devobat

I saw my first bout and fell in love. It was fast paced and aggressive. The women would take/give massive hits and when the whistle would blow ending the jam, everyone was all smiles and laughs. I wanted to be a part of it. I saw women of every shape and size out there and realized I could play a sport. So I bought skates and cried through my first practice. It was so difficult. I kept falling but I kept getting up.

There are really strict rules, and refs. WFTDA rule set emphasizes safety. If people are playing too rough they get ejected from the bout. There are still rec leagues out there that stage fights but they aren't taken seriously.

Also, we all want to skate, we are athletes. If we hurt each other we can't skate anymore. Also if you are a bag of dicks on the track, no one will want to skate with you. Safety first, don't be a jerk, have fun.

Completely. My first practice was like bambi on ice. I was told we were going to skate as a pack 20+ women at a fast pace for 5 minutes. It is called 25 in 5. 25 laps in 5 minutes.

I fell, I took out half the pack with me. I got up and couldn't catch up. I fell again, the pack caught up to me. I fell again. I started crying. A skater, who is now on my team and I love her dearly, helped me up and said we would do this together. She made me hold onto her waist and pulled me through 17 laps of hell. She pulled me and supported me each time I nearly fell. I continued you cry. When it was over, she told me, that would be the worst time. I would be better next time, and I was.

It got easier, I got better. I then got to help new girls through the same terrifying drills, and that is a humbling experience. You will never forget your first time at practice. How weird and awful it can be. Then you also have this massive smelly family full of women who just want you to skate as hard as you can.

Tl;DR

Yes it is scary, but it gets better. Do it for you. Do it for fun. Do it for exercise. but DO IT.

I am partial to my own leagues teams:

1. The Gaudy Lupes(after saint guadalupe)
2. The Tent City Terrors

There are also the Coffin Draggers, The Brutal Beauties, The Ship Wreckers etc. Most teams have some sort of mash up of tough and cute.

The clever part are the derby names. I could go on and on about how amazing the name Stone Cold Jane Austen is or Scald Eagle or The Grave Little Toaster. I mean seriously derby girls are witty.

Nope. Larger women use larger pads. Small men use small pads. It is all pretty unisex. Men wear shin guards more often than women, but that is because men play derby like it is football on skates. Full force. [edit typo]

OH guys might wear a soft cup. I am not sure though. I am not one to go ask our MRDA skaters whats up with their junk.

My league has a fresh meat group where they taught me to skate. I also did many hours of skating rink time and drive way skating. Find out if a league near you has a fresh meat program or skating lessons.