Well how did that happen?

Today at practice, I had to leave early due to work but there was a big, no, a HUGE eureka moment for me today.

This was our first non-assessment practice on skates. For all I know, it was also our first practice entirely on skates (that whole leaving early thing leaves one in the dark sometimes). We started with a warm-up of 80/100s. First, I realized that I no longer hate this drill. I mean, it's still hard (skate at 80% speed for a minute, then at 100% speed for 30 seconds and then back to 80%, repeat) but I don't feel as though I'm going to die. Second, to my surprise, my feet didn't hate me either and actually moved most of the time. It's still not all of the time but it's certainly more than it use to be and I'm certainly gaining speed. I was vaguely aware of people telling me that I was looking good when I'd zip past them. And I think I was actually zipping past people.

I wasn't looking forward to practice. I knew I'd have to leave early and I've been in a funk the last couple of days. Personal life can sometimes take it out of you and it certainly has been draining for me. I was so angry and frustrated last night that I couldn't even lay down to sleep until almost 2am and that was mostly because I killed my phone's battery and it seemed like too much effort to get out of bed to charge it so I could keep wasting time. Sleep didn't come easily and I certainly didn't feel rested. So I wasn't really looking forward to practice because I was convinced that I'd be too much in my head and that I'd not get anything out of it. Add on top of it that my skates, my lovely Vanilla Curves which I love and adore, aren't really good derby skates. There's no support in the ankle area because they're jam skates and you want loose ankles when you jam skate. So now, instead of buying new boots, I'm looking into temporary fixes as there are other things that are higher priority money-wise. I've spent a little time on my skates and learned at last week's practice that I've cranked down on my bushings too much so I probably need a harder set of the magic cushions. The time I spent on my skates was trying to adjust my trucks so that I wouldn't have another expense. Getting them loose enough so that the bushings are bulging makes them too loose for me so I've combined my old, really hard bushings with the magic cushion, which seemed to do the trick.

When we were allowed to skate before practice started, I let me worries and anxieties and all the other things that would keep me in my head and felt myself pushing them out of my mind with every push of my skate. I don't know if there was a physical difference to be seen in me but it certainly felt different.

After warm-ups and stretching, we worked on edging. Somehow I ended up towards the higher end of skill level (we were to self-assess and I put myself in the middle; when groups were formed, my group was the second to the high end) and I was actually okay with that. See, I've had a problem with skating knock-kneed. To fix this, I've been doing a lot of sticky skating which means I've gotten to know pretty well where to find my edges. Of course, finding them when I'm being deliberate and trying to build up certain muscles and knowing where they are and using them all the time are two different things.

As we worked through the different drills, we got to one that I've always dreaded because I struggle with it. It's edging work where we skate around a cone. Pretty much every time I've done this, I have fallen. The whole "body-working-as-one-unit" thing usually isn't happening when we get to this drill. I didn't care though. I didn't care what I'd done in the past because I'd built on that. I'd managed earlier to fall during the 80/100s and get back up while I was still sliding, which is a new thing. It's the way it's suppose to be but I've not noticed myself doing it before. To my honest amazement, I got through the drill without falling, stumbling or flailing for the first time ever. I think I actually shocked myself a bit. It wasn't perfect but it was certainly what I was suppose to be doing.

It's often said that if you aren't falling in derby, then you aren't trying hard enough. Part of me wondered if perhaps that was true today until I got out of my skates and started walking. There are definitely muscles in my legs that aren't happy with me for the work I did today. I think often, my falling was almost a reaction, a "I have no idea what to do, but I can fall" sort of reaction. That seems to be out of my system. If I fall, it's usually that I've pushed a little harder than I realized I could go, such as during the 80/100s. When I fell, I think I was going faster than I'm use to and I did something that caused me to fall. I honestly have no idea what happened other than I was down, doing a baseball slide and then back up again. We did cone weaving and had the option of doing it on one foot, so I decided that I should try it. I didn't try it. I did it.

