Tales from the Fresh Meat Locker – RipTide Ride~Her

Still rolling on at 40….yeah, it is the new 30!

Trust me, my 40 year old body is feeling every second of being fresh meat! It’s a P90X on 8 wheels! I should be in great shape soon…thanks to our coaches! Trust me, roller derby is not for the weak and you will find that out on the first day of boot camp! Through all the blisters, sweat, bruises, and sometimes tears…I keep going back for more!

This is actually my second time around with the DDG. I had to leave the league a few years ago due to loosing my health insurance….I was a proud St. Brawlie Girl for a short time!

So here it is…my story. I grew up in Newport News, VA. My passion for skating started when my kindergarten class went on a field trip to Plaza Roller Rink. It was my first time on skates and I really sucked! I ate the floor many times but simply fell in love with skating! It was all I talked about, all I wanted to do! My mom enrolled me in lessons and before I knew it, I quickly became a “rink rat” at Denbigh Plaza.

The rink became my home away from home. I started working in the snack bar making pizzas and cotton candy. I guess they felt like they had to give me a job since I hung around 6 days a week! I made some fantastic friends growing up at the rink…friends that I still keep in touch with to this day. One thing is for sure, the rink kept us out of trouble!

Of course I watched the classic roller derby on TV. Yes, my hero was Joan Weston AKA “Blonde Bomber” I loved the Bay City Bombers and I dreamed of knocking a chick out while on skates! I had no idea that I would ever skate roller derby and had no idea that it would also be so hard mentally and especially physically! You have to devote time and energy to roller derby and it does not happen over night!

Why I do this…because I freaking love it, it’s a major stress reliever from a hard day! I am able to do this because I have such an awesome supportive family….my handsome son T.J and my life partner Kathy who just so happen to be my biggest fans…well, only fans! They give me support, love and most important time to dedicate to derby. Without them, derby would not be possible for me. I would like to thank them very much and tell them I love them!

I work in the medical field as a manager and by the end of the day…I can take it out on the track and not my family and staff!! This by far is the largest accomplishment that I can say I did for myself. I am proud to be part of such an awesome league and proud to skate with the best chicks in the world!!!

RipTide Ride~Her
(formerly FM Kristie)

Tales from the Fresh Meat Locker – FM Christy

Wow, how the heck did I get here?

1st, let me say that I am 15-20 years older than the vast majority of the women of the DDG, which makes my story even more weird and uber cool!
I loved watching Roller Derby on Saturday mornings when I was a kid! It amped me up even before I knew why. My dad took me to a bout at Scope when I was around 9 or 10 and I fell in love with all of it! He did the play by play for the Tidewater Red Wings hockey team and I went to every game and became seriously hooked on the speed and complete bad-a**ness of the skaters and knew I wanted to skate fast and hit hard, even at that tender age (with my face pressed to the Plexiglas just praying for someone to get slammed in front of me).

