Luck of the Roll

Welcome New Bombshells

2011-12-28T20:40:00.000-08:00

We welcomed our newest Bombshells last night, I can't divulge the location of where this initiation took place as there are rules against it, actually two rules to be exact but I can tell you good times were had, we drank, we laughed and we heckled. I am so excited about the 2012 season, our team and the energy that is in the air and on the track. With the "veteran" Bombshells and the fresh blood of our newest teammates, I just have an excellent feeling of what we can accomplish. Here's to 2012!

2012 Bombshells Roster:

Angelina Rollie
Candie Hooligan
Cleopatra Catastrophe
Emma S. Enforcer
Foxee Firestorm
Hell Louise
Liv N. Letdie
Inflict Her Pain
Polly Kneesya
Pippi Hardsocking
Queen Litigious
Shamrock N. Roller
Sharon D. Payne
The Kid

Coach - Roxy Scarmichael

Just Waiting

2011-01-15T09:46:00.000-08:00

On Monday we had tryouts for our teams, to either make the Bombshells, Hellcats or Sirens. I played two seasons on the Bombshells (or All Stars) and then took last season off to have my beautiful Liliana. I stayed active with the league as a coach and one of the main reasons for doing that was I wanted to keep my mental game fresh and to stay in touch with the league, the players and the game. I am now back in full swing (started skating about 5 weeks postpartum), skating up to 3 days a week. I am putting it all out there, on and off the track. I have been doing Yoga every day to build up my core strength, to stretch and lengthen my muscles, to get more fit, improve my agility and become a better derby player all around. I have been sore for almost two weeks now, which makes it a little hard to do what I want while skating but it feels really good to be sore like this and I can already see results from the Yoga in how I'm playing derby.

The day of tryouts I was so anxious, I really did have that feeling of butterflies in my stomach. So many people asked me why I was nervous or told me how silly I was being for feeling that way. Just because I once was a Bombshell and played there for two seasons, doesn't mean I will be placed on that team when I return. That reality was creating the uncontrollable feelings in my stomach that finally subsided once tryouts began.

Today is Saturday and we are waiting for the teams to be posted; we were informed at tryouts it wouldn't be until Monday that they would be finalized. My hopes are to be a Bombshell once again and to play on the WFTDA team for the Santa Cruz Derby Girls. I know that I have to work harder tomorrow than I did today to be at the level I was when I left but I really don't feel that far off. My knowledge and understanding of the game is far greater than it was when I left. My body may not be quite where I once was but that will come along so quickly between practices, lifting weights and doing Yoga. And I may have a lot going on in my life, a full-time job, a part-time job, two kids, a husband and whatever else distracts me from derby but that doesn't mean I want it any less or am going to work any less harder than the person who does not have these responsibilities. I am and always have been a hard working and determined individual who gives my all in all aspects of my life. Derby is no different and I will not be brought down by the naysayers. I may not live for derby, it does not solely define who I am but I am in love with it and will play it and will give it everything I've got as long as I am able.

One Week Down...51 to go.

2011-01-09T13:07:00.000-08:00

I am not really counting the weeks of 2011 because I am going to enjoy taking this year slow, experiencing and being with every moment as much as possible. We had our first week of the 2011 season this week, with our first practice on Monday. The positive energy was palpable and it felt really good to see everyone on the track excited for the first practice of the season. There is something different in the air at our warehouse and it's good I tell you.

The first practice we focused on stride and basics. I have been skating for many years and spent many years in my childhood skating at a competitive level. When we started working on stroke I went into automatic pilot and just started doing what I know and was taught. But as I was skating around, I remembered a seminar I had recently attended where the speaker told us the four most damaging words in the English language are "I already know that." And it's true, think about it, if you constantly say to yourself, "I already know that," you will never explore something different that might just be better. When I came to this mental realization, I reset my thinking and I decided I was going to try something different. So I bent my knees a bit more and brought my body slightly more forward. I found that I could really accelerate and skate faster and stronger with just a slight modification in my stance. It felt really good to know that I have something I can focus on and improve on my own in my skating.

The other thing we worked on was our stops moving at different speeds. I have no problem with turn stops at high speeds but hockey stops are relatively new to me as I just picked them up about two months ago. So now I had the opportunity to really work these stops at different speeds and found my limits of where I was comfortable doing them. At a full out sprint, I could not quite make the stop effective and found myself falling every time. So, there was another thing to push myself to improve on.

On Thursday night we had our first scrimmage of the new season and damn that was fun! Taking the skills you know about skating and derby and putting them into practice is awesome but working with your teammates and executing the "strategy" that you know is the greatest.

Team White was having a great time that night and we watched some of the younger skaters do some great things and it made the feeling in the warehouse fun, loving and encouraging for the season.

So here's to 2011, where I promise myself I will never say, "I already know that." I will open myself up to what's out there and always look at another perspective and strive to be the best I can be in 2011 for the Santa Cruz Derby Girls.

The Time Suck

2010-11-21T00:45:00.000-08:00

The Urban Dictionary defines Time Suck as:

Something that's engrossing and addictive, but that keeps you from doing things that are actually important, like earning a living, or eating meals, or caring for your children.

Raise your hand if this has been or is your experience with Derby? Now I'm not saying by any means that derby is not important because it is to all of us whom are involved with it. What I am addressing is the fact that it is utterly time consuming and you find yourself thinking about it day in and day out. The other day my husband told me that I seemed disconnected one evening and I was upset that he had said that but he was right, I was, I was thinking about derby. Derby has this way of consuming your life, your thoughts, your feelings, your relationships, whatever it might be. Is this bad? Not necessarily. For some people, derby has saved them from horrible relationships, allowed them to be healthy, provided them a new family, or even gave them a new lease on life. I think it personally saved a relationship for me and I will be forever grateful for that. We do need to realize though how much it can take over our lives in potentially a negative way and how do we keep it from eating us whole.

