Rollerderby fashion - it changes

I am not sure if it is rollerderby fashion that changes or if it is me - I think it might be a little of both... When I started I saw and wore much more skirts... and now I just wear hotpants - or mini-pants... I just don't really care that much anymore, I just wanna skate, and coordinating clothes just seem like a waste of time.

I have never understood the amazingness of fishnet-burns - maybe because of all the snowburns I got during short-sleave summer snowboarding... but any kind of burn on my body seem just dumb... the times I have worn fishnets - I have always worn a solid stocking under... just make more sense...

Now some pictures of what I previously have worn on the track will follow... and there is WAAAY more than this - but this is just a sample... ENJOY...

At practice in December 2007 - right before I tried out for Jet City

Scrimmage Dipers vs. Depends February 2008

My second bout in March 2008

I took my best friend skating in January 2008

Jet Citys B-team Summer of 2008

Mixed Jet City teams vs. Slaughter County October 2008

Sockit Wenches 2009

Amazon vs. Shortbus RollerCon 2009

Rat City Allstar Summer 2009

Getting ready to play Manhattan Mayhem May 2010

Bimbos vs. somelongassabrivation RollerCon 2010

Jamming for Gotham in Portland Summer 2010

Coaching in Malmö Summer 2010

Coaching in Gothenburg winter 2011

Running practice - it is not that easy

This photo has nothing to do with the text, except it is of me

I have really developed as a coach the past four months - and it have been amazing to see girls grow under my words and develop into amazing derby players. When I started coaching I just simply used lot's of drills that I knew from before - but now I've gotten to the point where I can mix in drills that I have thought up myself - or tweak drills I have in my bag of tricks already.
Coaching is not only about just flatly telling people what to do - but also to motivate the girls to do it - and explain WHY we do it. I try to do this - but sometimes also I get exhausted and just wanna tell people to shut up and skate. Usually I ask the girls after a drill what they liked about it, and what they think they learned from it. Sometimes I don't because we cannot stand around and chat all practice long - but I think this is one of the things I have started to learn how to balance.

Yesterday was a rare occasion - me and Loony got to run a small practice - I think we were only 12 girls there - and it came into two really intense hours - and we all felt very happy afterwards. It was fun... and now I'm off to another practice - this time it is mostly to test the floor of a place that we potentially can use as a Crime City training place... Oh, we all long for having weekday practices - currently practices are Friday, Saturday and Sunday... and let me tell you ... yeah... weekends are quite exhausting - especially since me and Loony coach almost all of those... 9 hours of coaching per weekend... you ought to learn something from all that... and never go to the bar... someone owe us a beer or two...

Seriously - some blast from the past

So I was trying to find a picture of me from the first time I was on skates - and going through pictures from pre-derby times... and it sort of made me laught and giggle a little.. and remember good and bad things...
Well, whatever is cleaver... I just felt like sharing some Swäde pre-derby pictures...

Me and Charlotte in Egypt 2003

With Riika and Linn 2005, in Collage

Angelica and me 2006 in Solna, Sweden

Queering it up in Seattle 2007 with Mika and Linn

Me and Linn in Seattle 2005

And in 2006 I also tried to have darkish hair...

Outdoor skating in Swedish spring

Me and Ninja out and about photo by Loony

Yesterday Crime City had it's annual meeting - and that meant four hours of sitting - so before that we decided to spend about two hours skating. And as I wrote in my previous blogg - skating outdoors is great practice in many ways.
When I began skating outdoors - I had shitty non-hub wheels and it at times felt like skating in mud - but I still loved skating outdoors. I sucked it up and got the more expensive outdoor wheels and started to go at it - faster and fun it was. I been on my Kryptonics for almost two years now - and I love them - but I am always open to new things - so there might be new wheels on sight.