I started roller skating in white high top Roller Derby’s at Aragona Skating Rink at around 12 or 13. When I realized that only boys had cool low top black skates and wide wheels that were so much faster than mine I had to break out of the Danskin skirt/figure skater girly thing and find some small footed cutie who would let me try out his speed skates…that was it for me!
Girls simply didn’t speed skate and I took a lot of crap for wearing men’s skates and got thrown off the floor for speeding way too many times until I started coming to speed practices and showed my skills and “poof”, I was in. The only girl speed skater on the team-though I was not allowed to compete since there were no girls and no girl officials, etc. I pretty much lived in skates and at the rink for the next three years or so, until I started dating high school boys and my focus shifted a bit-as a teenaged girls’ focus tend to do. I hung up my Kangaroo boots and Blue Spruce wheels (still have 7 of the 8 wheels), but never forgot my love of skating fast.
Many, many years and three grown kids later my Fiancé told me he was doing some web work with “the coolest girl and she skates Roller Derby”! That planted the seed. When the boot camp rolled around she reminded Nick and said I should come see what it was about (then we rented Whip-it and something in me fell head over stupid for the whole idea that I could actually do this). When I walked in Jason’s Deli that day for the boot camp meeting I felt very old and intimidated, to say the very least, but the skaters were so cool and appeared to be normal everyday women only in really cool clothes (love black-love pink-love stripes and skulls) and for once I wasn’t the most tattooed girl in the room!! I fell in love-dreamy imagine the possibilities love, went to a bout that weekend, and never looked back.
I honestly feel that this has been what was missing in me all these years, but I was not ready (physically or mentally) to peek behind the curtain until now. Kids are grown, Nick is amazing and so supportive (and I think he likes the tough girl thing a lot too) and I can finally focus on myself. Now I wake up and think “do I get to skate today?” and just packing my gear case and taping up my right quad (so I don’t keep tearing it during fall drills) gets my heart racing and puts a big smile on my face…even when the two hour practice starts at 9pm after working all day. By the time it’s over and I am heading home (sometimes with a blister and a limp-always sweaty, hungry and red-faced) I feel so alive and so proud of myself just for showing up-not to even mention skating my butt off and doing drills over and over until I don’t even have to think-just react.
Coming in we are all different ages, socioeconomic levels, lifestyles, stages in life-but once we say hello and start gearing up and hit the track we are all one-one big awesome roller derby skater. We knock each other down (physically only) and pick each other up (mentally AND physically) and sometimes don’t even need more than a look to know exactly what we are feeling and getting one back that says “me too, but you are doing great and you can do this-and even if you can’t-it is OKAY and I will help you”.
I’m closing in on the end of my Fresh Meat run and preparing for evals really soon-the time has flown by. Next up, who knows? I will go wherever my coaches tell me to go, because I trust them and love them and most of all respect them like they are my blood!
Words can’t express how grateful I am for this opportunity to be a part of this sweet, fierce, tough (really tough-I have the bruises to prove it), strangely close-knit, funny and dynamic group of people and I love them all!

Tales from the Fresh Meat Locker ~ FM Shannon B.

Ever since I was a kid I’ve always wanted to be that tough, hot chick you see in the movies. I was a tomboy, who was kind of into sports. I did swimming and tried soccer and football, and recently trained in Muay Thai Kickboxing. But until a little over a month ago I never really thought about roller derby.

I found out about the team by seeing a car with ‘Dominion Derby Girls‘ written on the back in window chalk, but I didn’t do anything with it besides glancing over the webpage. But I filed the information away in the back of my brain. And in January that information came to the front once again, my best friend and I started talking about how we would like to be a roller derby girl. And one night the fated words were uttered, “Shannon, let’s do this.”

And here I am.

I bought skates and gear, and went off to the Pre-boot meeting; and off to boot camp I was! I’ll tell you right now, I couldn’t skate for the life of me. I moved ten feet onto the rink and my tailbone had it’s first of many meetings with quite an unforgiving wooden floor. I could barely move a few feet without falling, and continued this new tradition through the time trials. I only made six laps, but with the help of Photon Pixie during those laps I was very slowly getting maybe just a tad bit better. At least I started falling forward! Either way I didn’t finish the rest of boot camp. I was in severe pain and had your tell tale red and puffy I’ve-been-crying-eyes, but I stayed to watch the rest. I stayed and I came back.

I found out that derby isn’t easy, but as everyone on the team says, “If you want it, you will have it.” And I am. I haven’t missed a practice yet, and only a month in I can tell I’ve gotten so much better already. The combined encouragement from the coaches, refs, derby girls, and my fellow fresh meat have helped me come back, and keep coming back. I know I’m not among the best, or even the good skaters out there at the moment, but I’m not letting that stop me.

With every practice I’ve learned that this is more than wanting to be ‘that hot, tough chick’. I’ve learned a lot about myself, about why I want to do this. I want to be a part of this team, of this family; because that is what they are. A family. These girls are already my sisters; the guys, my brothers. They are all such great people. I want this. I will have it!

Tales from the Fresh Meat Locker ~ FM Christine

I have a new obsession–it is ROLLER DERBY.