I spoke about managing the burn out factor in my previous post, not only must burn out be managed but we also must keep derby from becoming the time suck. We must learn to be present at home when we need to be, focus on other parts of our lives that are important and leave derby at derby as best as we can. Here are some ways to create some balance if you find yourself becoming uberly consumed by derby:

1. Go to practice, skate your heart out, go home.

2. Do your committee work as needed, be efficient and do it right the first time.

3. Do not take on any more then you need to, learn to say no.

4. Check in with your family and non-derby friends to make sure their needs are being met too.

5. Step back every once in awhile and reevaluate Steps 1, 2, 3 and 4.

Anyone who's involved in derby know it's a community and it can change your life for the better. As women, wives, and mothers, we need derby to fulfill our needs and give back what our family cannot necessarily give us. We all need to remember though that there is life outside of derby and we cannot lose focus on that. Drew Barrymore was quoted in an interview (it was also similar to a line in Whip It) saying, "Just because you found a new family doesn't mean you throw away the old, or you can make a new family out there and you can make friends, but don't leave the ones behind that got you to where you are." Good advice Drew, good advice.

It Ain't Just Derby...This is Business!

2010-11-16T18:17:00.001-08:00

When I joined roller derby I had no idea what I was really getting myself into. I joined to play a sport and that's the only thing I thought I was signing up for. That was not what I ended up getting, not only did I get to be part of the best sport I've ever been involved in but I signed up to run a business with a bunch of strangers. Over night I became business partners with about 50 women and men with various backgrounds, interests and desires of where they wanted the league to go. As we all know, Santa Cruz Rollergirls eventually formed into the Santa Cruz Derby Girls when we decided we wanted to become a non-profit. Today, there are about 100 league members, we're working towards our 501(c)3 and we're in the midst of all of our off-season work. By December we will be holding elections for all the "important" positions in the league and there will be a somewhat new regime in charge. This new group of people will be responsible for making all the major business decisions and overseeing the rest of the league members in their duties.

I would say 90% of women who go see a bout and decide they want to play derby have no clue of what it really means to be a part of a league. Like me they think they are just joining a club to play a sport. What we tend to see is a high turnover in new members when the realities of what we're really doing sets in and they find they are unable to meet the demands it takes to not only be a skater in the league but also a part of the day to day operations. Only 50% of what we do in the league actually involves skating, the other 50% is off-skates work. Sometimes I feel like I was duped into running the derby business, the sport was dangled in front of me and I couldn't resist and once I was hooked the other shoe dropped and I realized I was knee deep and I wasn't going to escape. I say this in a joking manner as I would never change anything that I've done or experienced because I've grown so much as a person, learned a lot about business and have had one of the greatest times of my life but honestly I never thought I would have done all the work I've done today when I first decided to join.

The question I'm starting to ask myself is how do we continue to bring in new members as more leagues pop-up in every nearby city? How do we retain the members we have with the amount of work that is required to not only be a skater but a member? To continue to be successful the workload will increase and our WFTDA membership means more bouts, more time away from our families and more money to travel. This derby thing is really another full-time job, it's not a recreation and we need to continue to bring in members who want to skate but also want to see the league succeed as a business. This is not just derby, it is a full-blown business that requires everyone to work hard and pitch in, there's no room for people to slack off.

If I could press the "Staples" Easy button, I would present myself with two choices. Choice #1 would be to just be a skater, all of the skaters would do just that, skate. There would be other members who would deal with all the business aspects of the league. There's one inherent problem in this, would we as skaters want a say in how the business is being run and the decisions are being made. It would be a hard change for us to make but if we could do it, I think we would find ourselves better players because our focus could be 100% on being athletes and derby players. Choice # 2, I would make us all be paid employees and skaters. Instead of paying to play and run the business, we would BE paid to skate and work. I would seriously kick some ass in the business if this was truly my full-time job, if I could commit the 40 hours a week that I put towards my paying job to derby.

But these dreams are not our reality and I don't know that they ever will become true. Until that day comes, I will have to continue to perfect a little thing called moderation. Every derby girl has to strive to avoid the dreaded Burn Out that tends to occur at least once a season. My goal for next year will be to keep from reaching Burn Out, I am taking on less work and am going to learn to say "No" when asked to do more than I know I can handle. Between a full-time job a part-time job, a new baby, a five year old son, my derby widow and all the other things I want to accomplish, it's going to be imperative for me to not let derby overtake my life as it has done in recent seasons. So not only am I making my comeback in the 2011 season but I will be fighting my natural urge to take on everything. It sounds like I just made a New Year's Derby Resolution but I'm not quite ready to make it official, it will have to wait for my end of the year blog post where I settle on all my resolutions for 2011. For now, I'm mulling over the idea that derby is more than a sport, it's a business and we need to remember that we have to run a business but we can never forget why we joined up in the first place, to play DERBY!

Beware of Velcro

2010-11-11T17:28:00.000-08:00

10 Reasons Why I Hate Velcro:

Reason #1: Velcro Burn. Someone hits you and their fresh Velcro scrapes your skin, it really hurts.

Reason #2: It ruins your tights if it gets stuck to it as your putting on your knee pads.

Reason #3: Someone hits you and unstraps your Velcro from your pad and you are having to adjust it mid skate.

Reason #4: Someone hits you and their Velcro attaches to your Velcro and now you are stuck together.

Reason #5: It snags and ruins your uniform.

Reason #6: If it detaches from the material that it's sewn to, it's no longer effective and you have to duct tape your shit down.

Reason #7: When you wash your gear, if you don't strap down the Velcro perfectly, it gets stuck to each other and it's annoying detaching a big glob of pads stuck together.

