Each month, Training Team honors a skater not only based on skills, but also attendance, attitude, progress, volunteering, and overall contribution to the league. Congrats to all Skaters of the Month! We look forward to your continued derby journey!
Dear Jammer,
I am your Blocker.
If I see you struggling,
I will always give you an assist.
If I see an enemy coming for you,
I will always try and take them out.
If you are ever hurt I will show up to your
bedside with humor, deodorant, and a cell phone charger.
This is Derby. Derby is family. I will never leave you behind.
No one should ever leave you behind.
I am Glitch. No Apologies.
What does your name mean?
It started out with a conversation about South Park. We started talking about an episode that is pretty much filled with the characters saying, “Derp derp derp!” Based on my love of South Park and tendency to have “derp” moments, a few other skaters named me – and it stuck!
What position in derby do you like to play?
This changes for me all the time! Honestly, I like to play all positions because I get to learn more about strategy. Right now, I enjoy jamming. I’m in love with the feeling (as a jammer), right before you enter a pack. Everything slows down for a split second, and then it’s like an explosion of “GET THROUGH NOW!!!” It’s definitely an adrenaline rush.
How long have you been skating?
My 1 year derbyversary is next month! I still can’t believe that it’s been a year since my First Date!
Do you have other hobbies or play other sports?
In my spare time, I like to pick up heavy things at a local CrossFit gym, CrossFit Synapse. I’ve also been known to heckle Giants fans at Dodgers games. I like to travel often, hug any animal that will let me, and learn everything I can about successful marketing campaigns.
What are some of your goals for roller derby?
Get lower, hit harder, and roster on one of SFVRD’s travel teams! It may take me awhile to get there, but I know it’s possible!
Photo by Matthew Becker Photography
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!
Roller derby is the best team sport EVER! It is a sport that nearly anyone can do regardless of age, height, weight, or athletic experience. All you need is a can-do attitude, willingness to learn, hard-work ethic, desire for challenge, persistence, and to be a team-player. It is this that resonates with me.
A little more than 18 months ago, Retro Ruby took me to an ACDG game against Santa Cruz. This was my first experience with derby since watching it on TV in the early 70’s. (Yes, I am old enough to remember the original derby). We went to ACDG’s next game on September 17. It was during that game that I decided I wanted to try doing derby even though I had not been on skates since high school, over 30 years ago. The next day, I was at Moonlight with the intent to see if I could even stand on skates. After all, I wasn’t very good on wheels when I was younger. Four days later, September 22nd, I was at my first derby practice. I’ve been skating ever since and will continue to skate as long as I possibly can.
I really love being a blocker. It fits my personality of being a team player, always wanting to help, and wanting not to be the center of attention. I enjoy doing what I can to be a thorn in the other team’s side. I love keeping the opposing jammer in my cross-hairs and doing what is needed to prevent her from scoring. I also love being a jam assist because it means I am messing with the other team and creating a hole for my jammer to get through.
While my name is a play on words from the singer Shania Twain, it is not because I necessarily like her music. As a blocker, I believe my 2 primary goals are 1) “deny” the opposing jammer any ability to pass through our pack and 2) “deny” the other pack any ability to prevent our jammer from passing through their pack. My name is a constant reminder of my attitude toward the other team… “Deny-Ya, Deny-Ya, Deny-Ya, Deny-Ya!”. That is also why my name and number on my helmet are done as a brick wall. That is a constant reminder that I am a brick in our wall.
My primary derby goal is to be the best player I can be. I would really love to skate like some of our juniors. I envy their agility, their fearlessness, and level of comfort with which they skate. I have a long way to go and look forward to every challenge that lies before me making me a stronger more fluid skater.
In addition to derby, I love doing things that are hands-on and challenge my problem solving muscle. I also love playing tennis, playing with my 4 pups, and riding my motorcycle along the back roads. All of these things, including derby, allow me to get away from the stresses in life and give me the feeling of inner peace and accomplishment.
What does your name mean?
You know that show Metalocalypse? William Murderface is probably my favorite band member on that show. Mimi is a family nickname and sounds nice in front of “Murderface.”
What position in Derby do you like to play?
I like to jam some and block some. Each uses different parts of my brain, and I like switching between the two. As a jammer, everyone’s aiming at you, so it’s a challenge to figure out how to sneak or power through while everyone is trying to take you out. At the same time, I love the teamwork aspect of blocking. You get to work closely with your teammates to figure out how to be as annoying as possible to the other team.
Do you have other hobbies or play other sports?
I also train in martial arts, and I have a black belt in Shaolin Kung Fu. I’m trying to figure out how to incorporate Kung Fu with roller derby. The combination of the two could be pretty extraordinary.
What are some of your goals for roller derby?
To always get better and learn something new each time I lace up my skates. To keep having fun! To help SFVRD grow. I love this league and all of the amazing women in it, so a large part of my goals for roller derby are tied in with the success SFV!
Photo by Tough Girls on Eight Wheels
As I have the great good fortune to belong to a league filled with amazing people at every level of experience–all of whom put in phenomenal time and effort not only into skating, but into helping build SFV, I think it was quite natural to suppose, when I got the email, that it was a general announcement. I had to read it a couple times before I got to the part where I went, “Wait, what? Me?”
Well, zowie.
I remain more than a little flabbergasted, but I am so very glad to be a part of this fantastic collection of women and men.
