right here. <br /><br /><br /><b>This rookie is on her way to RollerCon...</b> even if for now, it's still only in my head! :p<br /><br /><br />- Furrrocious <br />Furrrocioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15330727443636785973noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994496787172895272.post-39001719912062895822011-05-25T09:16:00.000-07:002011-05-25T09:16:38.875-07:00The joys of being on my way to play Roller DerbyRoller Derby has a tendency of taking over your life. All of us, who are either on our way to play or all ready playing, know this, but for all of you who haven't experienced this, it might be hard to understand. It is just like I have said before, Roller Derby is a sport that we need to organize ourselves, and that takes hard work!<br />
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But to all the hard work (and frustrations) it takes to get to play Roller Derby and to start and run a Roller Derby league, there are luckily enough also a lot of joys!<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0elsct7hqYA/Tdw6pGVTLaI/AAAAAAAAAac/OwOlMflNKOg/s1600/foto+2+%25285%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0elsct7hqYA/Tdw6pGVTLaI/AAAAAAAAAac/OwOlMflNKOg/s200/foto+2+%25285%2529.JPG" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me and Hunter S. Toss 'em</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
First of all, we have had so many great visiting skaters and refs, that have all in one way or another thought us valuable lessons, they taught us new skills and drills, but also that Roller Derby leagues all over the world deal with issues just like ours. Which is great to hear, because Roller Derby being a new sport in Holland and all, it sometimes feels like we are figuring out everything by ourselves. You know not having to inventing the wheel again and such. But luckily the struggles we have are not just unique to our league, all leagues have struggles and issues, and that is great to hear and learn from.<br />
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Roller Derby as a sport is growing like crazy in Europe. Which means that lucky for us, there are more and more events and such that we can go to. Like actual live bouts, parties, scrimmages, friends and family days and more.<br />
We have been to a few exciting things over the past months. And the joy of derby I experience at those events makes all the hard work worth it.<br />
A little over a month ago we had our very first international scrimmage against the One Love Roller Dolls. It was super exciting and playing with a couple of our girls that just passed their WFTDA test. But we didn't care about winning or losing. We wanted to learn as much as we possibly could and we did!!<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kD_0bKupWA4/Tdw90YPhAAI/AAAAAAAAAag/LtaSdvcwSBc/s1600/wordpress+group+pics.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="140" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kD_0bKupWA4/Tdw90YPhAAI/AAAAAAAAAag/LtaSdvcwSBc/s200/wordpress+group+pics.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Group pic by Robin Minter </td></tr>
</tbody></table> Oh my, we learned so much. OLRD showed us some great team work and strategy which we took home with us. <br />
I personally took a lot from that scrimmage for my own progression and that of our league. I found that I really liking the role of Pivot, but I didn't really know what to do all the time.<br />
As for our league, we had our brand new member Hurricane Hayles bench coaching us, which was amazing. It just really felt like we all grew closer together that day!<br />
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Not just playing gives us joy, but also making money for our league gives us lot's of JOY! And when you life in Holland, there is no better time to raise money then Queens day!<br />
And so we did, a bunch of our girls got together and started baking and cleaning out there attics and garages to find stuff to sell on queens day, all in order to make us some money. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-n6yNVshveoU/TdxCbXvItPI/AAAAAAAAAas/egaVL3oSp0c/s1600/IMG_6351.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-n6yNVshveoU/TdxCbXvItPI/AAAAAAAAAas/egaVL3oSp0c/s320/IMG_6351.jpg" width="213" /> </a></td><td style="text-align: center;"></td><td style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pic by Mad Gent </td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
One of the other joys I had this past month, was being able to share my joy for Roller Derby with my friends and family. We had our own ADD Friends and Family day.<br />
With miniature scrimmages, of course more cup cakes and some beers :)<br />
It was a great day. My biggest fan even came out to see me, and had a surprise for me.... With t-shirts saying "go Furrrocious go" and an awesome banner, it was the best to see my little sis standing on the side line, supporting me! <br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mueAd6ujXQo/Td0P80S6bGI/AAAAAAAAAaw/t8uf_j7IE-A/s1600/F%2526F+day+banner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mueAd6ujXQo/Td0P80S6bGI/AAAAAAAAAaw/t8uf_j7IE-A/s320/F%2526F+day+banner.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">8 wheels, 2 skates, 1 bad attitude! Love that banner!!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>It was a weird day, great, but weird. Cause we were so busy with the organizational part of things (pr and stuff like that), I didn't actually have to much time to talk to the friends and family that came to support me. But that was the one real downside of the day.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Rv2Cr3r-xwI/Td0QDcM_kbI/AAAAAAAAAa4/9s6fakr_bxs/s1600/fan+club2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Rv2Cr3r-xwI/Td0QDcM_kbI/AAAAAAAAAa4/9s6fakr_bxs/s320/fan+club2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Furrrocious fan club! :p</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Because except for that, we had a great time! I even had to to a dance of shame, cause I ended up in the penalty box :p<br />