Sure at times it is scary when there is debris on the sidewalk, but it really has made me a much better skater. And also skating outdoors in the sun - there is really not much that can beat it - I just LOVE it!  When I was still with Rat City - we went skating with the fresh meat around Green Lake - it was really nice to skate around in a speed paceline - and GREAT for endurance and speed. Green Lake is probably one of the places I really miss in Seattle - I spent a great deal of time there - and it is also the first place I ever went roller-skating. It took me and my friend Tina skating - her on inlines she had not been on for 6 years - and me on skates that I had found in a secondhand store... It took us about 60 minutes to get around Green Lake... if not more.

Also - don't skate outdoors if it rains - it will ruin your skates and make your bearings rusty - and rusty bearings are not happy bearings. I usually use my old indoor bearings in my outdoor wheels - since I do expect my practice wheels to perform more than my outdoor ones.

(my first outdoor skate)

Outdoor skating again

I love outdoor skating - and I think everyone that is aspiring to become a good skater - and have no previous experiance of skating shold do it. It makes you lift your feet - it makes you get used to unexpected obstcles and other fun things... yayaaa...

out in the sun and skate I go now

Kicking ass in the name of derby

Maloony got back from Berlin and I've been really busy with SwedeVix, but I acctually squeezed in some time with friends - and I guess that is good.
I been skating outdoors the past week a couple of times, and I really enjoy it - the snow is long gone and the south of Sweden has really been hit by the sun and spring. I am about due for new outdoor wheels and my old Riedell R3's are going to be exchanged for my happy purple Moxis... ahhh... life is good!

Taking a break from derby and all the things around derby

My friend Mirijam has a dog and a blog - and yesterday we hung out had beer and went for walk with dog. We even limited the derbytalk to a minimum - I think we might not have been completly successful - our friend Madde fell asleep - yepp she did.

I want a unicorn

Like really - i have not shopped for ages - I just want to lay a unicorn into my shopping bag - ooh yeah

Any kind - it just makes me haaaappy! But I do realize that those skates serve NO purpose and I have to walk away .... slooowly... slooowly... or maybe I can talk Vix into having SwedeVix carry those as our speciality skate?

Oh, I love all of those people...

Stockholm Rollerderby and Crime City Rollers

Getting back... yeah..

 (Ninja this summer at CPH Pride)

So the past months have been very stressful - as most of you have understood, changing continent, changing country, changing city and changing everything is not easy. Leaving that safe haven that your leauge is to venture into a new leauge with different thoughts and skills is hard, but completly doable.
I have gone from being coached to being the coach and from living thousand of miles away from my girlfriend to living on-top of each other in a shoebox.

And somewhere I totally forgot to work out and lost a ton of weight - soooo yeahhh... and that was not fat - it was muscles... but don't worry - I can still skate...

BUT today I went to the gym and did it skating outdoors for the first time of 2011 - and got a gymcard. Ninja and Fenix joined me in a nice chatty work-out at the 24 hour gym that Ninja has talked us all into joining... I love the friends I have made here in Malmö -and Ninja and Fenix are both really awesome and genuine people. We want Ninja to be in the next Gladiators as a contender - it would make me sooo happy, so I told her that if she applies I'll go to the gym with her any day -and the girl LOVES the gym.
Yeaaahhh - it was nice and I feel like I am back on track... and skating outdoors - but my outdoor wheels that I've had for two years are falling apart -and it might be time for a new pair.

And now I'm over at Vix house working on SwedeVix shop - yepp and Loony is in Berlin - and for the rest of the week I have Crime City related meetings - evaluations of the bout last weekend. No rest for the wicked - and I am really starting to feel like I am wicked at points... MOHAHAHahahaha

Toestops - my secret love

I love  my toe-stops and I think it has lot's to do with starting my rollerderby journey out west - Rat City really like their derbystops (or turn-around-toes-stops as I say) and we practiced, and practices, and practiced until I can do them on a dime.  I have tried to do all the other stops when I get hit out of bounds, using my toestops have shown to be the most effective, so I have high expectations of my toestops... so saying that toestops don't matter - is like swearing in church.

