Skating in Bakersfield

We had a great trip to Bakersfield over the weekend. The Sonoma County Roller Derby team played against the Bakersfield Roller Girls. It was a really tough game. They have some hard hitting blockers and really fast jammers. We managed to win with a final score of 66 Bakersfield, 95 Sonoma County. Here's a photo of both teams together after the bout. The Sonoma County Roller Derby Team is in the teal dresses. I've noticed that no matter what roller rink I'm in, all of the pictures I take look terrible. There seems to be a universal conspiracy of bad lighting in Roller Rinks. The wood floor however was amazing to skate on. Getting knocked to the ground was much less painful on the wood surface than on concrete.

Roller Derby Update

I played in my first Roller Derby Bout on Saturday night. It went really well! I fell quite a bit, but it doesn't really slow me down. I had quite a few good hits and held my own. Unfortunately, our team lost by a few points. It was a really close game and I'm looking forward to playing again soon.

This photo was taken right after our bout.... I'm the sweaty one in the middle

Roller Derby Team

Last September I decided to take up Roller Derby. I don’t remember why exactly, I was mainly just looking for a way to get some good exercise in the gardening off season.

I cannot express in words exactly how terrible I was at skating. Let’s just say that in the beginning there was much more down time than up time. Although it was very difficult (and still is) I have persevered.

I practiced for over 10 weeks before trying out and making our local team Sonoma County Roller Derby. I have been on the team since January 1st and have been steadily improving. This is not a sport to be taken lightly. Our team practices together 3 nights a week. We work very hard and so far this season we are undefeated. It is now finally time for me to skate in my first Bout.

On April 26th we will be having our first home Bout of the season and I will be skating. I am extremely very nervous about making a fool of myself. Family friends and coworkers have all been invited. Honestly, I’m really not sure that I am ready for this quite yet. We have two teams The Wine Country Home Wreckers and the North Bay Bruisers. I will be playing as a Homewrecker. This is usually the travel team sent to wreck other home teams around the state.

This week one of our local papers is running a cover story about our team.

http://www.bohemian.com/bohemian/04.16.08/cover-rollerderby-0816.html

The cover photo is Susie Roundwheels. She is amazing! It's hard to believe that Susie is 52 years old. She hits like a ton of bricks.