When I told my friends and family this, they just kind of looked at me and said, “yeah…okay…”. I guess to them I am not the stero-typical girl they remember seeing on the television on Sunday mornings when roller derby was a televised event–throwing clotheslines and knocking girls over the wall. I will be the first to admit–I didn’t think that I would actually go through with this. I get all keyed up about something, participate in it for a little while and then get bored and quit. With derby, it’s different. I researched it, took notes, printed out the WFTDA rules, track requirements, ref signals, etc… After numerous emails to ThunderLips & Frankendoll, I attended a Saturday practice. OH MY GOODNESS…these ladies were hardcore, yet extremely approachable. I ordered my gear, went to the pre-boot meeting and waited for bootcamp day. That was an adventure–during our first time trials, I fell 3 times, had to quit because I knocked the wind out of myself, but I didn’t give up competely. Bam Bam & ThunderLips skated next to me during my laps and cheered me on. After bootcamp, I went home feeling exhilirated and couldn’t wait for our first practice! Even though I bruised my tailbone during bootcamp, I kept coming back for more–working through the pain, knowing that I could do this.

As the weeks have gone by, I have seen an improvement in my skating skills (thanks to a few coaches who helped adjust my skates & gave me pointers!), I have made new friends and I have found a new family. I would do anything in the world that I could for my derby sisters. I hope to one day be able to skate in a bout and hear the crowd cheering for me and the rest of the DDG!

–FM Christine

Tales from the Fresh Meat Locker – FM Lauren aka Princess Pwny

I came into DDG as a potiental Ref (ZEBRAS)! I really wanted to derby but having a rather bum knee and having never set foot on quads I decided that Ref’ing on blades was probabably the best option for me. The first few weeks I hooked. I decided to buy a pair of quads because doing the falls and drillson Blades flat out sucked. That was my ‘mistake’ I found out my knee could take such a beating and over to the dark side I went, Derby girl for me.

I was a little taken back at how hard I had to work, not that I wasnt willing to work but I’ve always been very athletic and never had any trouble picking up a sport and being one of the best almost instantly, derby was a whole nother story. Since Oct. I have worked my butt off. Many nights I’ve come home wondering how I was going to walk to school the next day I was so sore. After many many practices and a concussion to the nogging, here I am. I’ve made it. I am a little scared of my first bouting experience but I am ready to take what derby brings. Here I am finding a new set of friends that is evolving into a family. Big Daddy always says “dont cheat your self and your sisters” he’s right these girls are my sisters and I look forward to the times to come.

If you dont think you can derby you should just ask any of the girls, we each have our own stories of how we got here, and most of us will probably tell you we didnt really know if we could cut it when we first started. Skate low, head up and get back up.

<3 Princess Pwny

Tales from the Fresh Meat Locker – FM Jenniy

I never thought a simple sentence could change my life so drastically.

“I’m bored, lets go do something tonight.”

My husband said this to me the end of September 2009. “Ok what do you want to do?” I asked him. We decided to see a movie. “Oh hey there’s a sneak preview of that new movie Drew Barrymore directed, whatcha think?”

So we went. And I was AMAZED. I know now that a LOT of it is glossed over, and thats just Hollywood. But as I was sitting there in that theater, I fell in love with Roller Derby. When I got home from the theater I got right on my laptop to go check out the site for the movie.

Oh. My. God. There’s a roller derby team HERE!!!!

I couldn’t believe it. My parents met at Haygood Skating Rink, and my mom’s house is literally less than a mile from there. I used to skate there as a kid with my dad.

When the movie came out officially the next weekend, my husband and I went to see it again. I was dying to go to the “Boot Camp” that was that weekend, but I talked to my husband and I decided to wait a month. We would go to Open Skate and I would get back into skating-and shape. As a kid, I spent a year in a wheel chair because of some physical health problems and it was a big concern that my husband and I discussed til we were blue in the face. But he knew that when I decided something, that was it.

We actually cut our vacation short so that I could attend Boot Camp the first weekend of November. I ground my teeth every time I fell during time trials, told myself “pain is weakness leaving the body” and kept going. Bam Bam got up and skated with me the last 5 laps or so, and I was the last one to finish. By the end of that 3 hours, I felt like I was going to die. My husband picked me up and took me home, where I stayed on the couch the rest of the day.

But it felt good. I wasn’t anywhere near as good as some of the girls in my boot camp group, but I had done my best.