Just for those who haven't seen a Roller Derby bout or scrimmage before, normally there is no "dance of shame". But we did it for the fun of it! ;)<br />
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We also got some great publicity from this F&F day. We had a big article in a Dutch (well read) new paper, and a film crew from a national Dutch television came by.<br />
You can see the video <a href="http://www.hartvannederland.nl/nederland/noord-holland/2011/geen-sport-voor-watjes/">here</a>. It is in Dutch, but you'll get the idea. :)<br />
It was so much fun to finally be able to share this (now very) important part of my life with all the friends and family that came out. I hope we as a league will do this more often.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Fdm5J9nWHM4/Td0VP6z6jEI/AAAAAAAAAa8/UvqKK3AYp4U/s1600/Officials+team+Essen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Fdm5J9nWHM4/Td0VP6z6jEI/AAAAAAAAAa8/UvqKK3AYp4U/s400/Officials+team+Essen.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Officials team Block 'n' Roll - pic by Val Killer</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
As happy as we are with all our visiting skaters and refs, we also love to go places for Roller Derby! Especially me and my wifey Lola Rock 'n' Rolla. We sure love us some road trippin'!!<br />
This past saturday we went to Essen, where the Devil Dolls where having their first home bout against Barock city. Block 'n' Roll!!<br />
It was great seeing all our German friends again, Major Madness, ChefX, Gina Gasolina, DI Die, Psycho Annie, Big Red, and so many more that I can possibly name all at the same time. :)<br />
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My wifey Lola was announcing the bout together with Johnny Bash and I bet they did a great job... I say I bet, because I don't understand a word of German! LOL<br />
She made sure of one thing though, that you did not need to know any language for: she looked smashing!!<br />
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I was an NSO. Penalty box Jammer timer. It was lot's of fun, screaming at girls when to stand and when they were done. There where enough penalties to keep us busy too....<br />
You learn so much as a player when you NSO. As it was my first time working the penalty box I learned a lot about that part of the game. First of all, stay out of the penalty box, it's a waste of time to be in there! And more importantly, get there as fast as possible and sit down right away! The clock doesn't start ticking until your butt is on that chair!<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KzoZn88NfL8/Td0ZapzVkKI/AAAAAAAAAbI/sJvMHOF-pm8/s1600/foto+1+%25284%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KzoZn88NfL8/Td0ZapzVkKI/AAAAAAAAAbI/sJvMHOF-pm8/s320/foto+1+%25284%2529.JPG" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Two of my favorite Germans on this planet!! </td></tr>
</tbody></table>Our Essen friends made sure all 7 (6 working and one awesome visiting ref that we took with us - Rave N Busther from San Diego) of us had a place to crash, for the next day we were off to Antwerp for the OLRD friends and family day scrimmage.<br />
Because we were able to sleep over, we were also able to hang out with our friends at the after party! And we ADD girls sure like our after party! :)<br />
Wise as I was I of course didn't drink at the after party and went home early..........oh no, that wasn't me! I stayed way to late and drank a little to much and had an AMAZING time!!! And I would do it over again and again (even though skating with only 4 hours of sleep isn't exactly ideal either.... :p)<br />
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It's a strange sensation, the 'family' feeling Derby brings with it. You make great friends all over the world because of Derby. Without even having to know people very long. We have one and the same passion that we share and it's a brother/sisterhood you are immediately a part of. And you know what? I love it! Every minute of it. <br />
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Before I could get even more fuzzy and huggy with all our German friends we packed up and went to Antwerp the next day. Making sure we took one of our favorites, Major Madness, with us, so he could ref the scrimmages the next day!<br />
