So you've found Roller Derby....
...good for you.
Following an ambition or even just getting involved in something new is both incredibly exciting and shows the kind of quality's I go for in a person. There is so much more to life to experience than sitcom re-runs. That's not to say that there isn't a time and place for that kind of thing. I quite enjoy a night on the sofa when the mood takes me.... I digress.
When I look back at the years I have spent with wheels on my feet, I have experienced every possible feeling from this sport. From acceptance and ambition to euphoria and exhilaration. But sadly, that's not the only end of the spectrum my emotions have landed. Disappointment, isolation, jealousy, anger, paranoia and depression have also reared their ugly heads far too frequently. And if you'd had the ride I had, you'd probably understand.
Every single time I've been slapped in the face with reality, clawing at my back to remove the last dagger planted there, I wished that someone, somewhere had spoken up and told me what it was really like to skate in this brutal (in more ways than one...) sport.
Every blog that you read (except the odd one, buried somewhere in the recesses of blog history) will tell you how amazing it's going to be and claim that no negative experiences will ever be had once you're part of this AMAZING SISTERHOOD. The ones that sing from the opposite side of the hymn sheet will be quietly closed down. Nobody wants to talk about the real, bogus side.
So here I am. Spreading the word. You may think I'm a negative nancy for delivering such dark news that it ain't all gonna be unicorns and lollipops. And I'd just like to clear this up right now: skating is my life. If it's my choice, I will die on my wheels. It's everything to me. I just wish that somebody had been there when I needed to say "I love roller derby but fuck, this sucks sometimes!" rather than me being drowned in the careful brain washing that those indoctrinated will find, albeit in secret, suffocating.
This blog is for the newbs and the vets alike. It's for the people who want to feel they're not alone when staring down the barrel; it's for the knock-knee'd beginners who want a balanced view of what they've signed up for; it's for the cynics who just can't read another saccharine-sweet account of roller derby changing lives.
I present to you: Roller Derby Realism. The "warts and all account" of what it is to be a Roller Derby skater.
Enjoy, people of wheels.