Now, about 2 1/2 months later, I look back and realize just how far I really have come. I still fall, even hard enough to break my wrist guard plate once, but I fall the right way (which Frank is quick to point out, if for no other reason than to make me feel better). I notice small things that I couldn’t even come close to doing even a few weeks ago! I struggled with crossovers, until a pair of friendly referees helped me out. I couldn’t T-Stop for the longest time, and then found myself randomly doing it (after many MANY faceplants). Like I said, I still fall *even when I’m standing still sometimes!* but I see women who have been doing this for years fall and yea, I feel just a little bit better.

Tales from the Fresh Meat Locker – FM Sarah

I had no idea what to expect when I joined Derby as a Fresh Meat. I found the Dominion Derby Girls through my apartment manager. The day I moved in and picked up my keys, she asked me what I was looking forward to now that I was moving to Norfolk. I said I was looking forward to surfing and skating down the board walk in Virginia Beach. (Probably an odd choice since it was dead in the heart of winter.) She asked me if I was going to join the Dominion Derby Girls. I responded by asking her what that was. She gave me some rough details that the Hampton Roads area had a roller derby team. Well, that idea rolled around in the back my head for about 9 months before I followed up on it.
I was looking for something to do on weekends that got my butt off the couch and involved exercise. I once upon a time ago (10 year back) was pretty good skater so the idea planted by my apartment manager bubbled to the surface. I went in search of the Dominion Derby Girls on the internet and behold, that next weekend, they were holding a Boot Camp.
I looked at the list of required equipment for the boot camp and decided I was pretty well set, since I had pads and a wrist guards from Wal-Mart from my board walk skating. Since I was missing a helmet and mouth guard, it was another trip to Wal-Mart to finish out my gear bag before the Camp.
I had not been on skates in about 10 years, except for two trips down the VB board walk about 3 weeks prior, and being of the military mind, I didn’t want to walk into an engagement without getting the lay of the land. So what did I do? I hustled my butt down to Haygood skating center so I could try out the track and see if I could get my skating legs back under me. Great in thought, not so great in execution. Since I had not been on skates in a while, my skating session the night before Camp worked muscles in a way they had not been worked in quite some time. (Ooww! I was sore at Camp!)
So the next day at Camp I fumbled and stumble my through (nursing my aching muscles). But the encouragement I got from the Veterans (Vets for short) was wonderful, and kept me motivated and made me want to come back for more!
So here I am three months later chomping at the bit to get eval’ed and now I know that Wal-Mart pads have a Derby shelf life of about 2.5 months (my knees are taking bruises until my new pads come in the mail) and that Derby is more then a weekend commitment (and I love it!).
I love that we not only skate and do Derby, but we also give back to the community through raising funds and sponsoring different charities with money from our bouts. We hold charity events and try to making things better.
I also love that now Fresh Meat can go to four butt kicking practices a week!
Derby bouts are also more then just showing up and trying to beat the other team. It’s a whole team production from set up to take down. Even those who aren’t skating at the bout have import jobs to do to make sure everything runs smooth and everyone, especially the fans, have a great time. Everyone has to pull together to make that happen.
I like that there is such a wide choice of things that you can do through committees or events to support the team. You can go where you skill set lies or try and learn something new. You can be on a committee or run a committee. You can plan an event or you can just do heavy lifting as support staff. It’s all up to you, but it doesn’t matter what you do for the Dominion Derby Girls, you are a valued member of the team, and that is something you don’t find very often. Go DDG!

Tales from the Fresh Meat Locker – FM Sheilah

I thought I had an idea what to expect as Fresh Meat. Honestly, I had no clue at all and Boot Camp was my first experience with skates in years. I came with this picture in my head of a bunch of jaunty, rough and tumble women. I envisioned something like Westinghouse’s iconic Rosie the Riveter; spirited girls with a can do attitude.

What I wasn’t expecting was for them to be as warm and encouraging as they are. These are real women with careers, children, spouses and commitments and they do this for the fun of it. From my first Boot Camp on I was and still am in awe of them, particularly T-Rex Ya Face. She was one of the first girls I met and she graciously lent me her helmet until I could get one of my own. And at that Boot Camp when I did time trials for the first time, I was struggling. BamBam skated right behind me on my last few laps cheering me on.

