
Hi ORDL family, some of you I have had the pleasure of meeting, some of you I have fallen on my ass in front of, and the rest I hope to meet in the near future!
Right now my name is Amy, but I will be changing my name very soon, and you will know me by my derby name. My leading choice right now is Impaler Swift, but it has yet to be decided.
My journey began 3 years ago when I watched my first ever game of derby and thought ‘I would LOVE to do this! But where will I find the time?’
Fast forward 2.5 years and commitments were re-shuffled and an eager derby friend in Auckland pushedencouraged me to join a league down in Christchurch. A few emails and a few months later and I was navigating my way through Avonside Girls High to try and find the gym for my first practice.
There were around 15 of us nervous looking ladies, with mismatched rental gear and wobbly giraffe legs but you could not wipe the smiles off our faces. The learn to skate classes were so invaluable because you were thrown right into the pain, the fitness and the falling, so at the end of 4 weeks you knew whether or not Derby was for you. Most of us stayed and have officially been inducted into the 2013 Intake.
So far, the most exciting part has been getting new gear. Each week someone else has shiny new imported skates and we all take a moment to admire and examine the differences. I know I have no idea what I prefer yet but I am improving each week and that is all that matters.
Having the skills test updated will be a challenge but I think that for us it will be easier because we don’t know any different. All I know is that I am practicing my grapevines on and off skates as much as I can!
I hope to update this after each week or two of Freshmeat to let you know how I am going, what we are getting up to and maybe even share some photos of us newbies.
See you all at the Charity Bout on May the Fourth! (be with you)
- Smakka
Right now my name is Amy, but I will be changing my name very soon, and you will know me by my derby name. My leading choice right now is Impaler Swift, but it has yet to be decided.
My journey began 3 years ago when I watched my first ever game of derby and thought ‘I would LOVE to do this! But where will I find the time?’
Fast forward 2.5 years and commitments were re-shuffled and an eager derby friend in Auckland pushedencouraged me to join a league down in Christchurch. A few emails and a few months later and I was navigating my way through Avonside Girls High to try and find the gym for my first practice.
There were around 15 of us nervous looking ladies, with mismatched rental gear and wobbly giraffe legs but you could not wipe the smiles off our faces. The learn to skate classes were so invaluable because you were thrown right into the pain, the fitness and the falling, so at the end of 4 weeks you knew whether or not Derby was for you. Most of us stayed and have officially been inducted into the 2013 Intake.
So far, the most exciting part has been getting new gear. Each week someone else has shiny new imported skates and we all take a moment to admire and examine the differences. I know I have no idea what I prefer yet but I am improving each week and that is all that matters.
Having the skills test updated will be a challenge but I think that for us it will be easier because we don’t know any different. All I know is that I am practicing my grapevines on and off skates as much as I can!
I hope to update this after each week or two of Freshmeat to let you know how I am going, what we are getting up to and maybe even share some photos of us newbies.
See you all at the Charity Bout on May the Fourth! (be with you)
- Smakka