I know it's all been tiny little steps and hops but it's certainly caught me off-guard with how much has changed. I know that I'm not the only one who sees it either. It seems as though every practice, at least one or two more people comment about how much I've improved from where I use to be, sometimes even just where I was a week before. This is absolutely exhilarating to suddenly see so many new strengths in my body and my skills.

Clever Title Here

It's been quite the new year and I've had quite a few things floating in my head to write about, especially here. This is why I own a small notebook so that I can jot ideas down as they float into my head. Unfortunately, that's hard to do when I'm actively skating and apparently I often forget those ideas when I get back around said notebook. Hence the title to this post. I've had many clever and witty titles that would tie into exactly what I want to write about but they are simply gone for now. Instead, imagine one for me and bear with me as this goes a bit Ferret in its stream.

Small Changes Make for Awesome Results

Back in December, I found myself struggling with a couple of things. My constant enemy, transitions, seemed to be on the verge of being conquered only to find myself surprised by an old companion turning on me. Toe stop runs. Last spring, by the end of the session, I looked awesome at toe stop runs.

See? I look awesome at it!

But something happened. They were suddenly a struggle! I could do them, sort of but it was just awkward and I didn't feel confident in them. Maybe they weren't in the same place they were when this picture was taken as I had new boots now. There had to be something. I just didn't know what it was and I knew there was only one group of people who could help me. My trainers.

So I pestered them about what I might need to do in order to remedy this issue. Their advice? Get Gumball Toe Stops. They aren't expensive but they make a *HUGE* difference. I got a set for Christmas (I had a very specific Christmas list which my fiance loved as it meant he could just get me those things and know that I'd like them) and adore them.

The first time I took them out was during something called Derby Hour. Here in the Twin Cities, we're spoiled. There's the Metrodome, which apparently has sports in it (I've never been) but the awesome part is that during the winter, they open the concourse up to skaters and call it Rollerdome. With the growth of derby in the Cities, one of the workers there has managed to arrange for quad skaters (derby folk) to stay an hour later on Monday nights for a chance to work on drills. Skating there is great endurance building but it's awesome to have a huge place that will let us do drills.

The first Monday of the new year, I went to skate and stayed for Derby Hour. I know I didn't stay the whole time but I did a modified drill that I've learned from the men's league. It involves skating backwards, hearing an imaginary whistle in my head, stopping and then sprinting forward until I give myself another imaginary whistle. Then I stop and do the whole thing again. It's great to do with a partner because it helps you work on staying with your partner but for me, it was about the sprinting.

Normally I do 2 toe stop runs and then just move on my wheels. This is usually because I've just psyched myself out MAJORLY. At the end of the fall session, it was because I just couldn't feel my toe stops under me. It wasn't comfortable or right. Doing the above drill, I sprinted on my toe stops for at least 6 steps. And I didn't psych myself out and fall when I realized what I'd done either.

I'm still in awe over how one small, rather inexpensive piece of gear has caused so much change. This is the second upgrade I've made to my skates that has been at the $20 level or less. The other investment was getting a set of Magic Cushions. I've had to crank down on my trucks and I still have huge flexibility.

Growing Roots

Yet another thing happened to me in December. I got engaged. What does this have to do with my derby journey? Quite a lot actually. I'm engaged to a man who went out and bought roller skates (not cheap ones either) so that we could go skating together because he wants to support me. His daughters are now involved in roller derby.

But sometimes happy events can have a bit of darkness to them. I've had some friends not take the news well and while I know it's out of concern for me, it does make me sad and a bit anxious. One of my coaches was offering me congrats at our holiday party and wanted to know how things were going. I didn't go into detail but I did mention having some people not supportive and she asked me what I was going to do about it. I didn't know, which she really didn't believe. Before I was actually able to answer, she looked at me and told me that I had wonderful intuition but that I doubted myself more than I should. (There was probably more swearing and I'm paraphrasing but the idea is still there.) She told me to be confident with my decisions because I know what I need and who I am and what to do. This is where so many people have problems. They don't trust themselves and are full of doubt about their own ability. Not only was I getting advice on how to deal with friendships that felt strained and potentially dying, but I was getting advice about being a skater.