Reason #8: When it starts to wear out, it's not effective anymore and you have to buy new pads, even if everything else is functioning great.

Reason #9: Velcro is fickle, it either works too well or not well enough, you never know how it's going to react on any given day.

Reason #10: There is no quiet way to take your gear off during practice when you are trying to do so during a team talk.

So now if a company could find a way to make silent Velcro that would fit perfectly on every skater and not ruin your uniform and tights, I would buy stock in that.

It's REALLY Early, Why am I Awake?!?!

2010-11-10T03:38:00.000-08:00

There's nothing like being up at 3:30 in the morning feverishly cleaning poop out of your daughter's clothes before the stain sets in wondering why does she always poop all the way up her back in your favorite outfit that you just put on her for the first time. Then returning to the bed to realize you are too wide awake to climb back into bed with your husband, two kids and both cats to lay there in the small amount of space left in your king size bed staring up at the ceiling for the next couple of hours, mind racing only wishing that you could just fall back asleep. I just can't bring myself to do it, so instead I decide to head to the kitchen to investigate what awoke me in the first place, something hitting the floor in the kitchen. Now I'm searching the floor for the push pin that held up the calendar that was finally knocked off the wall by the heater starting up which then pushed hot air up the wall thus knocking the push pin out of the wall causing the calendar to fall. When it happened and woke me up, I immediately in my head blamed it on the cats, the punchline being that it wasn't really the cats fault BUT the calendar does have cats on it, so in essence they are party to blame? The 3:30am out of bed, cleaning poop and searching for a push pin with sleepy eyes would not be complete had I of not walked outside to my car to get my laptop to write this epic tale of morning bliss to realize that I had left my keys in the door the night before as I rushed to get the kids in the house and to bed. I'm just feeling lucky right now that some hoodlum didn't see my keys in the door and take my car for a joyride, along with my purse and my computer because in this neighborhood, although in the middle of a very family-centric part of Santa Cruz, we tend to get hit by thieves quite often. (I know this is riddled with past/present tense issues and first person to third person changes, but it's too damn early to figure out how to write it properly, so I apologize.)

I have no idea how to even transition out of the above paragraph so I'm not even going to try, I'm moving on to the real reason why I'm writing on this cold and dark morning. The last month has been extremely eventful not only in my own life but in derby. Let's quickly recap my personal ventures, I went to Western Regionals, while there became amazingly ill (don't be fooled by the photo), sat miserable in the stands and watched some of the best derby I have ever seen, interviewed Hurt Reynolds from DNN (stay tuned for that interview) and thankfully made it home to wind up staying sick with some form of a flu/cold for the next month, yes month! Half way through that month my husband was terminated from Chili's for a complaint he received by a customer, let me spare you the details, bottom line it was utter horseshit. Silver lining? It was time for him to move on with his work life and we are taking this as a blessing and his chance to get his business started, something he has been discussing over the last year. We are tightening up the belt and making it happen. I'm also starting a new business venture, which I have yet to reveal to the masses, only a handful of my closest friends and family know about it, another thing you will have to await to hear about. I celebrated my 6 year wedding anniversary with my hubby (11 years together) we have truly made it through hell and back and we are pretty damn happy. We had a blast on Halloween weekend where Auggie dressed up as Indiana Jones and Lily was a ghost. And finally, I returned to full-time work this week, which marks my daughter turning 3 months (actually as of this morning), she is beautiful, fun and has an amazing energy about her.

Oh and unless you have been living under a rock for the last month, the San Francisco Giants won the World Series! The last time they won was the year my mother was born and this year was the birth of my daughter, interesting fact. We also realized that the day they won was 11-10-10 (or 110110), which is the binary code for 54, the last year that they won...as Mojo said, spooky. Here's Auggie doing his Brian Wilson impersonation.

In the life of derby, I will again tell you about how EPIC Western Regionals was. Although I was sick, I saw Oly and Rocky Mountain play for the first time, they truly epitomize where the sport of roller derby is going. If you want to play at that level, you need to be more than just a derby girl who casually practices. You need to transform yourself into an athlete and push the boundaries to join the rankings of teams of that caliber; Regionals sparked that inspiration in me that has been benched since my pregnancy. I also got a chance to see the Bay Area Derby Girls take home third place, which gave them the opportunity to compete at Nationals (I have a video clip of the last jam, I will need to get that up on the interwebs). While at Regionals, I interviewed Hurt Reynolds from Derby News Network for my first installment of interviews that I will be starting shortly with him, to be followed by an interview with B Train from Wicked Skatewear. And my recap of Regionals would not be complete if I did not tell you that I formed a new derby crush on Juliet Bravo with the Rat City Rollergirls. She is a truly great derby player who blocks with tenacity and pivots with confidence. I hope to see her play more in the future, so I can learn to play more like her.

What else happened in the last month? Oh yes, Santa Cruz Derby Girls ended their 2010 season with a double header at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium against the Silicon Valley Roller Girls. I was unable to attend the bout due to a family function but I heard the Harbor Hellcats played amazing coming out with a win and the Boardwalk Bombshells put everything they had out on the track and came close to winning in the final jam of the game. With the season over, I am coaching on skates once a week and taking any chance I have to be on skates to work on my skills to prepare me for the January 10th team tryouts. I passed my WFTDA minimum skills a couple of weeks ago and I will be taking scrimmage assessment on December 2nd to be eligible for team tryouts next year. I'm feeling like I am getting my groove back but will continue to take my time as not to cause any injury to my finally healed body. My plantar fasciitis is still a factor but it is much improved as I continue to do the necessary exercises. I have also cranked up my off skates work out routines, alternating between step class, cardio, weight lifting, plyometrics and stretching with the foam roller. As far as I'm concerned the 2011 season began for me on November 1st and I'm taking this shit seriously.

