Back on track...

Holymoly its been a while since my last blog!
It's bad but the blog has just not been on my priority list with everything going on.
However I am back now, and I will try to get back on track with blogging.

So much has happened since my last blog. I will do my best to update you a little.

ADD's Monthly Mixed Scrimmages
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.
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.
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!
Here are a few pictures of the mixed scrimmages we've had.

Mixed scrimmage 7-1-2012  (picture by Kees Rijken)

 

Captains talking (Picture by Wolf Schouten)

Team Black mixed scrimmage 4-2-2012 (picture by Dennis Stempher)

Megabyte going for Vegan! (picture by Wolf Schouten)

Our girl Jamakaze had the best Derby bruise ever!

Cork City Firebirds vs Amsterdam Derby Dames
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!
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.
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!!

Poster of the bout

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
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. :)
Here are some pictures of our Cork adventure:

Skate out
Photography by Marcin Lewandowski at soundofphotography.com

 

 

 

My wonderful derby wifey was our Bench Coach
Photography by Marcin Lewandowski at soundofphotography.com

Vix rocking as Jammer
Photography by Marcin Lewandowski at soundofphotography.com

Me and Crow Jane right after the Bout! <3
Photography by Marcin Lewandowski at soundofphotography.com

 

Derby hurts...
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. After more then two years of 'not knowing' they finally figured it out: Chronic Compartment Syndrome. 
I could try and explain it in my own words, but this website does a great job:

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.

 So basically this is what had been causing me all this pain. And kept me from skating to my full potential.
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...
But it turned out the pressure values were very high, and therefore and operation would probably be useful.
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.
It looked pretty horrible at first when they were done.

In the hospital after my surgery

Right after my surgery I had to start walking, to make sure the fascia wouldn't stick back together.
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.
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....

  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
Luckily I have had a great surgeon who was very helpful in answering my questions when I had them.

After only 2,5 weeks I was back on skates and skated a scrimmage with NO PAIN!!! It was amazing!!
I think I might have been almost as excited as I was when I played our first bout.
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!

Getting lead jammer is the best feeling in the world!! :)   (picture by Branko Colin)

 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.
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 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. 


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. 
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. 
ADD has had some surgery filled months in the beginning of this year.
January: Me  February: Nasty  March: Lola 
Boy oh boy, it better not be a trend for this year...




First home bout (ADD vs RGA)
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. 
We are so freaking excited about this!! We will be playing against the lovely Roller Girls of the Apocalypse (Kaiserslautern, Germany).   
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... 
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!

Our crew at work with the covers.  (picture by Dennis Stempher)

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.
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!! 


So on Saturday the 25th of February 2012 at 17.00 I hope to see you all at the Apollohal in Amsterdam for Hollands first ever live Roller Derby Bout. 
You can get your tickets on our website. Let us know you will be coming on our FB event. 

AmsterBAM!!

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. 
I hope everybody will be able to make it out and watch and cheer for us!! 



That's all for now!


- Furrrocious

The joys of being on my way to play Roller Derby

Roller 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!

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!

Me and Hunter S. Toss 'em

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.



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.
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.
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!!

Group pic by Robin Minter

 Oh my, we learned so much. OLRD showed us some great team work and strategy which we took home with us.
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.
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!




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!
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.

 

Pic by Mad Gent

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.
With miniature scrimmages, of course more cup cakes and some beers :)
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!

8 wheels, 2 skates, 1 bad attitude! Love that banner!!

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.

The Furrrocious fan club! :p

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
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! ;)

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.
You can see the video here. It is in Dutch, but you'll get the idea. :)
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.

Officials team Block 'n' Roll - pic by Val Killer

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'!!
This past saturday we went to Essen, where the Devil Dolls where having their first home bout against Barock city. Block 'n' Roll!!
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. :)

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
She made sure of one thing though, that you did not need to know any language for: she looked smashing!!

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....
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!

Two of my favorite Germans on this planet!! 

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.
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! :)
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)

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. 


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!
The One Love Roller Dolls 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. Eastside Rock n Rollers (Enschede), Rock city Rollers (Eindhoven), Dom City Dolls (Utrecht), Deathrow Honeys (Rotterdam) and the Fallen Angles (Arnhem).

Belgium and Holland group picture - pic by Ian Rwb

And the coolest thing was, we were all playing together!! For the first time.
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... :)
It was amazing seeing so many of Holland and Belgium's players on one single track in one day!!



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.

'Bloody oranges' waiting on the Bench -pic by Ian Rwb

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! :)
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!!
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 during the scrimmage. I was all ready absolutely in love with this sport, and I didn't think my love for it could grow any bigger, but this last Sunday it did!! :)

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!!


- Furrrocious

EROC II; Nerves kicking in..

Day two; Sunday




On the second day of the European Roller Derby Organizational Conference we concentrated on how to organize Roller Derby on a European level. We had a discussion with all the different countries together, while the refs had two more practices in the other hall.



The discussions were very interesting. We talked about how to organize a European Roller Derby board, and if and why we wanted one.
Europe is still in the early stages of development when it comes to the organization on a Continent level. Lots of leagues are still brand new and have a hard time getting themselves organized, let alone their own countries, which makes it hard to even think about a wider scale like the whole continent. But Roller Derby is growing so fast in Europe that we need to think about it, and we better do it now, so we are still 'small' enough to start organizing ourselves.




