Rollerderby in Swedish Media today

(you can play a SPORT and be a little crazy, photo by Jules Doyle)

For you who speak Swedish Dagens Nyheter (Swedish Dayily News) just wrote a quite long article about Stockholm Rollerderby... Nothing out of the ordinary, for been doing research with the Stockholm leauge for a year, I think it's a little thin, quite basic and stereotypical article. Just the article that someone that has not really understood or been a part of rollerderby would write, with a focus on the fishnets, (and we all know how stupid fishnet burns are) party, lipstick, alcohol and sexy lingerie, not being able to capture that spirit of sisterhood, of love, hard work and inspiration to be someone together with a team, a leauge, a community... a family...

I love Stockholm Rollerderby, I been helping them in different ways since I started derby in late 2007, I have coached, I have dragged skates from Fast Girls in Seattle to some remote outdoor hockeyrink in Stockholm and given tips in many ways. I know that those girls have trouble to get a place to skate, if they could decide they would practice five times a week, and tear up the world. Sadly that is not their reality, I wish it was... but I guess we cannot have it all! Stockholm is a very cool leauge, and I love them all, the lipstick wearing ones and the ones who don't give a f***! I know that they work so hard, plan practices in parking garages, ice-skate and crosstrain when the city can't provide them with a training facility. Those girls dream of their own training facility, they dream of talking over the world.

They are mothers, nurses, paralegals, webdesigner, they wear sexy underwear or boxers, they listen to punk, hip hop, techno, reaggea, schlager or something i dont even know the name of, they are straight, gay, queer, crazy, mellow, funny, boring... but that is not the point, the point is that they wanna kick ass on roller skates and play a full-contact sport!

Sometimes I just get tired of how media have to analyze and stereotype rollerderby, we end up in the ''Life Style'' section of newspapers... when rollerderby is a competative sport... yes we go out and party after a great game... but so does most athletes I know... and I can tell you all one thing... I never met so many people that have quit smoking, gotten motivated to a healthier lifestyle, quit drugs ect ect... than just rollerderby girls... Rollerderby is a great motivation to become a better you!

The greatest thing about derby is that it is a teamsport where you can express your induviduality, but when it comes down to it all, working together is everything, accepting that we are all different, that we have different triggerpoints. It is fun... derby is something I love deeply, something that makes me laugh and cry...