As I said earlier, my inspiration was sparked at Regionals, well it became a full on wildfire after watching Nationals last weekend. If you didn't watch, you missed out and the final game (a rematch really) between Rocky Mountain and Oly blew me away. It's inspiring to see women athletes pushing to these levels and it made me dream about one day being there myself. On a side note, there's a discussion going on on my Facebook page about some players from Oly playing in Nationals after just having babies, we're not quite sure the true story on it yet but I've decided to investigate the truth; I will let you know once I have gotten to the bottom of it. Not only do I want to know the real story to set the record straight but I'm going to use it in another writing opportunity I've been given, another thing I'm keeping close to my chest for the time being.

Right now there is a lot of change happening in my life, I'm welcoming it with open arms. I'm also extremely excited about the derby things I'm working on to share with my readers. And I cannot wait for the 2011 season to start and to really begin playing roller derby again competitively!

And just in case you were wondering, I think I finally figured out the recipe for getting the baby poop stains out of clothes - immediate attention and scrubbing with your hands a combination of soft soap and hydrogen peroxide - all poop removed and no stain to be seen.

Westernships...Here I Come!

2010-10-02T23:58:00.000-07:00

I am heading up to Sacramento tomorrow with some of my leaguemates to have my first experience at Western Regionals. Sunday is the final bouts of the tournament and I am so excited that I have the chance to go. My parents are taking on kid duty while my husband is at work and then he's on until bedtime. I will have an entire day away from home watching some amazing roller derby live. It's amazing that 6 of the 10 ranked teams in all of WFTDA come out of the Western Region. It makes for some insane competition for Santa Cruz Derby Girls next year but also means we get to compete against most of the best leagues out there. I can't wait for my alarm to go off at 6:15am and that's something I rarely ever say!

Clearing Out the Cobwebs

2010-09-30T00:04:00.000-07:00

Tonight I embarked on my "first" practice back to the league. I put first in quotation marks because I'm not practicing in the sense of being a skater, I am still acting in a coaching role and will be doing that until the next league elections, some time in December. I am coaching alongside Cinzilla who currently is unable to skate due to having the hardware removed from her leg after having screws and a plate put in secondary to a tib/fib fracture last season. She planned and ran the practice and I helped out on skates, ran a drill and worked one-on-one with the girls.

After being away for about three months, it was awesome to see how much the fresh meat have improved and how the Hellcats skaters have advanced. As for me, there was a part of it that was like riding a bike, I can still skate, stop, and weave through the paceline and then there is the other part that is listening to this voice in my head that keeps saying, "Can you really do this again? Can you come back from being gone for almost an entire year from competitive derby and become the player you once were?" Well, I sure as hell am going to find out the answer to that question because I'm one practice in and will be back next week for more.

Deep down I love coaching, helping out those that are passionate about the sport and want to learn but at the same time I am so looking forward to being a skater again. It was exciting to be back on skates last night even though I was coaching, I was able to do drills with the skaters and felt a little bit closer to being back. I may not be coaching the Bombshells anymore but the new girls need me to be there for them and help them succeed in their desires of being on a team come next season. I'm going to use the next two months or so to work through the kinks and doubts within myself, help Cinzilla train the new skaters and assist anyone else who wants my help. And come January 2011, I will be ready and confident to try out once again for the Bombshells.

Roll Out!

2010-09-28T20:35:00.000-07:00

It was indeed a week of rolling out for me. The title of this post is inspired by a movement that is taking shape created by our very own Pigeon. Yes, Pigeon, #1 on the Santa Cruz Derby Girl's team the Harbor Hellcats. Roll Out is a community outing where people meet at one location and hit the streets of Santa Cruz be it on roller skates, blades, bikes, scooters, or what have you. I participated in the very first roll out in support of Pigeon on Friday, September 17th, this also marked my first time back on skates in over 3 months. It was a beautiful night out in Santa Cruz and it felt so good to be back out rolling. The following Sunday I went for a 20 minute skate to the beach and back home, another day out on skates and I'm two sessions in. What's next for me? Practice tomorrow, of course, I'll be helping coach but I'm back on skates and working out with the fresh meat.

Before we embark on present day and a new post, I want to give a shout out to my former team, the Boardwalk Bombshells. They bouted against the OC Roller Girls on Saturday, September 25th at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium. The bout theme was Super Heroes and the Bombshells that night, all 13 of them were just that! They came together as one cohesive group, executed some great strategy and played their hearts out to the end securing a win against OC, 95 - 87. Let me add, it was my daughter Liliana's first bout, she came dressed for the occasion with her skate booties thoughtfully made by Helen Wheels of Tucson Roller Derby. It was the first of many bouts for her and I enjoyed sharing her with my derby family.

A note to my readers, my blog is taking on another aspect, not only will I be blogging about my return to roller derby but I will be featuring interviews with the top names in roller derby. The interviewees will include those that are going above and beyond either in the business aspect of derby, the playing aspect featuring the top players, coaches, refs and NSOs and the just plain fun aspect. I've already got two great interviews lined up and one in the bag. I had the honor of conducting my first interview on Saturday night with the infamous B Train from the OC Roller Girls and Wicked Skatewear. B Train took time before the bout to sit down and chat with me about derby and Wicked, so stay tuned for all the details from that interview. And if you have an idea about someone you would love to read about, go ahead and send me a message. If they are not already on my list, I will get them on it and make it happen!

Plantar FasciOWtis

2010-09-15T21:17:00.000-07:00

My return to roller derby is largely counting on me getting my plantar fasciitis under control. You may be asking, "What is Plantar Fasciitis and why does it happen?" Well I just so happened to Google it for those wondering.

