Block around the clock - 24 hours of Roller Derby awesomeness

Over 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.
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 Dom City Dolls, and they took on the challenge of organizing this Sk8 the Netherlands 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. 

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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.

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.
Even though she was very busy, she pulled off providing us with this amazing artwork.

Artwork by Tara Armov - Notorious RED

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.
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.

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.

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.

Picture by Branko Colin

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.

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.

In the end I personally played 17 scrimmages and coached 1, making it a total of 18 scrimmages. And I slept 1 hour.

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.

I will now post some different pictures and links, so you can get a bit of a feel for what was going on.

The Derby Shop - the newest derby shop in Amsterdam was present for all your gear problems
Picture by Branko Colin

There were womens games as well as co-ed games.
Picture by Branko Colin

There were 6 teams competing against each other.
Picture by Branko Colin

Officials from all of Europe!
Picture by Branko Colin

We had a live stream and shout outs. This was our very sophisticated shout out system.
Picture by Branko Colin

The wall of awesomeness! Where people could sign up for Challenge bouts.
Picture by Branko Colin

The ladies from Sk8 the Netherlands arrived around 20.00 after skating +/- 130 km to Amsterdam
Picture by Branko Colin

One of my very favorite challenge bouts men vs women. And yes the women won! :)
Picture by Branko Colin

What a great game!
Picture by Branko Colin

The wonderful Officials that worked their asses off to make this event into a success.
Picture by Branko Colin

A big part of the skaters, officials and volunteers of Block around the clock!
Picture by Branko Colin

And here is a video made by the wonderful people of Bureau Feestbeest who made sure there was 24 hours of DJ'ing during this event.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=457422721023733

It was a wonderful event. Thanks to everybody involved.

- Furrrocious

Being involved in derby - part 1: Officially Official

Being involved in derby
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.

Picture by Christopher Yarrow

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.
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.
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 feel the excitement you feel right before the first whistle, you don't feel the pain shooting through your body when you get a great hit, you don't feel your body working hard and you definitely don't get the same feel for the game as when you play. 

So what can you do to get more of a feel 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.
I found that a good way was by being a part of the game. And not as the hooligan, but as an official.

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.

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. 

For me, being a skater (first and foremost), this made a huge impression. Realizing how important our officials are for our game. 

But it did more then just give me respect for officials. It gave me that feel for the game, without being able to play. 

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. 

And it was a great experience. 

After this first time I went on to NSO the first German Meisterschaft: Roll DMC.

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. 



The officials crew for Roll DMC
Picture by Michael Wittig

 

Accept for feeling like a part of the game, getting more of that feel for the game and gaining more respect and understanding for officials I also noticed something else. 

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.

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.

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. 

But I do try and NSO at tournaments and a bout every now and again. 

And I still feel I learn something new every time. 

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. 

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. 

 

So yeah the conclusion of this blog post is that I love NSO'ing. For several reasons:

• You get to be part of the game and get a feel for the game more then when you are in the audience. 
• You get to be part of the funnest team no-fun there is
• You get to facilitate the BEST sport in the world
• You learn so much more about the rules and the way stuff is called
• (a lot of times) I learn more about game play then while screaming my lungs off in the audience 

 - Furrrocious

24 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! :)
There will be room for womens teams, mens teams, pick up scrimmages (female and co-ed) and challenge bouts (more info, scroll down).
I'm just so stoked that this is happening. It makes me giddy, slightly nervous and hyperactive all at the same time. :)

Here is the press release from our league:

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!
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.
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 Facebook page.
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.
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 SAVE THE DATE! You surely don’t want to miss this.
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.

For more info keep an eye out on our website.


- Furrrocious

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

Everybody can be a hero in Roller Derby

Like loads of us 'newer' derby girls, we'd seen Whip it! and got enthusiastic about the sport.
The one message in Whip it! that stuck by me, is "You can be your own hero!".
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.."
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!

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.
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.
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.

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! ;)  

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.
 

 My BUTT is big
and round like a letter C
And ten thousand lunges 
Has made it rounder
But not smaller
And thats just fine.
Its a space heater
For my side of the bed
It's my embassador
to those who walk behind me
Its a border collie
That herds skinny women
away from the best deals
at clothing sales
My butt is big and that's just fine
And those who might scorn it
Are invented to kiss it



The only thing was that the picture didn't fit for me...
So I made a new one:

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.
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.

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!
But then it started to get shared by different people. Even people I didn't know.
It also got shared by a league called Stone Cold Foxes Roller Derby from Junction City KS, and their founder and coach Jersey Vicious re-posted it, with a messaged that I related to very well, she pretty much grasped the idea of it the whole picture:

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.
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.
So put on those skates and work hard, because you can be your own hero!!

- Furrrocious 

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

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

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