I 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!

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.
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.

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.
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. This time this was not the case at all!
All the different people in the committees have really taken on their tasks and made sure they were done they way that should be.
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.
And this just makes this day before our big day so much more relaxed.
Knowing that everything is taken care of.

They say it takes a village to raise a child. Well let me tell you, it takes a derby community to hold a bout!
No less then 100 people are involved in some way to make sure that this bout will be a success.
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.
You can have 100 skaters if you want, but without an officials crew you can't have a bout.
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.
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!



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.

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.

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.
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.




(View it here online - starts around 14.55).












And on Thursday two of our members were featured on a radio show.

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.


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!!

- Furrrocious