It felt as though I was growing roots into myself. By being rooted (yes, I know the word has many meanings), I am able to do things. I trust that a tree isn't going to fall over because it has massive roots digging into the soil. I need to do the same thing with myself. The reason I fall when I do transitions is because I'm afraid that I'll fall. I'd never realized that until after these words had been said to me. Yet, there I was, skating at the Rollerdome and I decided to do a transition at a slow speed. Before I even got halfway there, I felt the doubt and the fear, so I stopped. I knew I'd fall. Derby isn't about falling. Derby is a lot of things but it isn't about falling. Falling happens and often the falling is from pushing so hard at something your body can't do so that it will grow but the purpose isn't to fall. So I stopped myself from falling when I sensed doubt. That wasn't good soil to plant myself into (and I'd just plant myself on my backside if I did) and expect to succeed. After mentally pulling myself together, and using one of the many tricks I've got in my bag on how to do transitions, I tried again and succeed. I succeed because I believed. It took a while to get the fear and doubt back out of my head but I managed to do it.

Start to the Session

The spring session for my league has started up. This past Sunday actually but I wasn't able to make the first practice. I love my job dearly but sometimes it means I make sacrifices. I get paid to do something that I absolutely love. Unfortunately I had to work a concert instead of working.

This fall was my second session and I got to be at the first practice. Last spring I missed the first session and felt completely out of it. Who were the new people? Who were the old people? What were we suppose to do? What had I missed? In elementary school, I hated missing days of school because I was afraid that I'd miss something Important. Until recently, I was semi-convinced that I'd missed an Important Lesson on How to Be an Adult but over the last couple of years, I've decided that everyone missed that class. It's the same with derby. I can go skate and do push-ups on my own but it's not the same. Derby is very much a social sport and you build a kinship by doing all of these hard things together.

Last spring I was very apprehensive of getting close to other skaters. What if they thought I was too weird? (That would be a childhood issue rearing it's ugly head.) What if they thought I wasn't good enough? Even worse, what if they told me that I'd NEVER be good enough to do derby? So I kept to myself and the handful of skaters I already knew. In the few group things with the league skaters, I found myself more often hanging out with them than my fellows as I didn't feel as nervous around them. I was so stressed about being rejected and being the odd-skater-out, that I missed a lot of chances to connect but then I broke through a wall and started to have those connections.

This session, I'm not so worried about that. I've managed to have found myself and have gotten out of my own head. There were team mates who have seen me at the Rollerdome or elsewhere, checking to make sure I was coming back, especially after not being there the first practice. It's really great to feel connected and remembered by so many people. Even when I'm skating on my own, I think of them and it helps to give me strength.

Fatigue

Je suis fatigué. I am tired. There have been a lot of things going on in my life besides derby and as a result, this blog has gotten sorely abandoned. It wasn't intentional but there are only so many things I can do in any given amount of time and I always seem to have less time. At least one person has gently reminded me that I need to start writing again especially because of all the awesome (and not so awesome) things that have happened to me this session.

Not so Awesome

At our second on skates practice (3rd overall practice), my skates failed. Epically. The boot completely fell apart from the sole, which I was expecting to happen but had been hoping to nurse it along one more week. It didn't happen. I didn't even make it through that practice. It was that epic. We were doing testing to see where we were all going to be placed. I got through one and half of the stations, which was frustrating. I was really looking forward to really pushing myself and seeing where I was and instead, I got an incomplete picture that day. Both work and the Renaissance festival have prevented me from going to a couple of practices. It's hard to justify not being at work for derby because I love my job and sometimes there are shows that only I can work. No really, there are some shows that I have to work regardless of my feelings for the show because I'm good at what I do and I'm the most capable to do it. We also have one group that performers that I always work and I love working with them. It's a local orchestra who are amazing to listen to and fantastic people. They only time I missed a show, I'd already put in over 40 hours for a different group and couldn't do an additional 6 hours that week. Due to some choices I've made in my life, there have been some interpersonal relationships that have gotten strained. Details aren't needed but it does make for one awkward feeling Ferret.  