We also discussed topics like ranking, categorization of teams/leagues, tournaments, translation of rules, etc.
The whole weekend there was a WFTDA rep present from the USA, Bloody Mary. She explained that WFTDA is very much interested in the development of Roller Derby in Europe, and was happy to see that the Roller Derby Culture is pretty much the same in Europe as it is in the States and Canada. She also explained that WFTDA is really interested in how they can contribute to the further development of Roller Derby in Europe and are working on hiring people just for this goal.
So it was all very interesting. We are all on the verge of something so new and exciting. And we need to figure out collectively how to organize this all in order to maximize our potential as a sport on a European Level.


The second part of the day was the most nerve wrecking....
It was time to Scrimmage!
A full on mixed scrimmage with refs and NSO's, the whole shebang!
There were two scrimmages planned, a beginners and an advanced scrimmage.
All ADD girls were supposed to participate in the beginner scrimmage. Unfortunately Belle Anger had hurt her knee practicing and scrimmaging with the Berlin Bomshells earlier that week. So she decided to not participate in the scrimmage as a player, but joined the officials team and served as a penalty tracker and outside white board NSO.

The rest of us did play. And before the scrimmage we were all really nervous, especially me and my wifey Lola Rock 'n' Rolla...
Dirty Knickers, one of our trainers, always says we are to hard on ourselves, which makes us insecure and well nervous. Walking into the hall with all my gear my hands were sweaty and shaking...
After we all put on our gear and warmed up a bit, the teams were announced. Vegan Vengeance, Sweet 'n' Sinister and Lola Rock 'n' Rolla were all in the black team, with bench coach Devilina from the Berlin Bombshells.
Me, Ruby Doom (former ADD, now Arnhem Fallen Angels), Whippin' Red Siren (from the Rotterdam Death Row Honeys) and Lolli Chop (from the One Love Roller girls from Antwerp) were all in team White, with Foxy Führer from the Berlin Bombshells as our bench coach.



*Thanks to Michael Wittiger for this great picture


As we went to our team benches it was not only my hands that were shaking, but I was literally shaking on my skates!!
It was a very diverse mixed group in each team, with girls from all these different European countries. Which was just amazing. But also hard. It's hard enough to play your first scrimmage, and then to play against your own teammates was really weird.
But the first stress was not from playing against my teammates, it was when Foxy told me I was playing blocker position 3 in the very first jam!
I was so nervous....I cannot even describe what went through my head right in those seconds before the whistle was blown, and the game was on.
It took only one jam to get over those initial nerves. After that first jam all those endorphins were released and the adrenaline rush kicked in. And all I wanted was to be on that track!
Half of the time I still had no clue of what I was doing. But i guess that's what you get when you are playing for the first time.




Here I fell, I really wish I could say I was taking out that blocker of the black team next to me to get my own Jammer through, but to be honest I don't remember. :)

I do remember a couple of illegal moves I made (oeps!)...
I tripped the Jammer of the other team, I wasn't fast enough with my footwork to get in front and block her or give her a good hit, so I was 'desperate', and saw an opportunity to trip her....so I did! And yeah, she fell and I got a major an was send to the penalty box. I was actually kind of proud to be there. :) I got that Jammer out and it was kind of cool to experience sitting in the penalty box! Hahahaha
Also I got another totally illegal block in, that took the Jammer from the black team out. I was trying to block her with my shoulder/back, but again I wasn't fast enough with my footwork to get to her fast enough, so I just kind of threw myself at her an ended up taking her out with my head, which is pretty much really illegal....(Oeps 2!) Lucky for me nobody called it....

But I also was able to do some totally legal nice blocks. Not much hitting though, really something I need to practice more. I am really pretty good at hitting, but in a 'bout' situation it's so much different then in our little gym.

In the black team Lola and Sweet n Sinister worked hard as blockers. And Vegan vengeance pretty much stole the show with her Jammer abilities!!




She really did an outstanding job!
I am so proud of all of us, for participating in this amazing European Beginners scrimmage. We learned so much. I for sure now what I need to work on more.

One bad thing happened through out the whole scrimmage. In the last jam, my wifey Lola playing for the other team, fell really badly on her ankle and had to stop because of the pain.
While the white team was doing a victory lap (because we won), she was being helped my her team mates. It really sucked, cause after an amazing experience of a first scrimmage this pretty much took away her well deserved euphoric feeling...
Unfortunately injuries are a part of derby...



*later that night we wrapt her ankle in a blanket with ice. Luckily it didn't swell up to badly


The advanced scrimmage was played by a mix of European experienced players and even Texas Wftda rep Bloody Mary played in this scrimmage.
It was of course totally different then the beginners scrimmage we participated in. Seeing skaters like Swede Hurt and Master Blaster in action was awesome. They were all really good. And I saw some moves that got my standing up in the stands and cheering and screaming. ;)

After this amazing day, a bunch of us ended up in the Rock 'n' Roll herberge for drinks later that night.



Ms Miyagi (GGGRG) and my wifey Lola Rock 'n' Rolla.





The awesome Helsinki girls, Tigre Force and Bananaspit and me freaking in front of the camera. :)


It was a good way to end this great weekend. Drinks with awesome derby girls (and guys).
Cannot wait to see you all again on the track and in the bar!

Thanks again to the Berlin Bombshells for hosting EROC II this year. You all did an amazing job and we enjoyed it a lot.


- Furrrocious