JEAN HARDnLOW
Shortly after starting trying to be a skater I was injured. And upon hearing that my injury was a little more serious than originally anticipated I knew I had to find another way to stick with Derby. Because, really, who could give it up?
I opted to become part of the Ref-Necks. And was literally welcomed with open arms. At first I was just doing behind the scenes stuff like putting my other skills to work to help make a recruiting flyer. Then I was kinda just thrown into the game. The only other time I tried to NSO was when I was still on crutches and was told that I should probably rest instead. So, on the first night of scrimmaging before my first game where I was supposed to be just an alternate, I made myself useful and learned what seemed like a very complicated new system for filling in info on a form that is supposed to be done by the Penalty Box Manager. The next day, at the game, that is what I had become, Penalty Box Manager. (Funnily enough, It wasn’t until about a month later that we found out from another Derby NSO veteran that the form was OPTIONAL.)
Ever since then that is where I have been, in the Penalty box. Even though I am not there in the capacity I thought I would be when I first joined the Derby community I feel like I have found my place in this crazy world of Roller Derby. And now after only being at it for a short amount of time I am already teaching other people what to do there. I love it!