Awesome Things Not on Skates

Last session, I was horribly timid. I didn't really interact with the other skaters because I was shy and afraid of being judged. Middle school is good at leaving emotional scars. After an awesome summer and getting some of my shit together, I've really come out of my shell this session. I've met up with some of the other women I skate with and have gotten to know them better. I feel that I'm better able to encourage them because I'm being less harsh on myself as well. Instead of feeling like I suck and I'm horrible and I'll never get it, I simply breathe and focus (but don't think) about what I'm working on. I'm hearing the things that the coaches and assistants are saying to me instead of getting caught up in a feedback loop of negativity. This has also helped me come out of my shell. One of the skaters was having a hard time with something (I think it was weaving though it may have been turning around...) and I gave them the advice that Wet Spot, our coach, had given me minutes before. After another pass on the skill, she skated over and told me that this was what she needed to hear to get it. Last session, I would have been afraid to speak up in case I offended someone. Sometimes you get too much advice or information and can overload (at least that happens to me).

With the Epic Boot Failure came the Awesome New Boot purchase. Roller Revolution had a pair of Vanilla Curves which I love and adore. I already have an awesome plate (Powerdyne Triton) so I only need the boot. The holes on the two plates didn't line up but a friend who works there was willing to drill new holes and attach my plate the harder (but longer lasting way). I am so in love with my skates. They fit and are much more stable than the old ones. I still skate the same way but the better gear has helped me to be able to do things instead of restricting me.

My mindset about myself has really changed. Last session, I wasn't an athlete who was trying to fall back in love with derby. This session, I'm an athlete (I called myself this and one of the coaches gave me a bit of teasing for ever claiming I wasn't an athlete) and a derby skater. I'm still learning the game but I am a roller girl. I lay it all out on the track and skate as hard as I can even when I don't feel like it. I've looked for other ways to condition me to be a better skater. I've cut way back on soda consumption, which has been a hard cycle to break. Instead of completely stopping, I'm simply cutting back. My diet has also become a lot leaner which actual food and less artificial junk. Even more awesome is the fact that I now wear size 14 jeans. Back in January, size 18 jeans were tight. I weighed myself the other morning and realized I was down to 200 pounds. Weight-loss without cup-loss is awesome.  

Awesome Things on Skates

This session has been all about pushing myself. I'm getting very close to being contact ready and I know what I need to work on. I can do 23 laps in 5 minutes (this is where I got the comment about having ever said I wasn't an athlete). The Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) requires a minimum of 25 laps in 5 minutes. I know I've got those last two laps as I did that without skating the diamond or doing as many crossovers as I can. The forwards to backwards transitions are slowly coming and I have to keep reminding myself to take things in baby steps. One day while doing cone weaving, Wet Spot had me run the drill slightly differently and then got very excited, telling me to skate like that forever. I'd describe it but I wasn't looking at myself. I just know how it feels. I still struggle with stopping but I'm getting a lot better. My endurance has definitely come a long ways from where it use to be.

All of these accomplishments are cool but there's something that's even cooler. I push myself. Hard.

Last practice, we were doing some endurance work (sprinting then stopping in different ways; skating and then turning around; sprinting then coasting and then squatting) after we'd already done some intense off skates work. I can skate for a long time. It's skating and then doing something else that hurts. I have problems with the tomahawk stop and fell a lot during that but I got up every time. During the squats, I actually collapsed a few times. My quads were shaking but I still got back up. It was hard. Blindingly hard. There were tears in my eyes as I struggled to get up but I got up every time. I could hear other skaters and the coaches giving me encouragement to keep going. As we split into our two groups, my group got a bit of a chewing out. Not just a bit. We as a group weren't trying hard enough and sitting out instead of trying even though it's scary. Hanna, another coach, was understandably angry but I was proud when she said that the only one who was really trying was me. I'm proud of how far I've gotten. My self-confidence is up a million percent from where I was back in January. To hear it and to be asked how my self-confidence was doing was great. It didn't matter that my muscles were shaking and everything hurt. I knew I was doing so much better. By the end of practice, I was in tears again and had a hard time staying up but the coaches were awesome and supportive. I learned a lot and realize how much in love I am with derby again.

