How Derby found me.

When it comes to passions some of my earliest and happiest memories involve me on quad roller skates. I didn’t grow up a rink rat, but I did spend several Friday nights with music giving me the fuel to propel my little legs forward. My traditional artistic white classic lace ups with pom-poms over the toes served me until I was twelve. Limbo and going fast was my thing. Hearing the wind whistle in my ears as the air caressed my hair behind me, even if only for a moment made me smile. Racing past other skaters and looking over my shoulders causing my hair to stick to my face with sweat made me feel alive. All the girls wanted me to teach them my cross-overs. Eventually I grew out of my skates.

fear my pom-poms 

Then when I was seventeen, rollerblades were the thing. This one time, I wandered into a sports store and there the blades were, in my size, in a big box. I tried on a pair and promptly busted my ass. Blades only have ONE stopper and it was in the back. No more toe stops in the front. I pulled myself up holding on to hanging sleeping bags for support and as I was rolling around and falling I felt that brief moment of wind in my hair again and was sold. 

the breaks wear out faster than the skates did

Years later, I saw a flier in my gym teaching women how to skate safely. They promised we would learn how to fall, get up, cross over, rotate & clean the wheels, and make sure our safety gear was on right. Basically kind of derby years before derby revived. 

Get low!

I have vague memories of banked track derby on TV at my Grandparents and cousins houses growing up. I knew it existed, but it never got my full attention. I have very specific, very powerful memories of derby touching me as an adult. The first was when Charlie’s Angels Drew, Cameron & Lucy came out with the sequel and had a very very brief scene on skates all glammed up on a banked track. It made me love the campiness of the movie even more. 

Natalie, Dylan & Alex - Charlie's Angels

Drew Barrymore took it a step further and made Whip It. I remember the commercials for the trailer but didn’t manage to sit down and watch it until spring 2010. I sat there on my roommates couch and bawled my eyes out at the awesomeness of this movie. It was like Bend it like Beckham, and Mulan, and Pocahontas, and Little Mermaid and the X-Men all in one. Within the next year, I started to see random pictures of bouts in the DFW area on my facebook feed. What really stuck out for me were the reaction and comments to the Derby players names. (this past summer I tried to track down some of those posts and it turns out that I actually know and skate with them now). At the time I was working in the bar scene and I would see fliers and posters in bars promoting a bout, but because I usually worked nights and weekends, all I could do was admire the raw grit of the beautiful women on the tiny fliers.

Babe Ruthless | Bliss | Ellen

In summer 2011 I met Will, who was in his early forties. He has these slalom videos on his facebook feed of him doing things on his blades that to this day still blow my mind. Will told me I have the power to live my life my way, on my terms. Like his moves on his blades, I didn’t believe him… then.

Fast forward to spring 2013. Mentally crippled by the loss of my cousin Mannie to brain cancer in January, I was drowning in grief. I was miserably unhappy with my slow steady weight gain after leaving the (bar) service industry. I was no longer running my ass off on a daily basis to pay my bills. I felt I was only living to work, making myself miserable sitting in traffic, working, repeating the traffic cycle only to retreat to the comfort and safety of my couch, Hulu and Netflix.

Mannie on a race day

Then one day, [More Wood or as I knew her, Susan] stepped into my office, the way she did on all her other visits to me. Her thighs and hamstrings were covered in bruises. Instantly I wanted to maim whoever did this to her. She heartily laughed it off, confusing me and making me even angrier. Then proceeded to tell me all about derby, her experiences with the sport and why she was drawn to it. By the end of her appointment, I was happier than I had been in months. The first opportunity I had I drove to Roller Girl Skates, met Peaches in Pain, bought my rookie package and went next door to Interskate.

Interskate in Lewisville

The last time I skated was in 2004 on blades. The last time I skated on quads was probably when I was twelve. The rink was empty except for two moms and three girls under eight. I didn’t bother to put on my pads, only my skates. I wasn’t dressed to sweat. I strapped my skates to my feet anyway. I fell down, I got back up anyway. I kept falling down and kept getting back up. Then she walked in the rink. And I had one of those life defining moments where when you look back, you KNOW your life changed. More Wood and this woman were going to free me from my couch prison.

This women walked in, no children in tow. She sat down and started her ritual. I slowed down my skating to watch her out of the corner of my eye and tried to not make it look like I was staring. She put on ALL her gear: knee pads, elbow pads, wrist guards, helmet, mouth guard, arm bands, scrimmage shirt, derby socks and of course her skates. She looked like the raw bad ass women I saw in the posters in bars years earlier. She was Whip-It in the flesh. 

Major Lee Joneszen - yes she is playing co-ed Derby

I tried to stay out of her way and not act like was watching. She did some warm-up laps around the track a few times, eventually working up to sprints. She did things on her skates I didn’t even dream you could do. She made her skates make theses noises I didn’t think were possible and she was FAST. And I was in love. I was in love with her name too: Major Lee Joneszen and her number: 28 days. Eventually the woman that sold me my skates came out and the two of them did derby things together. I worked up the courage to ask about some of the moves and what shocked me the most was just how friendly they both were. The two of them mentioned both DFW leagues; the Dallas Derby Devils and Assassination City just so happened to have practice that night.

Assassination City Roller Derby

I did my best to get from Lewisville, to my apartment in Oak Cliff to shower and change into workout clothes, and rush to Mesquite as fast as I could. The rink I walked into had even more derby players. I felt like I was in heaven surrounded by beautiful warriors. Their workouts made my jaw drop to the floor and left me speechless. I found out I wouldn’t be able to join for another week and a half because signups were only at the beginning of the month. I talked to other skaters who said they did social skates at other rinks on non practice days. I left feeling even more hopeful and happy than I felt in a while.

I joined the warrior tribe :)

I think about what Will said a lot. Sometimes when I’m skating and the wind hits my ears just right I hear a hint of my cousin Mannie laughing like he does and sometimes it takes my breath away; other times it pushes me forward the way the music did years ago.