An article in Medical News Today states:

"The condition occurs when the plantar fascia is strained over time beyond its normal extension, causing the soft tissue fibers of the fascia to tear or stretch at points along its length. This leads to inflammation, pain, and possibly the growth of a bone spur where it attaches to the heel bone. The stress may also result from injury, a bruise from walking, running on hard surfaces, wearing poorly constructed shoes, or being overweight. In addition, the inflammation may be aggravated by shoes that lack appropriate support, especially in the arch area, and by the chronic irritation that sometimes accompanies an athletic lifestyle."

The pain in my right foot began to bother me early last season. I found that I was getting pain on the bottom of my foot which would run up my arch and wrap around the top of my foot; this pain made it hard to stand in my skates for any length of time. Additionally, I started to suffer from cramping up the front of my leg. I was able to get through moderate practices but as soon as we started sprinting, I could not keep up, the pain was unbearable. I would have to have CinZilla and Charlie Red Stick rub my leg muscles out at practices and before games. About half way through the season, Dr. Roitz, with SOL SC, started placing spider tape up the front of my leg. The spider tape worked miracles on my cramping and allowed me to get through bouts with little to no pain.

I've been thinking a lot about why I started getting this pain in the first place and the more I've thought about it I realize that I may have been living with this pain for many years. In 2001, my husband, then boyfriend Daniel Eymann and I participated in the Aquaman while lifeguarding for Santa Cruz City Beach. The Aquaman is a run/swim from the Cement Ship in Seacliff to the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf.

You start out by swimming around the Cement Ship, and then you proceed running west along the beach. Wherever you can't run you have to swim, including swimming around the Capitola Pier, across the Harbor and finishing around the Santa Cruz Wharf. It's a rigorous event but super fun. This was my second year participating and when I hit 26th Avenue Beach the heels of my feet were killing me. I could barely run, or walk for that matter, but I pushed myself through the pain, spending a lot of time jogging on my toes (You can imagine the calf pain I experienced the week after). My feet were deeply bruised and my calves hated me, I think it took a good couple of weeks to recover from my injuries. Although 8 years has passed, I truly think that this may have been the event that spurred my present day feet issues.

Today, a lot of my issues are due to weight put on by my pregnancy, lack of wearing supportive shoes and believe it or not being barefoot on my hardwood floors. Curiously, as I was walking today, my left foot started hurting. I've been putting so much focus on my right foot that I think my left foot is now jealous so it's acting up to get some attention. My plan for recovery is to wear supportive shoes at all times, even in the house, the doctor says the only time I should be barefoot when I'm vertical is when I'm taking a shower. I am seeing an acupuncturist weekly whom also gave me liquid minerals to put on my feet and legs. I also see Dr. Roitz once a week for ART on my foot, as well as, taping. I've started exercising to drop the weight and am going to get orthotics for my shoes and skates. It's going to be a lot of work to get my feet healthy again but I know that without strong and healthy feet to support my body I cannot play derby, which is in no way an option for me.

Return of the Derby Girl

2010-09-14T20:16:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe that it's been over a year since I last wrote and sadly my last blog post before this I was pretty much saying the same thing. I have not been very good at this blogging thing as much as I enjoy doing it. It should be a priority of mine to do the things I love but as we all know other priorities have a way of taking over. I want to make a commitment to myself and my followers to bring this blog back to life, to bring the blog back to what I expected it to be when I first started writing it. To accomplish this goal I'm turning my focus to talk about my return to roller derby.

I stopped playing roller derby almost a year ago, my last bout was on October 24, 2009 at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium. My team the Boardwalk Bombshells played against Sac City and we had a very successful game where we really came together. Underneath that win, for me, was a body that was badly hurting, every day. I was dealing with foot pain, due to what has now been diagnosed as plantar fasciitis, making it very painful to be in my skates but this wasn't the worst of my "injuries", I was suffering from extreme neck pain due to a fall I took during the September 12, 2009 bout against Tucson Roller Derby's Iron Curtain. I was hit from behind, which normally would not be an issue but with the speed we were moving, the position my body was in and the place at which I was hit caused my skates to come up, I fell on my back and came down and hit my head. I'm usually the person who pops up regardless of the fall but I was down for a few seconds longer than normal. When I came up to start skating again, I was holding the back of my head. I stumbled forward a few steps and fell on my face. The refs blew the jam dead as I lay face down on the floor. I was quickly attended to by an off-duty firefighter because the medics and Dr. Roitz were busy treating Eden Yourheartout who was suffering from a bloody nose in the locker room. I left the game to be evaluated and sit out my required jams but nothing was going to keep me from finishing the game. In hindsight, I should have not gone back into that game or the subsequent games I played that season. I was most definitely concussed and suffering from whiplash.

I played the rest of the season with the neck pain, until October, and during that time it just progressively got worse. So bad in fact, I was waking up every morning in excruciating pain that would last all day. When I would go to practice, every hit or bump felt like someone taking a hammer to my neck, I started cringing every time I got hit or had to hit someone. Once the season came to an end with our final bout, I stopped playing completely, I needed to heal. I attempted after a couple of weeks of rest to practice again and with one hit, I was back to the pain. I decided it was time to really rest and that's what I did. I continued to skate but stopped all contact.

Come early December, my husband and I got wonderful news that we were expecting another baby, we were thrilled. We both wanted to have another child, we just did not think it would happen as fast as it did. It worked out perfectly though, the timing couldn't be better considering I was already out from derby because of my neck. I had already decided I was going to take some time off, rest my injuries, have a baby and apply to coach the Bombshells for the 2010 season and that's just what I did.