The <a href="http://www.oneloverollerdolls.be/">One Love Roller Dolls </a>organized their Friends and Family day in a very special way. They invited all the Dutch leagues to come and scrimmage. And so they did! Not just ADD was present, but 6 out of the 7 Dutch Leagues were there. <a href="http://www.eastsiderocknrollers.nl/esrnr/lang-en/home/main.html">Eastside Rock n Rollers</a> (Enschede), <a href="http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=132472616780592">Rock city Rollers</a> (Eindhoven), <a href="http://www.facebook.com/domcitydolls">Dom City Dolls</a> (Utrecht), <a href="http://www.deathrowhoneys.com/">Deathrow Honeys</a> (Rotterdam) and the <a href="http://www.arnhemfallenangels.nl/">Fallen Angles</a> (Arnhem).<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bXtTN4AYTkU/Td0krgwyZhI/AAAAAAAAAbU/bADDxzOKG64/s1600/antwerpen+nederland+team.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="210" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bXtTN4AYTkU/Td0krgwyZhI/AAAAAAAAAbU/bADDxzOKG64/s320/antwerpen+nederland+team.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Belgium and Holland group picture - <span style="font-size: x-small;">pic by Ian Rwb</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>And the coolest thing was, we were all playing together!! For the first time.<br />
There was a beginner/intermediate scrimmage between two Dutch teams, made up out of all 6 leagues, they played each other. And as my wifey and other league mates were in both teams, I literally screamed my longs out... the roller derby hooligan showed her self... :)<br />
It was amazing seeing so many of Holland and Belgium's players on one single track in one day!!<br />
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I was in the 'advanced' scrimmage later that afternoon. 5 of the dutch leagues came to together to form one team and played against the OLRD team. It was a great scrimmage.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8nuGAvNxWLI/Td0fpe296HI/AAAAAAAAAbQ/T5JTtwlxMvk/s1600/bloody+oranges.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="222" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8nuGAvNxWLI/Td0fpe296HI/AAAAAAAAAbQ/T5JTtwlxMvk/s320/bloody+oranges.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">'Bloody oranges' waiting on the Bench -pic by Ian Rwb</span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>I don't even know where to start.... I wasn't really nervous before we began, that might have been because of serious lack of sleep... But when we had our teams intro song, and my name was called, and I heard applause and people screaming my name, my adrenaline started running, and basically didn't stop until a couple of hours AFTER the scrimmage! :)<br />
The reason I had the best time ever, was mainly because I have made a huge leap in my own development. I understood what was going on (most of the time), I tried new strategies and was able to test them and repeat them, and I had NO PAIN in my ankles! Which was awesome!!<br />
It felt so good to be on the track an actually playing! I know it's a scrimmage and not an official bout, but this is the closest I got to playing 'for real'. And it was the absolute best feeling in the world. I fell in love with Roller Derby AGAIN <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:HyphenationZone>21</w:HyphenationZone> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>NL</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-o9jAmdnAVqE/Td0ldY9urTI/AAAAAAAAAbY/vBfB17p04yg/s1600/vegan%252C+piek+en+lola.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
</a></div><br />
After the scrimmage I looked around at our girls and could do nothing but smile! I am so incredibly proud of where we are right now in our league. We are getting there, slowly but surely, and it makes all our sweat, blood and tears worth it!!<br />
<br />
<br />
- Furrrocious<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-A8BzxnO7Pno/Td0mmom5jSI/AAAAAAAAAbc/HdgWN1qOVm4/s1600/furrr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-A8BzxnO7Pno/Td0mmom5jSI/AAAAAAAAAbc/HdgWN1qOVm4/s400/furrr.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Furrrocioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15330727443636785973noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994496787172895272.post-50517273804310739832011-04-23T16:04:00.000-07:002011-04-23T16:04:27.740-07:00What a crazy week it's been...<br />
<br />
<b>Saturday</b> we had a scrimmage training with Damage Dahl and 'snot rocket science from Steel City. It was awesome!! I have learned so much and had a great time.<br />
Unfortunately my ankles were really acting up again, and hurting like hell...So it was hard not being able to skate constantly, when we had a training with these amazing ladies. But I was able to scrimmage, had to be smart and listen to my body and sit out more Jams then I wanted to, but well I just learned in Derby that listing to your body and trusting that what you're feeling cannot be ignored. <br />
I cannot explain how freaking awesome it is to be in a scrimmage with girls that you just saw on DNN a week earlier... I was on the white team with Damage Dahl, and actually tried Jamming with 'snot rocket science as the opposing jammer....it was scary to say the least! :p <br />
<br />