Vast improvements

Last week, the fall Debs session started up. We met and went over paperwork and the by-laws as well as rule number one (don't be a douche). There was socializing and hanging out with people which was nice. I haven't seen most of these women since June.

Today we had our first on skates practice. I'll admit to being nervous about going back to derby practice. Skating by myself or in a group isn't that difficult because there's no one standing there yelling at me about what I'm doing wrong or telling me to push harder. It's also considered bad form to do derby drills at an open skate. I knew that some girls had been skating over the summer and others, like myself, hadn't had time to do such. There were also new girls, who were probably going to run the spectrum of ability.

Before going to practice, I pulled out my skates and put back on my indoor wheels. I adjusted my toe stops, which I've been meaning to do since about May, and put in new laces. I think I was nearly bouncing with excitement. I got there with enough time to get my gear on and skate around the concourse a few times. We have practice in two main places; the Roy, where the MNRG bouts are held, and the Xcel concourse. I like them both for different reasons. As I was skating around, I heard my name shouted out and looked over my shoulder to see one of the skaters trying to catch up with me. It greatly amused me that I was going so fast that someone had to catch up. This wasn't exactly new but it still felt awesome.

As practice started, we divided up into where we thought we should be placed. As much as I'd love to say I'm really comfortable in my skates and should be moved up, I know that I'm not. There are still things I struggle with but I'm not going to die on my skates. After doing a brief introduction (I did get a little bored and distracted towards the end of that; there are a lot of us!), our 4 groups set out to our various stations.

I'm happy to report that the coaches I did talk to were all very pleased with how much I've improved. I know that I feel so much more confident on my skates. Something recently has clicked that tells my brain that I AM a roller girl and can do this. It's really two things. One: out at ren fest, we've also had it somewhere that you can buy soap from a derby girl and that's never been me but this year I can say that! Two: all of us are being recognized as athletes in the by-laws. I've never considered myself an athlete but leading up to the start of practice, I've started to challenge myself with physical activities. I'm working on being able to do 100 push-ups in a row (eventually that'll even be 100 "real" push-ups and not just knee push-ups) and I've done some ceilidh dancing. I've invested in a jump rope to work on cardio and well, jumping.

Right now, I'm sore and I know that not only tomorrow but that the next day are going to be sore ones but I'm loving the fact that I got a hard work-out and that I'm getting to know my fellow skaters more. It fills me with all kinds of warm and squishy feelings.

Final practice of the session or How Time Flies Faster on Wheels

It seems hard to believe it but we've reached the end of the session for derby. The silly thing is that originally we should have ended sometime around May 1st if we were keeping with a 16 or so week session. I'm happy that it was extended as it meant I got more time to skate.

Since tryouts are fast approaching (something I won't be doing with either local league this year; I've got previous commitments already and I'm not sure I'm ready to go through that stress again), the coaches opened up the last few practices an hour earlier than normal to get some more work on specific areas that people needed. This week, I took advantage of it, not because of try-outs but because Wet Spot was loaning me some wheels and I knew I'd need time to swap them out and get use to them.

Back in September, I was skating on two surfaces mostly; unfinished concrete in a hockey arena and sport core, which is a foam like substance. Before attending my last practice back then, I went out and bought new wheels for the concrete floor as the wheels I had just weren't grippy enough for me. Poisons were offered up as a good possibility for me, so I went with them.

I still believe that these were the best wheels for me at the time. I was still new enough to skating that the extra grip was helping me become a little more stable especially on the surface I was skating on. It was this last practice where I skated on the sport core for the first time. It's now been long enough that I don't remember what that felt with or how the wheels felt on them. Those sensations have long been lost to other memories and emotions of that evening.

As I skated more and more with the Debu-Taunts, I was learning more that it was my gear that was holding me back and not some sort of problem with myself and my abilities. Wet Spot, already giving me advice on plates, offered to loan me some wheels for as long as I'm using them. So Sunday he brought in a set of Zodiac wheels.