I coached from January to the end of June, it was hard to transition from player to coach, having played with almost all of the players the last two seasons. I did the best that I could and learned a lot about myself, my leaguemates and about the game of derby, all things that I will utilize next season to be a better player then I was when I left. I can only hope that I made a difference for some players and that they were able to learn from my time there. For myself, I feel good about what I accomplished and that I was able to give enough time for the new Bombshells Coach Payne Gretsky to learn the game, form relationships with the players and take over my position in the league. I took my formal leave from the league on July 1st to focus on my family and prepare for the birth of my baby.

On August 10, 2010 at 4:22am, my daughter Liliana Michelle was born at Dominican Hospital. I had my wonderful husband, awesome mom, and dear friend Roxy Scarmichael, who was absolutely amazing, by my side, I couldn't have done it without them. My dad was on Auggie duty that morning an equally important task (who was so excited he could not go back to sleep). It was a fast birth all together. My first contraction was about 1:30am and by 4:20am I was ready to push. With one big push Liliana was welcomed to the world; I think the doctor was a bit shocked at how fast she came out. Overall, it was an intense experience and the pregnancy itself was quite interesting, which ended miraculously as we found out that Lily's umbilical cord had gotten knotted some time during the pregnancy. Research says that "Umbilical cord knots occur in about one in every hundred pregnancies, but only one in 2,000 deliveries will have a true tight knot that could present problems for the baby." The doctor felt that we were very lucky to have her be born healthy, we felt truly blessed that morning to have her in our lives. And I have to say that

So, after almost an entire year of not playing derby, I'm about ready to pick up where I left off. My heart truly lies with playing derby and I cannot wait to be out on the track again.

I hereby declare that the rebrith of my blog marks my return to derby.

Loving me some Fresh Meat!

2009-08-30T20:16:00.001-07:00

If you have been under a rock and haven't heard we have had two tryouts this season. One in May, which spawned six new skating members in our league, Brianna, Casey, Erin, Kim, Manuela and Tanya. These girls have done their time and proved to be dedicated members of SCDG. I think they are finally no longer in the status of Fresh Meat anymore and are allowed to acquire a derby name for themselves. The only name I have heard so far is from Kim, who will now be known as Barbarian Librarian. There is another new player in our league, Elaina, now known as Nurse Rackula, who joined the league late last year. She came on as a ghostrider, suffered an injury, stuck around with the league and is now at player status. The second tryout this year was on July 19th, none of us could have predicted the turn out at Scotts Valley that morning. We had an idea that we would see more potentials then our last tryout but when 28 women showed up that morning, we were all blown away. Of the 28, 27 joined up with the league, with a small handful becoming Damaged Deck Hands (our volunteer non-skating members) while they work on their skating skills. For fear of forgetting to include someone, I won't list out all their names but you will be able to check all of them out soon on our website in the Fresh Meat section.

Our newest Fresh Meat are showing a lot of potential. They all have a lot of heart and fresh energy that the league definitely needs to help with all of the work involved with running this type of business. We are breathing a little easier now that we know we can pass on some of our duties to fresh blood. It's going to be marvelous next year to be able to truly field two travel teams, the Boardwalk Bombshells and the Harbor Hellcats, which is really going to up the competition within our league, making us that much better.

I especially love that we can partake all this knowledge we have acquired, skills and strategy we have taught ourselves and give it to these upcoming derby players. They will have an advantage that we didn't quite have because we have had to learn things the hard way, figuring it out at each practice and bout. Within time it will be more of an even playing field and then we will continue to all teach each other through the experience we gain at bouts. Until then, I will do what I can to teach these new freshies the way of derby, not only the game but how to communicate and work together in this community. It's important to be humble, to respect each other and to support even the weakest league member. I hope I can impart this knowledge on our newest members and have them thrive and become kick ass derby bitches.

Where does the time go?

2009-08-28T11:02:00.000-07:00

We all know it gets sucked up into a vortex and next thing you know you turn around and you realize it's almost Fall. I have not blogged since March, that means it's been almost five months and a lot has happened in that time. I realize that I haven't even wrote a blog since we transitioned from the Santa Cruz Rollergirls to the Santa Cruz Derby Girls, that's just shameful. We all know the change was big and painful at times but the league has made so many great strides and is now better and stronger after it. Most of my time has been sucked up on skating, committee work, "real" work, my family, and my other big project - The Santa Cruz Derby Girls new website, which can be found at www.santacruzderbygirls.org. I am so proud of this website and want to thank my brother for bringing my vision to life and handing me over the keys to keep it updated. Thankfully my fellow leaguemates and fellow derby bloggers have been doing a good job keeping the information coming. As for me, I've played in seven bouts, coached one, and worked one since my last post. Here's a break down of those bouts:

April 4th - Beach Flat Betties vs. The Lost Girls

After our change to the Santa Cruz Derby Girls we had our first official home bout at the Civic against The Lost Girls. Because we do not have enough league players to fill the two teams properly, the Fistful of Dollies help fill in the rosters. The Betties obtained Foxee Firestorm and Pippi Hardsocking. It was a hard night of derby, having to play against our league mates. I had a great time jamming and being close with my fellow Betties. Final Score - Beach Flat Betties 130, The Lost Girls 101.

April 18th - All-Stars vs. Sonoma County Wine Country Homewreckers @ Sonoma

We got our asses handed to us on the track. But I will say we rocked the shit out of the After Party...karaoke, v-tag, cops at the motel, it was gooooood times. We learned a lot and came home humbled by the Sonoma girls. We really understood the importance of practicing on a full-sized WFTDA track to learn how to move differently. We met Adrian Valenzuela who took some awesome photos that night and some other amazing ones at our bouts since. Check out his website here. Final Score - All-Stars 56, Sonoma 167.