It ended up being a great training for all. The girls learning more blocking/jamming and scrimmage skills and our Refs getting a chance to do some actual reffing!! Blauwe Bil (Rotterdam Death Row Honeys) and Stan-Lee (Dom City Dolls) joined the ADD Zebra's and they all blew their whistles at us! :)<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Wor19ubMcsY/TbNWMZpOnTI/AAAAAAAAAZ4/NbSN76DU5Vo/s1600/web1.1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Wor19ubMcsY/TbNWMZpOnTI/AAAAAAAAAZ4/NbSN76DU5Vo/s1600/web1.1.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Steel City in ADD disguise! :) </b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bMigo2we5fI/TbNWNAiUUfI/AAAAAAAAAZ8/zthayHt8jaU/s1600/web2.2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bMigo2we5fI/TbNWNAiUUfI/AAAAAAAAAZ8/zthayHt8jaU/s1600/web2.2.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Me and Blauwe Bil! See Rotterdam and Amsterdam are perfect together!!</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b> </b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Monday</b> night we had another practice with Damage Dahl and 'snot rocket science. And I just feel like we are freaking lucky to have such talented people visiting us. As I have said before it really has his upsides to be 'Amsterdam'.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Wednesday </b>I unfortunately had miss practice by our brand-new-very-own Hurricane Hayles, cause of work. Had a meeting so couldn't go to practice. </div><div style="text-align: left;">During the day Hunter S. Toss 'em arrived in Amsterdam, and we spend some time talking on the phone catching up. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b> </b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>T</b><b>hursday </b>after work me and Hunter met up and went to practice. Was great having Hunter back with ADD. We went through a lot of things that are pretty much 'need to know' before our scrimmage with OLRD. It was super useful to go through all that and great to have him back on the track with us!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Today </b>was a super long and hard day for me, working the sixth day in a row... but it ended just perfect, hanging out with my wifey, cleaning our skates and watching some more Anarchy in the UK footage (whilst drinking lots of water and icing my ankles). </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">And now it's almost Sunday (or it actually all ready is sunday, after midnight, I should really get to bed...), and we are getting ready to play our (and Hollands) first international scrimmage against Antwerp One Love Roller Dolls. It's going to be a FUN learning experience for all of us. And I cannot wait!! It's going to be the closest thing we have gotten to a bout. There will be a full NSO and Ref team (with Hunter S. Toss 'em and Major Madness being two of them!)</div><div style="text-align: left;">I am super nervous and excited all at the same time, and if I wasn't so tired from working all week, I would probably run around in circles in this very room, because of it! </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">So more info on Dutch Roller Derby history after tomorrow! :) </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Now, I am off to bed...</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">- Furrrocious</div><span id="goog_481812152"></span><span id="goog_481812153"></span>Furrrocioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15330727443636785973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994496787172895272.post-65285098679299956912011-04-15T15:25:00.000-07:002011-04-15T15:42:59.479-07:00It's great being the "AMSTERDAM" Derby DamesThere are lots of 'up sides' to being the <b>Amsterdam </b>Derby Dames. We get a lot of visiting skaters and refs that are traveling through Europe. Just to get into some tacky name dropping: Hunter S. Toss 'em (Rat City), Tara Armov (LA Derby Dolls)..... We are, of course, eternally grateful that these amazing skaters and refs visit us, and teach us bunches! It's simply amazing.<br />
Tomorrow we have a scrimmage training/bootcamp with some of <a href="http://www.steelcityderbydemons.com/home/">Steel City</a>'s finest: 'snot rocket science and Damage Dahl.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EU5F0cDg2f0/Tai7RL2lJyI/AAAAAAAAAZs/2Ip6lCRtbao/s1600/snot+rocket+and+damage+dahl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EU5F0cDg2f0/Tai7RL2lJyI/AAAAAAAAAZs/2Ip6lCRtbao/s320/snot+rocket+and+damage+dahl.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>This is them. 'snot as Pivot on the left. And Damage with the pink helmet on the right. </b></span></div><br />
<br />
When you are a Rookie League, like we are, it's pretty intimidating to see a track record like theirs...<br />
Co-captain, a crazy amount of skating experience, lots of bouts played, and even awards for their Roller Derby play.....<br />
I guess it would feel pretty much the same as when a major football, basket ball or soccer star comes to train witha little league team.<br />
So yeah, it makes you a bit nervous and insecure. But especially it makes us honored and enthusiastic! How awesome that Amsterdam is a great city that everyone likes to visit?! :p<br />
<br />
<br />
A lot of stuff has happened to our league since the last time I wrote anything (yeah I know, I havent been writing to much, crazy busy...).<br />
We were lucky enough to have had a bootcamp as well as a training session with ChefX and Major Madness from the Devil Dolls Essen.They have thought us and our refs so much, we absolutely love ourselves some Devil Dolls! <br />
<br />
We also had our second run of WFTDA Minimum Skills testing last saturday, with some of the 'old' girls that didn't pass last time in october (like me...) and almost all of our FM that started end of last year.<br />
And to all our surprise, EVERYBODY that did the test passed! It was an amazing feeling. Just an overwhelming feeling of oooowwwwhhhhhaaaaahhhhhh!! I literally got goosebumps when I heard. I know it's crazy. But when you see everybody work so hard, it's just the best feeling ever to see everybody pass.<br />
