Introduction

Almost a year ago, I saw my first derby bout. My friend, Betty LaRude, had given me a pair of comps to get me to see a bout. At this point I'd known she was involved in derby since 2006 but had yet to see a bout. I'd overheard derby conversation and would just smile and nod. Upon realizing that it was the championship bout, I got my act together and went to the bout.

Wow! It was amazing! Here was something that I started to think might be fun to do. The best part was that I had so many friends who were either in derby or thought derby was cool that they were all encouraging me. My friends Betty and Rink lent me a bunch of gear to start off with but I was terrified to skate.

Just under a year later, a group of friends and I were at another derby bout. One of my girl friends thought derby looked fun and thought we should both try. Now, almost 2 months later, I'm starting to want to skate all of the time but I've also realized that I want to keep track of my progress. I've read other blogs lately about people who are in their first year in derby. While I intend on trying out this June, I'm not sure yet whether I'll make it. I have been told that I shouldn't put myself down as I could make it. I do know that I'll want to look back on this someday and remember what exactly it was that I did. I want to see my process.