May 16th - Harbor Hellcats vs. Brentwood Brawlin' Bettys

I did not play in this game, I got the honor of coaching with my fellow teammate Lulu Lockjaw. The Harbor Hellcats our B Travel Team debuted at the Santa Cruz Civic on this night and played their hearts out and had a glorious win. I haven't really coached since my days of coaching high school girls water polo, it was so much fun and I really have such a love for coaching. I look forward to doing it in the years when my body will no longer allow me to take the brutality of derby. Final Score - Harbor Hellcats 171, Brawlin' Bettys 98.

May 30th - Beach Flat Betties vs. Tahoe Derby Dames @ Tahoe

I got to play with my home team the Beach Flat Betties once again but this time in Tahoe and had an absolutely marvelous time. We didn't have enough Betties to fill our roster and some of our Betties were injured and sick, so we had to fill the roster with some non-betties. The team included Allda Rage, Angelina Rollie, Anny Upyours, Cleopatra Catastrophe, Eden Yourheartout, Foxee Firestorm, Kicken Red Vixen, Lulu Lockjaw, Pigeon, Pixie Painful, Raven Von Kaos, and Shamrock N. Roller. The Tahoe Derby Dames are a new league and their track is outdoors in the redwoods, it was really cool! The weather was being a little unpredictable on the way up, thunder and lightning storms. When we arrived at the venue, we had to cover the track because it started to sprinkle a bit and the track could not get wet. Finally, the weather cooperated and it ended up being a beautiful night. The hardest thing about this bout was being away from my son for the night and him

not having a place where he felt at home. His dad had to work and my parents were out of town so he had to make a trip to his uncle's house and have his first sleepover there. Late night sad phone calls made the trip a little rough but the derby was fun and you can't beat the view. And I got to share a room with one of our very own derby families, thanks for letting me crash CinZilla, HueRefner and Hana Slamtana! Final Score - Beach Flat Betties 151, Tahoe Derby Dames 72.

(Above Photo - Raven Von Kaos, Anny Upyours, and I driving to the venue. Left Photo - Tahoe's location in the redwoods, we are getting ready, notice the plastic on the ground, that's what the track was covered with.)

June 13th - Boardwalk Bombshells vs. Silicon Valley Roller Girls Dot.Kamikazes @ San Jose Skate

This was actually the first game that the former All-Stars skated as the newly named Boardwalk Bombshells. We went in with a lot of anticipation and it turned out probably being the most disappointing game of the season. We really wanted to win this one being that SVRG is our nearest rival league. Don't get me wrong, we love all of these girls and have a strong bond with them, but we all wanted this one bad. We came up short, our jammers were having a hard time that night and our blocking was just a little off. SVRG came away with a win. I think what I enjoyed most was watching how Pia Mess adjusted herself every jam she was in based on how many people were in, who was blocking, who was jamming. She made a good shark and taught me a few things I definitely am going to start incorporating. We are all looking forward to another shot at it next year in October, on our turf. Final Score - Bombshells 100, Dot.Kamikazes 131.

(Above Photo - Me hitting the jammer, Terribelle Demise - photo by Nocklebeast. Left Photo - Lulu, Foxee, Pippi, and I are talking between a time-out - photo by Adrian Valenzuela.)

June 27th - Boardwalk Bombshells vs. Jet City's Pink Pistols

It was so great being back at the Civic after more than two months of not playing there and even longer playing together with my fellow "All-Stars" now Bombshells at our home venue. This was a night to remember as the Santa Cruz Derby Girls were honored with the "Key to the City" by Mayor Cynthia Matthews, she also declared June 27th Santa Cruz Derby Girls Day. Absolutely AMAZING! We accomplished so much from when the league started, the transition and to this day. We also continued having our celebrity whistle blowers at the bout, first half Cynthia Matthews, second half Steve
Wozniak. The Pink Pistols, a home team for Jet City, traveled down from Washington to take us on. This game was wonderful, it was challenging, fun, and I really felt like I had stepped up my game and was feeling my groove. The team played so well and made so many great improvements from our last bout; it really revived me after some hard bouts. Although we didn't officially win the game, our team felt more bonded and ready for our next challenge. Final Score Bombshells - 124, Pink Pistols - 128.

(Above Left Photo - Mildred Fierce helping Mayor Cynthia Matthews (Sybil Servant #2009) hold up her honorary Santa Cruz Derby Girls jersey - photo by Kelco. Above Right Photo - Me flying after being tripped by the Pink Pistol on the ground. It really shows how fast we are going. Photo by Nocklebeast - THANK YOU!)

July 11th - Boardwalk Bombshells vs. Derby Revolution of Bakersfield

What a night! This game was wonderful, I had such a great time and our team was on fire. We were all like one fluid moving entity and we felt like we could do no wrong. It was a great night of derby starting out with our whistle blower WBC Boxing Champion Carina "La Reina" Moreno (The rad thing is she came out to tryouts the following Sunday!) I couldn't be more proud of my team than I was that night. I personally felt like I had improved my game in just two weeks and it felt great. To end the night, I was honored when I got to Jam in the final jam of the night, so fun! The Bakersfield

girls were hard hitters, amazing athletes with great attitudes. Final Score - Bombshells 133, Bakersfield 69.

(Above photo - Me hitting Tonka Toy while Brawley does a great job holding her back. Left photo - Me jamming and just squeaking past Dred Blocker. Photos by Kelly Castro, check out all his derby photos here.)

August 15th - Boardwalk Bombshells vs. Port City Roller Girls @ Stockton

I hate playing in the heat, it's so hard for me, I know this is a weakness of mine that I have been trying to overcome. The Port City game was rough, it was a very physical game, constantly changing and we had to adapt to the heat, the floor and the strategies they used. It was a game I walked away from knowing that we as a team learned so much and we have brought these lessons back to our league to improve on. Winning is wonderful but as we know it's not everything and a loss is always good because of what you learn within yourself, your team and the game of derby. We lost by one point, one measly point. Final Score - Bombshells 86, Port City 87.