I have a secret love relationship with the Snyder toestops and  they have served me well in over 40 bouts, they are gripppy and just the size I like them in. I have started to cheat on them slightly with Gumballs that my beloved friends at FiveStride got me for Christmas, they are not AS grippy - but they will last a little longer.
Snyders are sooo not made for any outdoor skating - maybe Id use them for polished concrete in the skatepark - but anywhere outside of that will eat them in a few weeks. Ugh... Well, that was my really early reflections over toestops...
I had to give Loony a ride to the train this morning at 4.30am - since she is going to Berlin with her school - and she is also delivering a bunch of poisons and skatefun for som Berlin girls - yayaaa...

Getting ready for WFTDA Minimum Skills Test

So some people think that passing test means you are boutready - in my opinion it doesn't - it means you are ready to scrimmage, and start working towards becoming boutready. It means that you are safe to skate in a pack - and that you know the BASICS of roller-derby... it pretty much means that you are SAFE. For me saftey is really important - you HAVE to be a safe skater for me to let you on track with my girls - not only for others but also for yourself.
Minimum skills are not very hard, but they are not easy either - they contain a very wide array of skills, because derby is not only about being a good skater - it is also about paying attention, knowing how to hit, how to take a hit, to control speed, to look BEHIND you, to know the rules, to jump over someone that has fallen, to not hold onto people when you fall, balancing on one foot, speeding up, keeping pace, communicating and skating in a pack without falling.
So there are lots of things to derby - and trying to skip the basics are not making anyone a better skater, just a dangerous force on the track. Giving your body time to build the muscles that are required for derby will reduce the risk for injuries - and also make you a better derby player.

Trying a different mouthguard

 
Me and Loony are trying the ProDent mouthguards today, SwedeVix is considering selling those babies... we just molded them to our teeth - and we are not drooling... Now OFF TO PRACTICE

Good Luck to Copenhagen Rollergirls this weekend

When Loony started derby she skated on the other side of Öresund with Copenhagen Rollergirls - and then I forced her to move across the bridge and become a Swedish resident. This weekend her old team are going to UK to skate in their second bout (their first was last summer against Hamburgs own Harbor Girls) against the Royal Windsor's.

It would have been fun to be there and watch and support them - we scrimmaged against them the week before we bouted Stockholm, and they have some really agile and fast skaters. I'm hoping that they will have a great time in UK and that the Royal Windsor will have a great time skating against our Scandinavian sisters...

Getting back in shape

 
I finally dared to step up on a scale the other day - and I have lost almost 6 kilos (13 lbs) since I left Gotham and NYC, I guess it's sad. I still work out - just not as much - and I think my largest problem is that I forget to eat - since I don't work out as much as I am used to, and the kilos are just falling off my body. I guess it might be stress induced as well - stress, moving, and more stress plus not getting the workout I am used to really have had a major impact on my body. BUT I am about to change this - we are getting some protein powder - and also a gym-membership. There is just not enough time to sleep or eat right now...
The whole thng about being skinny is interesting - I have never been this skinny - not since I was a teenager - and it amazes me that i was working so hard to get this skinny in my 20's - just to realize the it really does not make me happier in any way- I just need to pluck on some more muscles again - it is pivotal for me to be healthy... and to do that I have to eat more and maybe - just maybe drink less coffee... so I started today off with coffee and some YUMMY fish in tomatoe sauce on rye bread... mmmm

SwedeVix - a derbystore - by derbygirls

So me and Vix Viking decided to open a roller-derby store - and it officially opened Thursday, but that was in the midst of getting ready to bout Stockholm, so it sort of got lost. I have always dreamed of a derby store - spending time at both Fast Girls and Five Stride - who are owned by some of my really great and adored friends.  SwedeVix are starting really on a small scale, going bigger and bigger. We have lot's and lot's of plans - but as always - we just need to make money to spend money - but we need to spend money to make money... well, so right now we have Poisons, Stingers - wheels that are AMAZING on those slick floors so many of us European leauges have to deal with - we also have outdoor wheels - so we can start skating outdoors - now when the snow finally is melting away. Toe-caps to save your precious skates from falling apart and some other things...

