I started roller-skating about three months ago. Kind of.

I guess it really started way back in my single-digits, when every other birthday party was at Lloyd’s roller rink in Calgary. I remember disco dancing to funky tracks from Much Dance Mix 90’s albums, dressed in neon 80’s get-ups and thinking we were the coolest people in the world. That oval track just spelt F-U-N in endless amounts.

 

That was the place you trampled over other kids to be the first one in line to get your skates and the last kid on the rink- skating match 10 away from whichever ogre parent was trying to catch you and tell you it was time to go home. Then the “YMCA” song would come on, every time faithfully, everyone at the rink would get back on the track and you’d be lost and happy in a shuffle of Y’s and M’s and C’s …

The ride home was usually a quiet one but I remember being so content nevertheless.

Then there was the day someone told me roller skates weren’t cool.

In-line skates, or rollerblades if you will, were all the rage.

I sold out, I’ll admit.

But then, later on down the road somehow those weren’t cool either. “Fruit-booting” I think, was the term.

That time I didn’t transition, I simply just stopped rolling.

Roller derby is something completely new for me. My family swears up and down that they used to watch roller-jam on TV all the time and that it was awesome… and dangerous. I never saw this roller-jam, but I was happy they knew to some degree what I was getting myself into.

I guess I should reiterate that I know have the privilege of playing roller derby on our city’s home team the Deathbridge Derby Dames.

I saw the girls from the team in the centre core at the college handing out recruitment flyers and emailed iwanttoderby@yahoo.com. I was encouraged to come try a practice as “fresh meat” and assured I would be taught everything I needed to know as well as be suited up with loaner skates and protective gear.

So I went. Walked in a little nervous and unsure and left feeling the vertigo of being on skates for three days.

I loved it.

I loved feeling accepted as someone with no real experience, none in team sports in fact, and being hopeful that this was actually something I could practice my way into being half-good at.

There is something to say for a group of people who simply want to teach their passion to others, bring them in on it and see their dreams become a reality.

It’s not as if something like this doesn’t come without a cost to the people who created it out of virtually nothing.

I guess all I can say is I feel blessed to be a part of the team and blessed by the overwhelming support I’ve seen this city dedicate to something as unique and off the wall as roller derby.

These women have drive and talent and all I can say is hold onto your seats Lethbridge. If you keep cheering, we’ll keep skating.