To say I was nervous about trying these wheels is a bit of an understatement. Here is was the last practice and I was possibly throwing a wrench into my game. I patiently pulled out my bearings and put them into the Zodiacs, and then got the wheels all onto my skates. Everyone else had started doing things by then (there were loose stations) but I was determined to not rush myself. I got my gear on and cautiously stood up. Everything felt so much different! I can't even begin to describe the feeling or the difference but I could feel it right away. As Wet Spot said, some of my squish was taken out, which my feet really did begin to notice. Skating a few times around the Roy, I felt all the things that I could control now. My feet could get my skates to swing side to side if I wanted them to and I could get my inside foot ahead of my outside foot when turning.

Full of glee and delight, I skated over to where Wet Spot was working with some girls. I did the footwork part and waited for him to explain the next part of the drill to the girls when I skated over to him and gave him a huge hug because I felt so much better! It wasn't a matter of changing me but getting the right gear under me.

The rest of the hour was spent working on those silly transitions. I talked with Hanna about them because I knew I could go from back to front easily but was this normal? Turns out that it was. When I asked Hanna to watch me go from front to back, she did and I managed to do it. Apparently I actually needed an audience that time to be able to perform. I watched one of the other coaches, Tiki, working with a girl on the same thing and asking her all kinds of questions so she couldn't think about what she was doing. I realized that I needed to do the same thing in a way. Eventually there was a little line of us going back and forth, working on transitions. One of the girls in my group cheered and clapped for me every time I was able to go around. At one point, while waiting, I simply stood there and flipped around in a circle. Amazing how only a few weeks ago I was convinced this was impossible.

When "real" practice started, we broke into two groups; those who were going to try out and everyone else. This meant that for the first time, really, I'd be working with girls from the higher levels on things. We started with skating backwards in the correct direction for a few laps when we switched to going forwards in the wrong direction. At least all of our muscles were worked then!

It's only been a few days but I can't rightly remember everything that we did anymore. I know that there was pack work and that I got to learn about whips and hits for the first time. The biggest thing was feeling like a team instead of individuals all trying to get better. With the mix of girls in the packs, there were different skill levels working together to try to make the pack work. I learned that even with better wheels, I'm still going to fall (though it took a lot longer into practice for me to fall than normal) but that I can make up speed now. I can skate through one pack and catch up with my pack without completely dying. For the first, I also fell and had to take a couple of minutes to recover. I think in the past, I've never been surprised by my falls but this one took my completely off guard and was a hard one. I don't know if the fall hurt or if it was the shock to my system that had me stopped for as long as I was.

One of the last things we did was one of the first things we did at our first skating practice. We were given the option to see how many laps we could do in 2 minutes, the length of a jam. I honestly wasn't going to do it. I was exhausted and felt I could barely stand but one of my team mates was going to do it by herself so I bounced up (as much as I could bounce at this point) and go onto the line with her. I did end up falling (twice I think) but managed to skate the diamond pattern on the track sans all the crossovers. Even with the falling, I made it 9.5 laps around the track.

A year ago, I probably would have been lucky to make it 5 times around, especially after such a hard practice. A year ago, I would have been agonizing over every second and wondering when it was going to end. Today, I didn't count the laps or worry about the time. I thought about breathing and following that diamond, keeping my feet moving and listening to my team mates cheer me on. I reminded my body that 2 minutes really isn't anything and if I could make it through the lap I just did, what is one more? I hope somewhere there's a copy of what I did in January as I'm curious how much, if any, I improved because it sure felt like an improvement.

The biggest and most important thing, I finally feel like this is my team. I've been holding back, not wanting to open up and get hurt again but this practice something shifted. Like the click of a well placed bearing in a wheel, I suddenly felt I wasn't fighting against something but working with a wonderful group of women. This small shift makes me a little sad as it was our last official practice and it finally clicked for me. Many of these women won't be around for the next session either due to jobs or school or simply not having the time to do derby but there's one thing they will always be: My Team Mates.