And so all those girls get to join in on the training with 'snot rocket and Damage tomorrow. Which is just great!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TAO9os7oHvg/Tai-0JfuN5I/AAAAAAAAAZw/KHLDP6J-uEc/s1600/ADD+minimum+skills.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TAO9os7oHvg/Tai-0JfuN5I/AAAAAAAAAZw/KHLDP6J-uEc/s320/ADD+minimum+skills.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Group picture taken after the great result of the test! </b></span></div><br />
<br />
And next week we will be playing our first official international Scrimmage against the One Love Roller Dolls from Antwerp.<br />
Super excited about that!! And nervous of course.... All our girls have come a long way from being the wobbling bambies on ice... but are we ready to do this?! I guess we will just have to wait and see. At least we will learn a shit ton and have a bunch of fun doing it!! Cause yeah, we also love ourselves some OLRD :p<br />
<br />
<br />
We also have a brand new member of the Amsterdam Derby Dames: Hurricane Hayles!!<br />
Hayles who is originally from the UK, played with the <a href="http://mtlrollerderby.com/">Montreal Roller Derby League</a> for the past two years. Now she is here with us in little 'ol Amsterdam! She and here derby widower are expecting a baby, so she is going to show us the robes from the middle of the track, off skates unfortunately, luckily that doenst mean she cannot crack the whip on us! And she will be Bench coaching us at scrimmages and hopefully at our first bout in August. It's great to have you here Hurricane!<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><b>A BIG ADD WELCOME TO YOU!!!</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZKnSiEDmDmA/TajDSJjvzyI/AAAAAAAAAZ0/Q-j3FeWVuQ8/s1600/Hurricane_Hayles_74.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZKnSiEDmDmA/TajDSJjvzyI/AAAAAAAAAZ0/Q-j3FeWVuQ8/s320/Hurricane_Hayles_74.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">Hurricane Hayles </span> </b></div><br />
It is bizarre how much can happen in such a short period of time. Only months have gone by, and ADD has grown, I have grown (in muscles as well as in 'hart' for our girls) and Roller Derby Holland keeps growing, its just all amazing. <br />
<br />
I am happy to say, I am so very proud of our League. And if you are interested in supporting us, or wondering where I am (cause you never see me anymore). We will be having a Friends and Family day on may 7th! And you are all welcome to come!!<br />
<br />
Derby love,<br />
-FurrrociousFurrrocioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15330727443636785973noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994496787172895272.post-21797088324584790712011-03-10T14:44:00.001-08:002011-03-11T05:45:00.914-08:00Whooaaa...what happened to my life?<center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=11/03/10/2150.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/11/03/10/s_2150.jpg' border='0' width='281' height='187' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br />
I started this blog fall last year, cause the derby-ness was overwhelming me and so much was going on, I wanted to make sure I would make a documentation of what I was experiencing. And I am happy I did. <br />
<br />
Because in this past year (and a few months-but let's not get into details now) I have gone from a girl knowing not much about roller derby, except for watching a bout in the US, to derby-crazed girl, having not only derby on the <i>mind</i> 24-7, but <i>practicing</i> it in every way too. <br />
<br />
<b>Being part of a group</b><br />
My whole life I have been involved in groups in different social settings, like most people. <br />
I have been a part of several groups of friends, from primary school to college, I've always had a group of friends I called 'mine'. As a kid I was a scout and participated in lots of group activities, like acting classes and such. <br />
In the last ten years I walked around in the more cultural and political groups, like squatters, activists, musicians and punks. <br />
But also in work, i've been part of teams, organizations and companies. <br />
And to say so myself, I usually work pretty well in groups. I am a social being. So comes quite natural to me, I didn't become a social worker for nothing! ;)<br />
<br />
But a sports team, is the one thing on my list of groups-i-participated-in, that I could not cross off. <br />
Also because, as I have said before, I am not quite the athletic type, to say the least. <br />
When I found roller derby in Amsterdam and became part of this great league, the Amsterdam Derby Dames, I found myself to fit in quite easily. I guess it's just <br />
<br />
<a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=11/03/10/2151.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/11/03/10/s_2151.jpg' border='0' width='279' height='281' align='right' style='margin:5px'></a><br />
because:<br />
a) The ADD girls are awesome<br />
And b) because being in a sports team is not much different then all the other groups I have participated in through out the years. <br />
Except for of course for the part where we work our asses off and sweat like pigs!<br />
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But there is something a lot different about this group that unites because of Roller Derby, and not only because we sweat together. <br />