August 22nd - Harbor Hellcats vs. Silicon Valley Roller Girls KillaBytes

The most recent game that we had at the Santa Cruz Civic was the first match-up between our Harbor Hellcats and Silicon Valley's KillaBytes. The game was a great one, both teams evenly matched with some strong A Team players being featured on the KillaBytes due to an illness and injury by two of their B Team players the day of the bout. The night started off with the first jam whistle being blown by the owner of the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk Mr. Charles Canfield. And at half-time, the Santa Cruz Derby Groms, the Sugar Skulls and Bumper Scars had their debut bout for all the fans. It was a surge of happy emotions watching these future derby girls have their time out on the track, such a great sight. Just think of the skills these girls will have when they are old enough to play with the big girls. Thanks to junior derby the sport of roller derby is going to be an entirely different game in five to ten years. Great job to all the coaches and of course to Kiki Clash, director of the Santa Cruz Derby Groms. The second half of the game continued to be a nail biter as the teams continued to trade points. By the end Silicon Valley moved ahead and took home a win. I got to finally work at a bout since I started with this league, I sold merch outside and in the stands, collected money for the Bombshells for our upcoming San Diego trip, schmoozed with the Sponsors and got to watch our Hellcats put up a great fight. Final Score - Hellcats 108, KillaBytes 122. Look for an entire post just about the Santa Cruz Derby Groms in the near future, they deserve it!

(Top Left Photo - Charles Canfield and Timothy Jordan. Top Right Photo - Santa Cruz Derby Groms doing their version of the Stomp - "Who's going to bring the fun and games? Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz!" - Photos by Kelco. Left Photo - Me selling merch at the game - Photo by Russell Reno.)

That sums up all nine games, a pretty rad five months if you ask me and that doesn't even touch on the other events we have been involved in, like the Pride Parade, Down N' Derby Party, and two tryouts. The Santa Cruz Derby Girls have grown exponentially over the last four months and have added about 40 new league members. Our league is kicking ass and taking names. So what's up next?

The Boardwalk Bombshells are making their way down to San Diego to take on the San Diego Derby Dolls - Diego Rollers. If you don't know, the players of our league pay for almost everything, our dues, our uniforms, our travel. Some of these expenses are offset by the league but most everything is out-of-pocket. To help us travel down to San Diego we are holding a concert at the Blue Lagoon to raise some money. Come on down and have a good time!

Our next bout will be September 12th at the Civic against Tuscon Roller Derby. They are sending one of their home teams called the Iron Curtain to play us. Sure to be an exciting game, I am stoked and can't wait!

Turning 29.

2009-03-18T15:28:00.000-07:00

By Friday morning, I will have entered my last year of my twenties. One more year and I move into the realm of no longer being able to say I'm twenty-something. Although I hear your thirties are much better, I must say I'm already dreading turning another year older. August, my son, gets thrilled at the thought of birthdays and he absolutely cannot wait for mine to come and go so that we can celebrate his. He knows that once mine is over it means his will be next; he will be turning four on April 11th. It's my intention to throw him a big birthday with all our friends and family. I am looking forward to giving him a wonderful day and watching him enjoy having all the attention on him.

Thursday, tomorrow, will be our first practice back after our win against the Sirens of the L.A. Derby Dolls. It's team practice night and it's time for the Betties to regroup and get focused on our upcoming bout against one of our home teams, The Lost Girls on April 4th. I am excited for practice tomorrow, celebrating my birthday with my league, playing with the Betties and getting to eat yummy cupcakes made by Roxy Scarmichael.

Here's to another birthday *CHEERS*. Ladies, put one down for me this Friday.

*Photo Credit: Kelly Castro

Another SCRG Blogger...really?

2009-03-18T00:45:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking many months about starting a blog about my experiences playing roller derby. I have admired Raven Von Kaos and how she was the first one to blog about our league. Her blog Raven n Rollin is a joy to read, it's not always about derby, some times just random stories of what's going on in her life. I think it's wonderful the attention she was able to bring to the league through blogging. I love how she was also taking the time to feature different roller girls from our league. I hope she finds the time to resume this aspect of her blog.

So tonight, I was checking out Killer Vee's blog, Northern California Derby, and making a comment about her featuring our YouTube site there and I saw a good friend of the league Nocklebeast following her blog. I love this guy. He is a devoted photographer who has taken it upon himself to be present at every one of our home bouts taking photos. He gives attention to all aspects of the game and you can see how each game his photos improve more and more. While adding him as a friend, I came across the fact that he was following a blog called Lulu Lockjaw...The Real Deal. I had no idea that Lulu had even started a blog. I immediately clicked over and started reading and loving it.

These two women, leaguemates and just badass derby girls have inspired me to move forward with starting my blog tonight. I love and adore them not only for the way they play the sport but who they are as people. I hope to continue to be inspired by them in life and in derby. I had a moment of, "Do we really need another blogger for SCRG?" My initial reaction was, "No," but the more I thought about it, it became clear to me that it was needed. Every girl sees derby in her own way on the track and off. She brings a different outside experience to it, thus creating a unique league. The connections I have with my friends and family and the values I was raised with are in my own way different than everyone else's. I bring this to the league every day be it at practice, at bouts, at get-togethers, on the forum, on the phone, wherever derby crosses our lives, and trust me it's everywhere. I love that all of us women, with different lives, stories, troubles, loves, what have you come together for one common purpose, derby. I would not be who I am today without everything that has occurred in my life, good and bad, but I sure as hell would not be the woman I am today without derby. Santa Cruz Rollergirls is not just another roller derby league, it's a passion and the women who have created what it is today have given me an experience I will never forget.