A matter of thrift

For those who don't know, roller derby is an expensive sport. There's all the required equipment which ranges from cheap to insanely expensive and it all eventually needs to be replaced as skating takes it's wear on it. On top of this are all the little things that you don't think of. In the past year, I've been through about 3 or 4 pairs of laces and I wasn't even skating full time. Tights get chewed up by the Velcro on your pads. Then there's the gas money to get to practice. Parking once you get there. If you happen to live in a cold place that insists on winter for longer than it should (such as here in Minnesota), then you find yourself paying money to go to a roller rink to still be skating. Nine dollars doesn't seem like a lot until you start adding them all up.

Some women insist on having everything new. If they aren't prepared for how much gear costs, even the average stuff isn't cheap, it can be sticker shock, especially if you buy it all at once. A lot of places online even have fresh meat packages to help lessen the blow to the wallet. Some things you shouldn't get used or at least not use for very long if they're used. Helmets and pads do eventually wear down and no longer protect. It's good for someone who isn't sure if they really want to do derby yet but want to try it out to see if they enjoy it. It's a huge invest just to find out that who don't have the drive to keep going at it.

I'm very lucky in this regard. I first heard about derby through friends of mine. I knew them through the local Renaissance festival and got to know them better by working at the festival for them. During the off-season, I helped making product and getting ready for other festivals. A lot of the talk centered around derby this and pivot that. This was a completely new language being spoken and I couldn't follow it for the life of me. After working 3 seasons at fest, Betty gave me tickets to come see a bout so I would understand. All of the women had been given tickets to give to someone who had never been to derby. I went, eventually, and I loved it. While having dinner sometime shortly after that, I mentioned that I might want to do derby. Before you could say "go to the box", I was being handed a pair of skates and a bunch of old pads.

I wouldn't get around to using any of it for about 9 months as I was too afraid to go by myself and busy schedules kept Betty and I from meeting up. But I had gear for free. When I did finally start skating, I did have to use rental skates as the skates I'd been given were too good (and they had really really crappy bearings in the wheels) though I did eventually get to those skates. I slowly bought new things as I needed them. First bearings (I was given a set of nicer wheels) and then better pads. Eventually another pair of wheels and my own helmet.

I would eventually learn that the skates were actually too big though I didn't know that. They fit in the same way my tennis shoes fit but it turns out that you want skates to be tight like a glove. Luckily for me, another woman who was trying out with me happened to have an extra pair of skates which she wanted to sell. We met up and they fit like a glove. For the bargain price of $40, I had a "new" pair of skates.

That was last June. I've since gotten a new set of plates for free for those skates. They were a step up but still holding me back. I was going to invest some money and get a step up in plates. Still not the best plates but better than what I had. When I went into the local shop I prefer (there's nothing wrong with the other one but it's connected to a tattoo parlor and the muted sounds of the needles cause me to go light headed), I was told that I was getting even better plates for less. The woman who had sold me the skates was getting new plates onto her current skates and was going to sell the old plates. So now I'm getting a huge step up for, yet again, $40.

As I chatted with the guy who works there (another good friend who has done some work on my skates for free or for hugs) commented that it's crazy where you can find "old" skating stuff and that this woman spent a lot of time on ebay. I don't have the patience or attention span for ebay but I did wonder about craigslist. I found a couple of listings, including skates that someone had bought last year, tried out in and didn't make it and never had the time over the last year to get better. So they were selling them for $90, a pair of skates that normally runs about $145.

I've been lucky to know people who have heaped help onto me without having to do much research. I do know that it is possible, with a little bit of effort, to find great deals. There are various other derby sites and blogs that offer links to second hand derby sites and groups. I'm currently too lazy to go look them up but it's awesome to know that the community understands the price of gear and is willing to help people out so they don't have to dump a ton of money into something that they don't end up loving. If they do end up loving it, then they start to buy new and better equipment, keeping that old stuff around for the next generation of skaters. I'm sure my current stuff will eventually become loaner gear to someone else. That first pair of good wheels I got have been loaned out in fact. This not only saves another woman from forking out money for (in this case wheels) gear that she might not end up liking, but it helps foster a sense of community.

Who knew that bargain hunting could lead to a great sense of community?