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This sport is athletic, we train a lot, so we see each other more then other (very important) people in our lives. <br />
Roller Derby is a DIY sport. Everything (and I really mean every little thing) around this sport we need to organize ourselves and it's brand spanking new in the Netherlands, which together makes it a team effort to get this of the ground.<br />
Roller derby might be new in the Netherlands, but there is a big community around Roller Derby, internationally and growing nationally as well. <br />
And I think all those things combined, just makes Roller Derby in to a unique team/group/community/phenomenon.<br />
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<center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=11/03/10/2152.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/11/03/10/s_2152.jpg' border='0' width='281' height='187' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br />
*group picture of our last bootcamp*<br />
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<b>Sucked in...</b><br />
I have always been the busy and enthusiastic type, so I guess I should have know, this new <i>"hobby/sport"</i> was going to take up allot more time and energy then one or two practices a week....<br />
But seriously I don't know what happened, within a little over a year, my life has completely did a 180. <br />
I work 36 hours a week as a social worker, and have three practices during the week, additional practices (at least) once a month in the weekend. <br />
Then there a committee meetings, board meetings, bootcamps, bouts, scrimmages, parties,blogs, lots of phone calls and even more emails...<br />
And when I am not doing any of that, I am still ready in a magazine about derby, watching derby online or communicating about derby online, and even when I am asleep derby haunts me in my dreams. :)<br />
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I have exchanged my life with friends and family for a new group of friends that almost feel like family sometimes. <br />
And of course I still love all of my friends and relatives. But this just happened. I have read about this effect Roller Derby can have one ones life, but just didn't realize it would happen to me, cause I thought I was to busy for that. How wrong I was... :p<br />
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<a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=11/03/10/2153.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/11/03/10/s_2153.jpg' border='0' width='281' height='187' align='left' style='margin:5px'></a><br />
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<b>Derby girl, to be or not to be, is that even a question?</b><br />
Like I tried to explain above was how much of a community roller derby really is. It's so much more then just a sport. Which I guess is probably the same for more sports. But the cool thing about the Roller Derby community is, that I like it! :p It fits me well and I love being part of it. <br />
The thing that is strange, is that we've been working hard, around the clock, on our league and on training. But because we haven't played our first bout yet, we are still pretty much newbies in the sport! So even though I feel completely sucked into this world of roller derby, I am not really comfortable about labeling myself as a <i>Roller Derby girl</i>. Which i know, is kind of a weird discussion anyways. But I am new to this 'world of derby' and not sure what the guide lines are. I know I get annoyed by girls 'posing' as being derby chicks, even though they can hardly skate. Then again, compared to people who can actually skate, and have played for years, like Tara Armov, I cannot skate for shit... <br />
So where to draw that line? To be or not to be? To be honest, I think it's a no brainer. There is no choice, when you get that bug, and you start seeing your derby team mates more then the people you live with, I think it's clear, you have become a derby girl! Label or no label, it's just the way it goes. <br />
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To be honest, I am fucking proud of being part of this all!! I have so much love for our league and love the sport and the community more every day.<br />
<i>Yes</i> Roller Derby has completely taken over each asset of my life, but I am actually happier then ever, so I am ok with it!<br />
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<center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=11/03/10/2154.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/11/03/10/s_2154.jpg' border='0' width='187' height='281' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br />
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As an end to this very extensive blog (sorry bout that..), I would like to shout out to all of my friends and family that I have been neglecting over the passed months/year. I hope you won't hate derby because it took over my life and I cannot stop talking about it. :p And I hope you'll all be sitting (and screaming) in the front row when we are playing our first bout. :)<br />
Love you all!! <img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/e/57378.gif' border='0' align='left' /><br />
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- Furrrocious <br />
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Ps: All pictures in this blog where made by Edmond van As. Thank you!!!Furrrocioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15330727443636785973noreply@blogger.com2