Roller Girl Gift Guide

Since we're still on break from practice, here is a break from my usual posting. It's a little after the holidays, but still works for birthdays, derbyversaries, Cinco de Mayo...

This is by no means a comprehensive guide, this is based on my own personal experience and what I've observed from the roller girls around me. Also, this is mostly for Significant Others of Roller Girls (SORGs), but it applies to other relations as well.

If you really love her, two words, Rollercon tickets. Has she got those? Plane tickets to Vegas would be a great companion gift. But, if your lady can't get the time off work or whatever, here are some other ideas.


Wheels make a great gift, but there are as many kinds of wheels as they are roller girls. So what do you get her? Do you know what she skates on? If not, I know this is counter-intuitive, but open the gear bag. Can you see the skates? Can you get them out or are they tetris'd in there so tight that only she can get them out? If you can get them out, look at the wheels. Can you read the manufacturer on the wheel? It could on the outside of the wheel, or the inside near the truck. Has it worn off? Well, at least remember what color they are.

Ask the derby wife. She's a valuable resource. Do you know who her derby wife is? If you can look in her phone contacts, it'll be someone with a name like, "boom," "slam," "block," "beat"... and maybe a heart next to it. If not, look on Facebook. On whose page does she post videos of derby and new gear and rules updates? Who is the girl in the league shirt hugging your woman in all her pictures?

Ask the derby wife what kind of wheels your girl has/wants. Chances are good she's said to this individual either:
-"I love my ______, but they're going bald."
OR -"Have you heard about the ________, I'd love to try them."

"But Rita, I just bought her new wheels for Flag Day, now she needs something for her birthday/I can't read these bald-ass things and her derby wife has no clue."
If you answered number one, congrats on being the best SORG ever. If you answered number two, that's ok. If you managed to look at the skate, does she need new toe guards/duct tape? Stocking stuffer! Team colors, please.

OR there's the world of bearings. They're tricky, but every girl could use an extra set. If you girl talks about how fast her bearings are, be prepared to shell out some bucks. She's probably got ceramic. If she talks about how cheap her bearings are, or how quickly she goes through them, get her a set of Mini Logos or Bones Reds for between $20-$30. (It is important to get her 16 bearings, because they are usually sold in sets of 8, for skateboards.)

Again, did you see the skates? How do the toe stops look? They wear quickly, especially if your girl jams or does a lot of turning toe stops. The occasional roller girl skates with just a set of jam plugs. These are fairly inexpensive and she'd probably love to have a spare. If you know what kind of toe stops she has or wants (here's where the derby wife comes in), you could get her a set. But if you don't know if she's got Powerdynes or Gumballs, you might have to do a little research.

Interlude: Be sure to check with the derby wife. It would really suck for you to both buy your skater the same gift.

And what about her safety equipment? If she's doing this any length of time, she probably needs new wrist guards. Next time she washes the pads, look at the brand. Pro-Tec and Triple 8 are common types. A regular set of skate wristguards run about $15. Now if she's got something fancy -- spoon-shaped brace, only one splint, gloved guards...lay off replacing it unless she's specifically asked for something. If she's still skating with her starter elbow pads, spend the $20 to get her a new set. If the derby wife tells you that your girl girl wants the new Atom elbow pads or some 187s, go for it!

Skate tools are important! If your girl has the little silver one that came with her skates, she'd probably like an upgrade. If she doesn't have one at all, she definitely needs one. Powerdyne sells a great combination axle, kingpin, and toestop wrench and it's kind of triangular. If your girl is a little handier, the Reflex Utilitool includes a bearing tool, axle rethreader, pop-out allen wrench...hell, she could take the plates off her boots with this thing. It's like a handheld fairy godmother. (I got one of these for Christmas, I love it!) If she already has the Powerdyne or is happy with her tool, Powerdyne also has a bearing tool that would make a great addition to her skate bag.

Now if you've gotten this far and are either a) so baffled it hurts or b) so awesome you've already bought all this stuff for her -- look at her derby wardrobe. A roller girl can never have enough tights. Double points if they're league colors. Buy her booty shorts, leggings, fishnets, practice tanks, tutus, sports bras... Hell maybe even get her name (in at least 2-inch characters) and number (in at least 4-inch characters) printed on a black and white shirt. Note, if you buy her lingerie, she'll wear it on the outside of her clothing and show all her teammates.

Just remember, the best gift you can give her is your support. Anything more is just bonus. So buy tickets (and sell them to everyone you know), make signs, and cheer your own personal superhero on at the next bout!

Christmas!

So this isn't really practice-related, but it does pertain to derby.

I had an exciting conversation with a friend of mine from church about derby. She's with SDDD, so they flip back and forth between flat and banked track. She shared some of the differences between. Banked track has 1-minute jams, penalties aren't served until the next jam, lead jammer transfers back and forth. I told her about the USARS ruleset. She wound up blocking her brother and getting apple cider all down her back. These things happen.

Also, I just utilized my new skate tool. My boyfriend got me the Reflex Utili-tool (in pink). I also just bought myself new bearings (extremely necessary). So I just spent a few minutes rethreading all my axles and replacing my bearings. If I clean and rotate my wheels, it would be almost like having new skates.

And lastly, I'm hoping to go skating with one Emily Greene, better known as Madcap. It's Christmas. I'm going to bed. Good night, blogosphere. I've got axle grime on my hands, yay!

One-on-One

As I said, we're on break, so there will certainly be fewer posts from me, but I did have my one-on-one this past Wednesday. I was a little nervous since Fister is a notorious hardass. But she counseled one of my teammates and she said it was really positive.

I am inspired after the meeting. She told me she's impressed with how quickly I came back from my hiatus. She also told me she's glad I still take it seriously after passing assessments. We set some goals for me for next year, both with regards to skating and fitness.

