No practice - I haz teh sadz....

It' so beautiful out, and surprisingly nicer than yesterday! Instead of an indoor, stuffy, hot endurance practice - we went to a lovely park in Keizer, OR and as a league (or those of us that were able to make it that is) skates some laps and played poker. It was such a great idea, I had no idea what the prizes were but it sure made me want to skate faster and get my cards! I ended up winning a glitter makeup palette. It will certainly come in handy next weekend for our bout! Ugh...our bout. ~insert giddy/excited/terrified/confident/constipated look here~ I'm excited overall...but it's my first bout against the Rydell Belles. They have been a team longer than us, and have some solid hitters. I'm not doubting our ability to walk (skate) away with the win by any means - but it's nerve wracking just the same.

Derby update

It's really been almost a year since I've posted here? Well that's certainly about to change... So, it's now May, and a lot has happened for me in derby over the last year. I now skate with Cherry City Derby Girls in Salem, OR and I love it so much. I transferred down there in Jan and was drafted to the Thrill Kill Kittens in Feb. I have the most amazing, caring, lovable, determined team. It's so great leaving practice feeling really good about myself, or leaving a scrimmage not wanting to cry lol. I got bronchitis about a month ago, and tonight was my first practice back in about 3-4 weeks. It felt so good! We practiced jumping the apex (which I did and felt great about!!) and we were able to scrimmage so I jammed twice - which is super huge for me, as I have a serious mental block about jamming right now. Thank you anxiety. So our next bout is May 12th, against the Rydell Belles. I'm pretty excited about this one, they've got some really great hitters/blockers and it will for sure be a challenge...but we can totally walk away with a win <3

What happens when you leave your gear in your car overnight?....

Monday night someone broke into my Jeep and decided my skate bag ($60), including my uniform ($100), skates ($375 including gumball toe stops, Swiss bearings and heartless wheels), knee gaskets ($30), ankle braces ($13 each), wrist guards ($18), elbow pads ($20), mouth guard ($13), black derby skinz ($18), outdoor wheels ($20) Betties shirt ($?) among other misc clothes were more important to them than me..and..100 tickets to the Season 6 Championship bout valued at $14 a piece. I was the new Betties ticket wrangler..they were my responsibility. I decided to have 1/2 in my purse and 1/2 in my skate bag..so when I went into the hangar I'd have plenty on me..

I never leave my gear in my vehicle, much less in my soft top jeep. I coached Wreckers practice on Monday and   planned on leaving again later in the afternoon, possibly for an outdoor skate, so I figured it would be ok as I'd be back down shortly. Well I laid down, iced my knees and didn't leave the rest of the day. I forgot all about my gear until the next afternoon when I when to leave to the store. The back zipper was up and part of my top was ripped. Once I realized my bag was gone I couldn't breathe. The first thing that went through my head was "they're gonna kick me out..I can't play derby anymore"...due to loosing $1400 worth of bout tickets. I immediately called my captain in tears...she was quite calm surprisingly. After a few calls were made, I heard back and found out this type of thing has actually happened before. I was told not to freak out, it's not as bad as it seems. I was able to pick up more tickets for Cheap Ticket Night, and told again...it's ok. It's happened..."not a big deal"..I'll never forget those words. Those words convinced me this will in fact NOT end my derby career...

So throughout the day we searched garbage cans, local apartment dumpsters, posted fliers and went to a local pawn shop. Nothing. My friends and derby sisters immediately started posting all over Facebook: "Portland: Stolen skate alert! Black Reidell skates with fat pink laces, along with gear and a Betties uniform. Please keep an eye out for someone selling these!!"

I was so thankful to have the most caring friends!

Well, Beki told me later to come into the skate shop before practice that night. I figured maybe she had a used pair of skates I could use/buy, MAYBE there was an option for some kind of payment plan. When I go in, she tells me some money has been set aside to help me get new skates. I was shocked..I couldn't believe it. She asks my size, I say 9. "I've got a pair of 965's size 8 I want you to try"...there NO WAY I could afford 965's. NO way. But, she brought them out..and they were beautiful. Dark purple with a bit of black on the toe. They were wide, which was a miracle in itself. I have flat/wide feet. They fit..it was like having cotton balls stuffed into my skates lol. I do a lap around the rink..I was in heaven. They were SO light! They were custom skates that someone had ordered but were too big. I don't know how I got so lucky all the way around..but these skates were going to be mine. These 965 Minx purple boots with Revenge plates were going to be mine! How did that happen?! I was excited (AM EXCITED) but along with that I have a feeling of obvious sadness...other people would be buying these for me. Because I left my gear in my car. Because I messed up.

