rink-wedding

by Tripsy Daisy

My League is New

We are a banked track league without a banked track. We are a group of over 70 women who all joined this league within 6 months of each other. We have varying skating abilities and bring massive talents to our committee tables. We are a brood of strong personalities who are jockeying for dominance. Like most other derby leagues we are tattooed, dyed and strong thighed. We are aggressive, opinionated and loud. We can point out each others’ flaws but nobody else better talk shit about my derby sister. We have bonded quickly and fiercely. We have a common goal and a common drive. We skate, we plan, we scrimmage, we fund raise and occasionally we drink. Okay, more than occasionally.

Most Of Us Are On Our Best Behavior

Unlike the beginnings of a romantic relationship, though, we will burp and fart in front of each other. Class all the way. No, let us not forget this honeymoon is one comprised of 70+ women. 70 Seattle women. For those of you who are not familiar with Seattle-ites. We are known for our passive aggressive population. You’ll see our perfect smiles from across the room, but our ventriloquist skills were mastered by the age of 12. Is there another woman next to us as we smile at you so brightly? Oh, yeah, we’re talking about you.

We started recruiting last April and had over 80 skaters as of October. Half of our skaters signed up in the last orientation and I’m still matching names to faces with and without their helmets. We’ve got women who came back from retirement and have bouting experience and we’ve got women who are still learning to do an effective cross over. We’ve got one coach, one ref and all the promise in the world.

We Grew Fast

We are all so excited! Let’s get the girls, so we can make the money to get the track and skate, skate, skate! We were lucky. Our founding mothers, Mae Lay and Sally Von Trample, did all of the organization before anyone was recruited. All the policies and procedures were in place. Everything was well thought out and in order. The legalities were taken care of. This was the most organized non profit I’d ever seen.

18 years old? We’ll take you. Can’t skate? We’ll teach you. Retired from another league? Let me get that door for you. As will happen, a few dropped off. This derby thing is a lot of work. It’s not just skating in cute outfits, is it? You mean I’ve got to practice and sweat how much a week? So, we lost a few. But we’re still over 70 strong. We’ve traveled down to skate at the Doll House, Red Dirt Rebellion new Whip It beauty and in March we’ll visit TXRD’s track. Our fund raisers are successful, we’re looking at warehouses and we’re getting a lot of support from all of the surrounding flat track leagues.

The Honeymoon Phase Will End

But, as in all new relationships, the honeymoon phase will end. I’m not seeing it yet, but it has to come, right? There’s got to be something that goes wrong in a group this new at this size. I don’t know what it will be, but I’ll keep you all apprised of our progress. Next step: recruiting support staff. We need coaches and refs, desperately!

Tripsy Daisy is a Yo, Roller Derby Contributor and a member of Tilted Thunder Rail Birds in Seattle.

Tripsy Daisy