All I can say is can't wait for 2012!

Scrimmaaaaage

Ok, so I was all determined to finish yesterday's post. But then I got home and showered and lost all my adrenaline. So I'm hoping to get this post done before I crash.

Tonight's scrimmage was the last of 2011. And we had 4 brand new grannies. They were super nervous, but we tried to reassure them. The first couple of jams were kind of rough. I had to get my brain right, I kept accidentally letting the other jammer through. When I first jammed, it sucked. I got knocked all over the track by Rosie and Hope.

But I kept at it, and laid some good hits on the black team's jammers. My mentee Leah was scrimmaging for the first time, but she was on the other team. Each time I saw her in, I secretly cheered.

I kept on jamming against Cal Q H8r, or Caitlin #1. One of the jams I was super effective for. She got lead, but I stayed on her to the back of the pack. I got a point before she managed to call off the jam. Unfortunately, after that jam, I got sent to the box for a backblock major. I personally do not believe it was a major backblock. I think it was a minor, the individual just so happened to be unstable and went down. The zebras had a little conference and told my team after the jam. So alas, I served my minute in the box.

We had a good first half, but we were down a few points. We vowed to get better at multitasking and working together. So I go out to jam. I'm up against mostly new grannies, with one A-teamer. Their jammer goes to the box, and so does the A-teamer. So here I am, with an awesome pack and a powerjam! I scored like 15-20 points. It was great. I felt super worthwhile. I'm glad I was able to put some points up for us. I couldn't have done it without my pack though. Overwhelmingly, the white team had some fantastic blocking. Whenever I jammed, they were where I needed them to be!

So I finished the year off on a good note, and I'm looking forward to my one-on-one with Fister on Wednesday!

Sunday

Well I was gonna write a nice piece about derby and how it makes me feel, but I'm blogging in bed, so I'll save that for another day. Meanwhile, I did manage to attend Sunday practice.

Wow, I had a lot more motivation earlier. I promise to finish this post tonight, y'all. For now, I need a nap before work.

Holiday Posting

So in this hectic time, practice has fallen by the wayside a bit. I missed Sunday practice since I didn't get enough sleep (finishing up a final paper). I had to miss Tuesday because one of my coworkers quit and we had to cover her shifts. I did go Monday, and it was a pretty good practice.

In other news, several newbies have just passed assessments. Leah (my mentee), Sara F, Sibel, and Lorissa are all grannies now. Yay! B-Dazz practice is gonna be packed with even more awesome now! On that note, B-Dazz practice is cancelled for Tuesday.

I know I've kind of been on Cloud 9 since I passed assessments and my posts haven't been riddled with the same struggle that they were. I thank everyone for sticking with me through that. I have a one-on-one with Amy Fister coming up, so I'm sure I'll have more things to work on real soon.

Last night's practice was interesting. We did some awareness and endurance drills. I really need to work on my turning toe stops at a sprint. I can do them at pack speed fine, but up at a sprint, I fall. In fact, I tried one when I was going balls out Monday and I don't even know what happened. I don't know what parts of me hit the floor. For now, I've been trying to plow to slow myself down and then execute a tomahawk (aka turning toe stop).

I got to work with my now-granny-mentee, Leah. Leah is super cool. She found a bunch of helmets on sale and basically bought them all, so I just got me a brand new Pro Tec helmet for $14. I never knew what it felt like to have actual padding around my head.

So things are going well. I don't have work til 2 on Sunday, so I'm hoping to make it to practice. Then scrimmage Monday and no practice til the new year. Gasp!

Thursday Party-Time

So Day 2 Assessments were taking place during practice, so things were a little hectic last night. It was a pretty small practice, and it was Mary H's first Thursday night practice. She's had a class all semester, so she hasn't been able to come Thursdays.

Our Trainer was Rosie, but she was divided between time with us and time with the assessments. So we were kind of independent studying, as it were.

Last night was the first time I really felt like a granny. Sure, I've scrimmaged, been a rostered alternate, and even have a mentee. But helping newbies at practice last night really made me feel like I'd passed assessments.

I know I still have things to work on myself, but it felt nice to share my knowledge! Oh yeah, and I'll have my one-on-ones with a TC member sometime soon, so I'll really find out how I'm doing.

Monday/Tuesday

This week has been derby-filled and I only went to 2 practices. Monday's scrimmage sucked a helluva lot less than week's. Wait. But first, Open Skate. I worked with my mentee on johnny crashes. She's taking Day 2 Assessments this Thursday. (GO Leah!) She's gonna pass because she's awesome.

Back to scrimmage. We actually had 10 people on our team, so most we did not have to stay out every time (yay!). I effectively played back and outside. I did a pretty good job as the outside person of a wall. And when we transitioned, I did one of those assisted hits where you hold on to someone else. I also think I did a booty sweep. I stay out of the box, mostly. Until the last jam, when I was jamming. They told me to call it, and I just didn't. That was silly of me. Oh well.

Afterward we had a meeting to discuss training and our goals as a league for 2012. That was cool. It was nice to participate in the brainstorming and feel like a part of things.

Team practice last night rocked. We did some offskates endurance (a la suicides). We did around the world and other drills involving footwork. And then at the end, we played Red Light-Green Light. We did it in 2 packs, and my team won 2 out of 3.

Sore as heel, but can't wait for Thursday.

Name

It's still super sweet to see my name on the Master Roster, and I don't think that feeling will ever go away. Sorry to my comrades whose names got lost in the red tape.

Furthermore, sorry to my loyal readers for not going to practice this am, but I felt like Uncle Fester when I woke up. Yesterday was a rough day at work.

Open skate and scrimmage tomorrow night. Promise to post afterward!