Why Roller Derby Scares My Mother
Every conversation I have with my mom these days tends to include something about roller derby. It’s a huge part of my life right now, so naturally I talk about it a LOT. Every one of these conversations includes some variation of “the Speech.” What is the speech? Well, it includes some variation of the following: “Be careful.” “You could get hurt.” “You’re my daughter, I’m always going to worry about you.” “I’m glad you’re enjoying it, but….” “I don’t know if I’m going to be able to watch you and Amber.”
Okay, that last one is a new addition after last Saturday. See, on Saturday, I took my mom up to Kalamazoo to watch the Killamazoo Derby Darlins take on the Rubber City Rollergirls and the Grand Raggidy Roller Girls. My plan was two-fold.
First, I wanted her to see an actual roller derby bout. Derby has changed from what she remembers growing up, and I wanted her to see exactly what I’m working towards. Second, I was hoping to show her that yes, it is a high speed contact sport, but look! Those girls get knocked down and get right back up!
All was going well… I was explaining the rules, explaining ref calls, pointing out things as they happened. At one point, a member of the KillaCrew served a pretty hard block on one of her opponents that sent her flying out of bounds and Mom cheered. YES, I had a convert!
But. (And I’m sure you knew this but was coming.)
But… then this happened:
I know it’s hard to see in this picture, but that is a skater, one Mouthy Mayhem, laying on the track with a broken ankle. If you look closely, you can see the black cap of her knee pad… and then follow it down to her pink skate… that is pointing about 90 degrees in the wrong direction.
The whistles blew and everyone took a knee… I glanced over and said, “That’s a broken ankle.” And promptly felt a little nauseous. But not as nauseous as I felt when I found out later that she originally tried to stand up on it before she realized what happened. That’s what I was told anyway, I couldn’t see what happened from where I was sitting.
One person from our league that was sitting closer said that she was crossing over, and stepped on her own foot. Another skater that went told me last night that she was crossing over, and another skater locked wheels with her and tripped over her foot. (She’s also the one who told me that Mouthy tried to get up. Barf.) Whatever happened, it didn’t end well!
And for some reason I can’t figure out, this sight did not make my mom feel better about me skating:
I already have to purchase USARS supplemental insurance to skate with the league. Do you suppose additional life insurance would make her feel any better? No, probably not, huh?
Even though things didn’t go exactly according to plan, I think Mom still had a good time. Even if she will watch me skating through her fingers in the future.
September 21st, 2010 at 1:54 am
I liked the new movie with that drew directed that was based on roller derby, i would like to see it in person.
October 12th, 2010 at 11:02 am
Too funny ever heard of the TC Toxic Cherries facebook.com/tctoxiccherries? Some of my friends are on a derby team in Traverse City, Michigan. When you are ready to hit the skates let them know they are always trying to get more people to join. Too much for me with a little one at home. I cant be laid up on the couch with a broken ankle or something. More power to you though and good for the weight loss. The exercises they talk about doing for practices are crazy tough!
October 31st, 2010 at 12:13 pm
I used to barely know Roller Derby existed till I saw the movie Whip It (three times!) but now I adore it. Unfortunately, I’m way too accident prone to actually participate in Roller Derby myself.