I used to think that anyone could play derby. I still stand by that. I still tell chicks who are considering joining that. But I don’t think that everyone can be good at derby.
Hear me out on this one. Derby is definitely one of the more alternative sports out there - where there are all different shapes, sizes, and styles of women (and men) playing in one game at any given time. So yeah, just about anyone can play derby. That doesn’t mean you’re good. And yeah, there are a wide variety of people playing derby who are amazeballs. But while they are all crazy different from each other, they have at least this in common: drive, perseverance and strength.
If you don’t have the drive to push yourself harder and harder at each practice, you won’t be good at derby. If you don’t have the perseverance to keep moving when your body feels like it’s going to fall apart at any given moment, you won’t be good at derby. If you don’t have inner strength to tell yourself to get the fuck up when you fall down, you won’t be good at derby. And when I say good, I mean good.
So if you’re one of those people who plays derby just to say you play roller derby, I don’t want to skate with you. If you come to practice and do the same shit you do every week in the same half assed manner you do it every week, please for the love of god and the safety of your teammates, accept the fact that you are not willing to put in the effort it takes to be a good derby player and just stop now.
But if you come to every practice ready to learn something new, play every game like it’s a championship, and push yourself harder every time you strap on your skates, come meet me on the track cause I’d love to take a hit from you.