As for my derby name, bane that it is of several an unfortunate announcer (e.g., “Catastro…phh…three?”), it’s a pun on Catastrophe Theory (and pronounced just like it), which is more or less when geometry stops working, which is more or less appropriate. In Latin (really it’s Latinized Greek) it’s a reference to the eruption that destroyed the island of Thera, Minoan civilization along with it, and, if you like, sunk Atlantis. Also, it has “catastrophe” in it. Also, I am a huge, huge nerd.
I like jamming best, so, naturally, I spend most of the time working on blocking. No, really. Being an effective blocker is sort of fundamental to the sport–and, as I become a less dreadful blocker, so too I get better at jamming, and just generally much more of an asset to my team. But I have a lot of room for getting better at pretty much EVERYTHING (especially, well, everything). Happily enough, I actually am getting better, too, and learning new things every time I put on skates (or don’t put on skates; I have learned a lot NSOing too, and just going to bouts and watching).
I spent about a year and a half trying to make it to Derby Por Vida classes at the Doll Factory [read: I made it through two-thirds of a session, and then went to a couple more first classes], but was flummoxed by the timing and distance. And then one magical night I heard about a new league starting up in the valley. I emailed the next day, and went to my first practice with SFV the day after that. And here I am, thirteen and a half months later, a Valley Girl born and bred…and often battered and bruised.
I still, however, have had way more in the way of scrapes and swollen things and even broken bones of little consequence from playing kickball, than derby. Go figure. I’ve been playing kickball for six years, and it’s a great lot of fun. You just have to remember you’re not wearing knee pads when you dive for a ball, and that it’s not, technically, a contact sport when some silly fielder is standing with both feet on the base.
Have I mentioned that I’m a nerd? I knit, too. Lots and lots of hats and octopi and Loch Ness Monsters. Some day, I will come up with a pattern for a lovely little sea otter.
In the meantime, there is a lot of derby to look forward to, and I am so excited about all the crazy wonderful things happening with SFV in 2013. <3
It took me a long time to find confidence in my physical appearance, but never even contemplated my physical fitness and blatantly avoided it. As a proud fat kid who’d spent their entire life utterly repulsed by physical activities, it was a surprise to everyone when I joined a roller derby team. I think my mom said something along the lines of, “Wait – you’re playing a SPORT?” But the actual physical activity – the workouts and skating both within and beyond practice – didn’t turn out to be my biggest struggle. Even a healthier diet was surprisingly easy to adapt for a sugar and carb addict. No, my biggest struggle thus far has been the constant self-doubting of what my body can do. If I’m not yelling from the sidelines, then I’m yelling at myself in my head. “YOU SUCK! AND YOU’RE SO SLOW AND – OW, NOW MY BACK HURTS – okay, stretched it out, everything’s good… JK YOU STILL SUCK!! WHY CAN’T YOU GO ANY FASTER?!?!?!!” Beyond the fact that my inner monologue speaks in all caps, that whole “being stuck in my head” thing is really annoying. To be honest, I’ve been feeling pretty crappy lately, like I’ve reached a plateau in my progression, and that asshole inside my head only gets worse.
Then I took the WFTDA Skills Test for the second time… and I failed, just as I expected to. Begging for warmth between a blanket and a hug from Maully, I awaited a sure-to-be long list of everything I screwed up. But then Coach Dad, who hadn’t even been judging me, came over to discuss my failure. He told me the few skills I’d failed were actually easy to improve, and the improvements I’d already made were pretty amazing. Sure, I may not have made 25 in 5, but I almost made 21, compared to the measly 16 I could hardly reach just a few weeks before… and this time I didn’t have an asthma attack! He told me how proud that he and the rest of the training team are, and that the only thing in my way was myself. “It’s all in here,” he said as he pointed to his mind, “Once you conquer that, you’ll be unstoppable.” I don’t know how you did it, Dad, but you convinced this failure that she may actually become a success.
This month, my new skater goal isn’t to perfect my transitions or to attain lead jammer just once – my goal for this month is to trust my body and its strength; to believe in myself because for some strange reason all you whackos believe in me. I would have never acknowledged this or trusted that I had the ability to attain my new goal before today, but knowing I have endless support, encouragement, and love from my coaches and team, I’m finally confident in one thing – that I won’t let you down.
October seems to be a special month for me, especially after receiving this amazing honor. All my life I wanted to accomplish something great but with the semi-lackadaisical mentality I grew up having I never really put 100% into anything. I moved to California from Minnesota in October of 2000. I received a party invite from the wife of one of my acting friends; you all know her as our amazing teammate, FishBlockHer. She invited me to her birthday party at Skateland. I couldn’t skate very well but it was all about the experience and it was awesome. January 2012 – Dave (Mr. Pop) went to our dentist and brought home the SFVRD flyer he found at the front desk. I contacted Fish and told her that the team was actively recruiting. I probably wouldn’t have stuck with it if it weren’t for her encouragement (still to this day). The first few practices I went through my usual, Do I want to commit to this? What do I want out of this? Why am I doing this? At my second practice, during a drill while not paying attention, Killo literally shoved me into the jammer. We both went flying out of bounds. She skated over to me as I was getting up and said, “How did that feel?” I told her, “Not too bad”. She said, “Good and you hit the jammer out, good job!” That changed my perspective on any of my future practices.
Now that I was at each and every practice I needed a name. Have you seen the movie Fargo? My name is derived from how Northern Minnesotans say our state, Mini-sota. Pop is my ultimate goal as a blocker. I want to become a solid hard hitting blocker that will essentially “Pop” the opposing blockers or jammer out of bounds when they least expect it! My number is Mr. Pop’s birthday as he has been my biggest fan and my ultimate inspiration.