So Skatie Kat comes in and tells Beki the whole amt. of the skates would be covered. I teared up..I was planning on a payment plan for the balance. I find out there was some funds left over from a Chip In account that was created for Scrappy Go Lucky (my teammate) that was created just a few days before to replace her skates and that PMRD were the main donators to that account. She received some money for her birthday to get new ones..then sadly she lost her job and needed those funds for expenses. Then Skatie says there should be some more funds coming in and she'd just roll it over to be used for me. *insert overwhelming feeling of love and support here*

I head to the hangar with my new skates in hand and Skatie Kat. It was the Betties last practice, and without my gear, I wasn't able to participate. I chatted with Skatie while she waited for the guys to get back from an outdoor skate. When they got back, I ran outside to show them what they had helped purchase. It was impossible for me to put into words how thankful I was. But I tried and they all smiled.

When I got home, I logged into Facebook and saw a Chip In account was created for me! Before I knew it, there was $25 in there! Then $70, now it's up to $301! (it wouldn't refresh real time for me so that $ may not be correct) I didn't know who was donating, how much, I had no idea of the details. The only information I had access to was the comments to the right from people who helped. There's only a few comments but 20 total donations so far. The only ones I know about are from the comments and a couple personal friends. There was a woman I had skated with in an open scrimmage last month, a bouncer with the DC Rollergirls, a couple girls with the league and 2 people I've never met before! I will keep names private as they might want to keep it that way.

Before I knew it, the link to this page was all over Facebook. Girls from other leagues were posting, non-derby friends were posting, it was on a derby girls Yahoo group I belong to but honestly forgot about..I was full of emotions I couldn't express.

I'm sure I'll never know exactly who helped me but I will forever be greatful.

So I've got my skates, and I was able to buy new wrist guards elbow pads last night. I still need a few more things, but thanks to everyone's unbelievable kindness I should have everything I lost in the next week or so :)

<3 Nori

My first bout...ish

My uniform came in just in time for my first bout as a Bettie...unfortunately my knee did not cooperate. While I got to gear up and warm up on the track with the awesome ladies I'll now be spending a lot of time with, I was not rostered as I didn't have the time on skates with my team I needed. I won't lie...I was a little relieved as we were bouting against the High Rollers (currently holding on to the #1 spot) and I hadn't been on skates for 3 weeks. Avalanche (who was drafted from FM the same time I was) DID get rostered, which was SO exciting! *Teams are allowed to have up to 20 skaters on their rosters but bout rosters are capped at 16. So any given bout, 4 skaters will not be skating*
The Betties were amazing and skated with so much heart and passion. It was such an honor to be in uniform on that side of the hangar during a bout. Not in a yellow volunteer shirt. Not selling raffle tickets. Not coming in late fighting for a place to sit. I was(am) a Break Neck Bettie. It was amazing.
The final score: Betties 105/High Rollers 120.

So I AM back on my skates but I won't be doing any hitting or falling drills for another week or so.

Our next bout is the Season 6 Closing Scramble. June 3rd & 4th at The Hangar. With any luck at all, that will be 'real' first bout, on skates and rostered!

~Nori Spekt

BREAK NECK BETTIES!!!!!

Last night was draft night. 11 of us were "draft eligible" but there were only 6 spots open between the 4 teams. I'm still nursing two hurt knees and a terrible cough, so I didn't go to FM practice last night. Instead, John, OSB, Lori, JJ and I all met at Kay's for a couple drinks. I think we showed up there about 7. I couldn't stop checking my phone, I wanted a call SO bad! You don't get one if you don't get drafted, so I decided if I didn't get one by 9, I'd have a shot and we'd head home. My phone rings at exactly 8:06pm. It was DV. My first thought before I answered it was, she's being nice, and calling to tell me they didn't take me. WRONG! She called to welcome me to the Betties! I started crying. I barely got out "thank you so much" between sobs, she asked if I was OK ~lol~ I was given so much information, and there's more to come! I was invited to the team dinner tonight, and my worries about my hurt knees were put to rest. She said me being injured is a concern of a few girls on the team but to take this time to heal and rest while I can, cause I won't have that time later. That right there, made me feel so much better.
Avalanche was also drafted to the Betties, which I think is just awesome. She's such a good person, and really rocks the red lipstick! What I didn't realize, is that while there were technically 6 spots open, only 4 girls were drafted. The Heathers took Effy, and GnR only took Tyger (LONG TIME COMING!!!!) even though they had 3 spots open.

I'm on cloud 9, grinning from ear to ear. I am genuinly proud of myself, and all the other fresh meat both recently drafted and still in the program.