I have to say, I was pretty nervous come Sunday night. It was time for my first roller derby practice to be part of the Miami Vice City Rollers, and aside from skating around my house (literally, up and down my hallways) and briefly around my neighborhood (I really need outdoor wheels), I had not been unleashed in the open so to speak. Due to inclement weather, practice was moved from an outdoor roller hockey rink to a local skate rink, Super Wheels (a site that hosted many of my childhood birthday parties). Because of the change in venue, practice took a very different feel and instead of doing drills, we were told it would be more of a “dodging” practice.

And dodge we did. There were several children’s birthday parties occurring and just an influx of people that clearly had never seen a roller skate in their life, much less put a pair on their feet. I kind of felt like I was in a video game – there were small children colliding and face planting all around me, and I did my absolute best to avoid plowing through each and every one of them. One of the lovely girls on the team helped me begin my journey towards crossover turning (never learned as a kid), and I did my best working slowly towards sliding one foot in front of the other. By the end of the free skate, I’m pretty sure I had improved somewhat, but was still terrified to attempt to lift off fully (probably because of the pint-sized hazards).

I didn’t fall once (squee!), and was able to chat with a few of the girls – all of which are super sweet and supportive. I honestly cannot wait until next week’s proper practice, although I must say I am extremely overwhelmed with this new world and its lingo/science. Bearings, bushings, toe guards. What? Slow down, crazy. I also really need to build up my endurance: skating around for 2 hours had me seriously beat. Good news? Since the team is openly recruiting, we did not have to try out. We are all part of the team and will work up to be bout ready by December.

Guys, I’m a derby girl!
Here’s to keeping all my body parts and teeth in tact.