WOW!!!!! First bout madness

It 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....

Saturday 13th of August 2011 
The day the first team of the Amsterdam Derby Dames played their very first bout!
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).
The bus ride over was fun, some of us were nervous, but mostly everybody was just very excited!!

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.

After the three hour drive (with a little detour here and there...) we made is to the Eisssporthalle in Essen.
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.

The Supporters bus!! - Picture by Grumpy Crump

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.
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.




We warmed up together and got to get used to the floor, which of course we never skated on before.

Warm up with Kim Wilde - Picture by Blauwe Bil 

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.
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.
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 :)

Puppi running with us - picture by Kristian Sunder

Acting all cool! :p - Picture by Blauwe Bil

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! :)
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.

We started the bout with our 'power line', which consisted of me, Abs of Steel, San Solo, Monstah Megs, Vegan Vengeance (jammer).
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!

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!!! :)

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!!!


The bout was amazing... I have no idea how to describe it... there was action, strategic, great hits and blocks  and fast jammers...

It was simply amazing! So I will just post some pictures here, so you can see for your self how great it was.

DD vs ADD - Slideshow Creator

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!



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 ;)
We worked our asses off for the passed two years and it showed off!
The feeling I had at that very moment, I will never forget....
And therefore I would like to take this opportunity to thank some people, who, without them, we wouldn't have made it this far.

First of all I would like to thank the founder of ADD and of Dutch Roller Derby; Limpin' Lily. 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!!!

Second, I would like to thank our coach Hurricane Hayles. 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!!!

San Solo, '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!!!

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! :)
Lola Rock 'n' Rolla (love you wifey!), 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 and all the other great ADD members, ChefX, DI Die, and the rest of the Devil Dolls Essen, Major Madness, Riff Reff, Crank Skice, Pixie Spankalot and the rest of the great ref crew and all the NSO's!

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.


- Furrrocious

Come and get your fresh meat!!

Today was our last fresh meat training till next year March. The new fresh meat will be getting a three month beginner course ending in taking the WFDTA skills test.
We had all been promoting this last fresh meat opportunity and it worked!! We had no less then 13 new girls and two refs. Which is so amazing.

The practice started out with a talk about Roller Derby and explaining about the Amsterdam Derby Dames. Our fresh meat committee did a great job on explaining the in's and out's and answering all sorts of questions.

After the introduction all the girls (and guys!!) got gear from our 'fresh meat supply' and from team skaters. It's all about sharing. :)
Trainers and fresh meat committee sorted everybody out with gear, how to put it on, etc.



And then the most exciting moment for all of us: they started skating around.
As roller skating isn't a big thing in holland, most girls and guys had their last skating days in their childhood. So it was very exciting to be back on skates.
They did great!!
Some were more nervous then others, and some were clearly better at skating then others. But all of them had fun and were super enthusiastic!




It was weird to look at the fresh meat and remembering my first practices on skates. I was scared shitless!! The wobbly legs and knees. Not having a clue about what I should or shouldn't be doing. And now I am almost ready to join the team.
And the funny thing is, when you tell these newbies that I was just like them beginning of this year, they look at you and say "yeah right! I don't believe that! I bet you're just saying that to make me feel better...".
And for those newbies out there that still think that, No we are not just saying that! We all started out not being able to skate (at one point or the other). So don't think you'll never get the hang of it, because you will!!

Seeing all these new girls struggling also gives a boost of confidence knowing how much we have progressed in this passed year. As skaters, but also as a league. Becoming more organized and really growing as a league. It was one of those great nights that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. :)

To all ADD's new girls and guys! I hope you'll stick around and kick ass on the track in a couple of months! We are happy to have you!!


- Furrrocious

Practice makes perrrfect...

So last nights practice whipped me right into this blog. I got so enthusiastic again (every time I think I cannot get any more enthusiastic...), I just really want to play roller derby!
As I explained in my first blog, we are a brand new league, haven't played any bouts yet and are still training.

When I came and joined this amazing group of women, I was able to stand on skates.... and that was about it! I had no kind of skills, no confidence on skates, and definetly lacked endurance and strength....yeah I know, nice place to start if you wanna play roller derby...

In the beginning, I had to take breaks during practice, because my body just couldn't take all the hard work. With in a couple of months I had a back injury, because I lacked the upper body strength to keep up with skating in derby stance.
I had lots and lots of moments where I just broke down and cried out all my frustrations. It sucked not being able to keep up!! But instead of quiting, like I did with things like going to the gym, I kept going! This was partly because of the will power and dream of playing derby. But it was also because for the first time in my life I experienced the power of team sports.
The girls in our league are just awesome!! Being pushed and supported, is what keeps me going during those practices that suck.

One night I came home, and told my roommate, that if I wanted to do this, I really needed to step it up... cause I wasn't going to get there if I just attended one practice a week.
So I did. I started training more, and the past few months I have been training 3 times a week. And it works! :)
I feel confident on my skates, my skills are better, I don't have to take breaks during practice and the strength in my body amazes me every day!! :D

So I am getting there, slowly but surely, with the help and support of my team!!

Last nights practice was another one of those 'nights of firsts'.
I little while ago I was finally able to do one single push up. I know this sounds like nothing to most, but let me tell you. When you weigh around 220 lbs and have not done a whole lot of working out, my body was just not ready to push all this weight of the ground!
So last night, for the first time ever, I was able to do 20!! With my girls cheering me on for the last two, I made it! And I felt good! If we all had a bunch of awesome derby girls cheering us on when you are trying to work out at home, we would all do so much better!!

But back to the story... So feeling good making those push ups, we started endurance....or as I like to call it: HELL!! We need to be able to leap the official sized track 25 times in 5 min. I am not the only one who hasn't been able to do this yet. But I am definitely one of the worst...
Well it didn't go very well, I couldn't find the right pace to skate in and my form was just crap. But I did it, and didn't make enough rounds, but did improve myself. I did more laps then last time, even though this time sucked. So I felt good about myself anyways! :)

Then we had to do some weaving exercises....something I can do, with 8 wheels on the track... Seeing my teammates weave between those cones on one leg for months, I was getting very frustrated with this part of the skills...
But, another first happened!! :) For the first time I was able to do it!! On one leg and without crashing into any cones.
I think the whole neighborhood was able to hear my screams of excitement! :D

It was a good night all around. Another great night of firsts!

So yeah, just a couple more weeks before we are taking our WFTDA test. Which is, for those who don't know, a minimum skills test. (Check it out here)
I am excited about it, I want to make it and start scrimmaging! But I am not sure I will make it. We'll see though, and if I don't make it this time, I will just have to push myself harder and harder until I do get there! Cause I am on my way to play!!


- Furrrocious