What Makes A Rollergirl?

Society is split into two groups. Women who roll, and women who do not roll. (What do you mean there is another gender? Are you talking about referees?)

Rollergirls can be found everywhere. Schools, offices, department stores, circuses; they fit - for the most part - quiet neatly into society. But most women are not rollergirls.

Here's what I think makes a derbygirl:

Active
I know a lot of women - myself included - that have never taken sports seriously before roller derby. However, if you're not willing to step up, get into shape, use muscles you didn't know you had and sweat (a lot), you're never going to be a derbygirl. Rollerderby is a sport, get it?

Tenacity
Derbygirls don't give up. Derby is hard! It involves being exhausted and achey, throwing yourself into unfamiliar situations and pushing yourself to skate just a little bit faster when you're already two steps away from passing out. To me, that all sounds awesome. To some people, not so much.

Confidence
As fearless as rollergirls tend to look, derby can be scary! For starters it takes a lot of courage to come to a fresh meat training session with thirty-odd women who look prone to violence. In my first few weeks of derby I dreaded going to practice because I felt out of place and I didn't know anyone. I constantly second-guessed myself, but in the end I dredged up the confidence to do what I wanted to do, and am so grateful that I did.

Lining up on the jam line is also pretty nerve wracking. I overcome this by making small talk with the other jammer about their tattoo(s). If they don't have a tattoo, this works doubly well for confusing them and throwing them off their game.

Toughness
This is the sticking point for a lot of wannabe rollergirls. Roller derby is full contact. You will get hit, and it will hurt. You will fall; that will hurt too. You will be sweaty and gross and sore and exhausted and kind of nauseous. You will break all your nails and maybe more than that. Possibility of injury is something that even experienced skaters struggle with, but I try to keep it in perspective. Roller derby is about as dangerous as horse riding and loads of people do that. It's much safer than Quidditch.

DERBY FACTOR
This is a combination of all the other factors, and then that magical something else that all derbygirls have. It's something that makes the calmest, mildest lady turn into a furious skating machine. What is it? We may never know...