Featured Skater- ImPailHer

Fresh Meat Fears eventually fade away some slower than others: You Also go from Fresh Meat to Rookie and that's when you are officially apart of the team. It is the greatest accomplishment that you can achieve (before passing assessments and that damn 27/5)

Making the decision to become a Fresh Meat and put yourself at the mercy of the derby amaze-ball veterans is the first step of the coolest adventure you will ever encounter, hands down. All the things that happen from that point on are just perks.
Most of us start out unable to stand on our skates and resemble Bambi when he steps out on the ice and pretty much eats it. Legs sprawled out, clinging onto the walls praying that we don't humiliate ourselves or drop dead. Amazingly enough and hard as hell to believe you hear from each vet skater; "that is exactly how I started bla-bla-bla amount of time ago." We pretty much scoffed every single time we heard that. Of course I also rolled my eyes so hard I hoped they didn't get stuck in the back of my head like my mother used to warn me as a child.
How is it even possible these people that appear to float on the rink ever so gracefully; ever in a million years started out like this? Looking around at the rest of my fresh meat mates, I found it impossible for us to even learn how to stand; let alone kick so much ass one day.

Well with persistence, several falls, frustration amazing friends, support and vets that took us under their wings with patience we have all kicked ass in one way or another and each at our own pace. Our coaches have done nothing but encouraged us to achieve the best for ourselves and our team and guess what, we can now all not only stand up we can freaking skate!

One of the first Fresh Meat members to pass assessments and become bout eligible was an amazing ball of fire Kristen.
She was a little demon once she figured herself out, she was powerful and had speed behind her.
She is the only fresh meat member (so far) that has played at an away bout and she WON MVP JAMMER!!!!

( THANKS TO SOME BAD ASS COACHES AND HARD WORK SHE GOT MVP JAMMER AT HER FIRST BOUT!)

We are super proud of her and so stoked that she will be playing at our first home bout this weekend!

MEET: IMPAILHER #2

Age: 43 years old

 Occupation: Free Spirit

Skill level before joining: I loved to skate as a kid but I hadn't been for 30 or more years.

 Derby name and number and where it came from: Impailher #2; A family member and fellow derby mate suggested the name to me independently of each other so it felt like a winner!

What has derby given you? Derby has given me back a sense of myself. When I am skating I feel confident the way I did when I was a kid and approached things without fear or self-doubt. It's given me new friends who are mutually supportive and encouraging. And it's given me a sense of pride that I am taking care of myself and pursuing something that I am passionate about.

Why did you join? I joined for all the reasons above and also to show my children that I am more than what they have known me to be and that I am not afraid to try new things.

If you could teach yourself one thing (ten years ago) that you learned from derby now what would it be? I would teach myself that the benefits of trying new things far outweighs the risks. Even in the process of trying something that you end up not being as good at as you wanted to be you expose yourself to wonderful people, great times, laughs, challenges...all of which build your character and your confidence. And you may just end up being great. Who knows?

Favorite thing about it so far: My favorite part of derby so far is a tie between the feeling of being on skates again and learning new tricks and the people. My derby mates are just amazing, so supportive and fun! Hardest thing about it: I would say the hardest thing is budgeting my time to be there as much as I need and want to be while juggling so many other things including three children. It's a demanding addiction!

We are super proud of Impailher and her accomplishments so far. Her free spirit and the positivity that she brings to her teammates are just some of our favorite things about her!

Come show her some love and support and the rest of our blue and green team! 

 Two Rivers Roller Derby Skaters in Green Left to Right Carnage & ImPailHer at the CNY bout.



Love & Peace- Eff  Bomb 

Fresh Meat Fears : The Beginning.

Fresh meat it's a term that if you have never heard of before, you'll quickly learn it when you decide to join the exhilarating world of roller derby.

It all started with an event on Facebook. You know, one of those events that pops up out of nowhere. You have no idea why or how it would show up on your Facebook feed.

Oh maybe it was a mutual friend of a friend. Maybe it was from that cousin twice removed, that posted it. 

Either way however you got there you were led to the Two Rivers Roller Derby's meet and greet event page. I mulled around the idea for a few weeks, interested in the event of course, I promised myself I would go. Do something out of the ordinary, do something unfamiliar, step outside of that recently built box. I don't know about everybody else but I have social anxiety and I tend to runaway from things that are unknown; similar to a child running away from that creepy birthday party clown.

 Meet and Greet Night

I was overwhelmed with so many different emotions, if  nausea was considered one, it was the winner. There was a large group of people, faces I had never seen before. To me, it seemed like everyone was holding it together but me. After scanning the room, I realized that I wasn't the only one that was an awkward light shade of green, so I settled into a chair and listened to what these strangers were talking about. Some of it is a blur to be quite honest but I think most of us got the gist of what we were being told. Although, (in my head) it eventually sounded like some sort of chant:

JOIN DERBY!!! YOU WILL LOVE IT!!! WE WILL TEACH YOU ALL THE THINGS!!! 

This is so weird, why are they so nice??  Is this some sort of cult??  Where do I sign up? 

Of course none of those things happened there was no chicken sacrifice, or contract to sign with blood on the dotted line, not even chanting; but what did happen, really made the soon to be Fresh Meats not only feel welcome, but very excited. 

You see, it was the feeling of home ,family, friendship, encouragement, and unity that really drew a lot of us in. It was very clear during the short time we spent at the meet and greet. These people weren't full of crap. They really did mean what they were saying, and they were encouraging each and every one of us that sat there (some of us staring hopelessly at them) to join and become even  better and stronger versions of ourselves, with their help.

Some vets said Joining derby was the greatest decision of their lives, and it would be ours too if we gave it a chance. Some talked about their journeys, others briefly spoke about what the requirements were with jobs, practices, and other derby-amazing things. It was a lot to take in but despite the abundance of information, several people signed up.

                                        Fast Forward

Our 1st practice with the vets. 

Its been a little over four months since our journey began and the group of amazing humans that joined that day, are now rookies and if you ask any one of them, if they are glad that they joined, you will get similar answers. It was one of the best decisions they ever made and each of them will  have several reasons why. We intentionally joined a derby team and unexpectedly gained an amazing extended family.

I know for me even though I am still a rookie that is working towards my skills assessments, derby has been one of the best things I've ever done for myself.

Just some of the Freshies supporting the vets at the 1st bout of the 2017 season. 

If you read my teammate Carnage's blog, you can read further as to some of the reasons why so many people feel that way.