It’s a really refreshing feeling to have women around you can look up to. Frakendoll, Duchess, The Ruffian, Lips…each one has made me feel a little more confident in my skates when to be honest I’ve never felt more unsure of myself or my abilities.

In my almost 3 three months of Fresh Meat training I’ve learned 2 things about Derby. One: This is not the type of thing you can do half-heartedly. You have to be totally committed to it. Two: You have to trust yourself and you have to push your limits. After every practice, I can’t wait to get back on the track because I want to keep testing myself. I want to take in as much as I can, because each girl on this team has something to offer and things I can learn. And I watch them, how they move so effortlessly, like they were born derby girls. But I remember….they were once Fresh Meat too and they know exactly what I’m going through. And I want to get better so I can join them out there and make them proud. Because when we (Fresh Meat) succeed it proves what great teachers we have.

Tales from the Fresh Meat Locker: Crystal G.

When I was younger you could find me almost every Friday or Saturday night at the skating rink. I would skate for hours and loved every minute. As I got older I stopped going to the rink as often, then it came to a point when I stopped going at all. I grew up, got married and became a mommy, and skating became just a distant memory.

When I found out about roller derby by word of mouth, I got really excited. From that moment I knew I had to find out more so I went online and researched roller derby and got even more excited. I found out that there was actually a local derby team here in Hampton Roads and that they were recruiting. From that moment on it just seemed like everything fell into place. The league was having a “meet and greet” in a few days and a “boot camp” a couple weeks later. I had pretty much made up my mind that I was going to do this.

After my boot camp I realized that the combination of not skating in ten years and becoming a mommy was going to make this much harder than I had originally anticipated. At that point I made a promise to myself that no matter how tough it was or how bad it hurt, I was going to do this. It might take me awhile, but I am not giving up. Over the time I could feel myself getting better and better. Some of the things I couldn’t even begin to do at boot camp now seem so easy.

Joining this league has really given me a chance to challenge myself. It is hard work and I am still learning, but I am truly having a blast!

Tales from the Fresh Meat Locker: Tara

I am not an athlete.

As a young girl, I was always more creatively inclined, forsaking kickball games for ballet and singing. I am a strong person, but not very fast and my stamina is nil.

Fast forward to thirty-two years of age. Married, kids, career. My family was dealing with a health crisis and the demands of my life had become unbearable without some outlet for my stress. I desperately needed something and remembered reading about a local roller derby league. I went online, and found the Dominion Derby Girls. I went out on a limb and emailed Pretty Skate Machine. I spent a month at open skates, trying to get my skate legs back. I saved and purchased the gear I needed; I paid my dues and attended my first practice. I was awed by the endurance and ability I witnessed. I knew that I would have to work very hard to get to that level. I met a few of the veteran skaters that first practice, Thunder Lips, who was very encouraging, telling me (although I think she was being nice) “oh, you can skate…”, Frankendoll, who was so very compassionate and easy to talk to. She spent an extraordinary amount of time encouraging and reassuring me… and I am grateful.

Day One was the hardest. I am sure I looked like a complete fool. I fell and cracked my tailbone. I dropped out of the 25-lap time trial with a crucial calf cramp. I left thirty minutes early to go cry in my car. For an out of shape, older, mom of two…. this was difficult work. I wanted to puke. I wanted to leave and never go back. But when I got to my car, I felt pretty good. To some, it may seem that I was unsuccessful. But I was. To me, just showing up was success. I may not have finished 25 laps, but I finished 17. I may have cracked my tailbone, but I learned how to fall correctly. I may have not been the best thing out there, but I had the balls to strap up and show up.

Two months later, I am still here, doing my best. Am I as good as I can be? No. Am I better? Oh hell yeah. I see the improvement in everything I do. I may not be able to hang with the veterans yet, but I will get there soon enough. I put things in perspective; only looking at what I can do today… getting through each individual practice is my only goal. I increase the bar every time, setting it higher as my ability increases. I am thankful for this, and thankful that I am welcomed into such a fantastic organization made up of extraordinary women.