Traveling Thoughts

For every roller derby road trip there are enlightening questions: some of these are trashy, such as the SILF (Skater I'd Like to...umm.. Fondle) game; some are contentious such as your ultimate ref-crew (who, of the amazing Zeebs we have in Australia, would you put as HR?); and then there are questions that require some introspection or self-evaluation. The main question, which I find difficult to answer, is what would you do if you didn't do derby, or have derby in your life? It's hard to think about a life beyond this extreme, all-encompassing sport. As recreations go, roller derby can sometimes feel like a full time job. You tell your loved ones, physio, work colleagues that you train at least three times a week and then sometimes have a scrim or bout on the weekend, plus coaching, boot camps, cross-training, or going to league catch ups... They tend to think you're a little obsessed. Unlike professional sportspeople, we ain't getting paid for the hours we're committing to, and we're not bound by contracts or strict social media or drinking rules... we can quit any time! So why don't we? Quite the opposite really, it takes financial commitment to collect the full range of Radar Presto wheels – so many pretty colours. You spend hours, probably out of your normal working day, designing your Crazy boots with the endless possibilities, trawling through Zebra huddle and your league's forum for updates upon updates. Maybe this is just my experience. Some people must be better at managing their time (definitely!), and for derby peeps with an injury this question becomes more complex. During a two week break, you find yourself achieving quite a bit and ticking boxes you've left unattended for months: several seasons of Ru Paul's Dragrace (finally, you understand #werq and greet people with “hey girl heeeey”); quality time with your S.O; cooking proper meals; completing a knitting project; catching up with friends you haven't seen in years (and found things to talk about beyond derby...wow, well done!), and so on. So, I wonder, what would you do if you didn't have Roller Derby in your life? Would crochet become your thing, or maybe extreme Frisbee? What makes you continually come back for more? Is the derby community just a big ol' group of gluttons for punishment? By ANNAWREXYA