So if you want to support a European derbygirl owned store catering to roller derby girl... Please do!

Let us know whatt you want us to stock, let us know what YOU like and your thoughts - it is really helpful for us - and you can get things you want.

SWEDEVIX SKATE STORE

Me and HussInsane after the bout

And here are some clips from Saturday...

Bouting in Sweden - my first

There is a first for everything - and this was Malmös first bout - and it was both mine and Malous first bout in Sweden. I htink lot's of people forget that Loony has only skated one bout before - and she did really great - she scored a 25 point jam.... But Loony, Fenix and Ninja all did great jamming and I did what I do best - killed the jammer (theirs, not ours) and so did the rest of the team. It went quite well - we won 132-88... I am really excited over Swedish rollerderby - it is going places - considering that a year ago Malmö did not even exist as a leauge.

I was very tempted to jam - but I have learned to not give into temptation - so I just kept on trucking - and so did the rest of the team - and it was fun and we had a great time. The audience was lovly and even better - my brotehr was in it, also some friends from Stockholm - but I have a sneaking suspision that they were cheering for Stockholm... bastards - I still love them. And it was great to see Husse again - my beloved Husse.

And at the afterparty I got to marry Fenix and Bea - may they stay forever as happy derby wives... and then we went for pancakes at Fenix house - and after that I slept quickly before we had to return to Limhamn and oversee a scrimmage/reff-training we had.It was great to see that my friend Jessica has passed minimum skills with Stockholm and got to skate in the scrimmage - that is what I am saying - derby is soooo much fun to play!!

Crime Citys next bout is against a mixed Nothingham team - and after that we are going to Paris! Yaya - I cannot wait for exciting derby adventures!

Malmö is bouting Stockholm this weekend

(Malmö is on the front of the paper)

I have done derby for a long time - for eons if you compare me with most girls in Sweden - since half of them rode the tail of 'Whip-it'.  Sometimes I feel like there was no life before derby, and then I realize that I lived a quite exciting life before - to be honest - derby have just been a part of my life for a little over 3 years, but it has been a good 3 years.

Stockholm was the first leauge that was founded in Sweden and they were established before I even knew what derby was - so Stockholm does acctually have some girls that have skated longer then me, so I guess they are also old and beaten up like me. And so does Crime City - Vix Viking started in London before I started in JetCity - but to be honest we all started about the same time - a Swedish derby maffia was formed.First time I ever met Swedish derby girls they were all in various skates from the 70's and skating around on a ice-less hockey-rink and I think there was 7 of them - at most! I acctually brought an entire bag of skates people had ordered from Fast Girls and things that I had JetCity and RatCity girls donate. 

(Stockholm Rollerderby first time I met them in 2008)

I just love rollerderby so much, it has changed my life in many ways,  I enjoy coaching it, and I even met my partner in buiness and my partner in love via derby. So life in derby works out in mysterious ways for me. Yayaaa... 

And this weekend is historical - Malmö (Crime City) are playing against Stockholm in Swedens first real bout (when I say real I mean that we have full rosters of 14 with 2 alts each, a full reff-crew and a regulations track) - our tickets sold out in 55 minutes. Stockholm just got back from playing Kallio and winning two weeks ago, and Malmö just had a good showing against Copenhagen in a scrimmage - still it is Malmös first bout - but they are all looking amazing and great.
Stockholm vs. Malmö vill be fun - they are amazing girls - both Stockholm and Malmö - and I am sooo EXCITED and proud for both teams. They have quite different stories - but they are both hard-working, athletic and fun teams!

(According to this article and Lil Chazza - Stockholm is gonna SHOW Malmö)

And as I mentioned further down in my blogg - one of my best friends HussInsane plays for Stockholm (and once in Berlin she drove me around in a shopping cart, and once in NYC we all wore wigs, and once in Stockholm we found a unguarded beer-tap at a bar, and once on Ekerö I secured her derbyname by baptising her in blushed wine) - and she is craaazy - so the afterparty will be just GREAT! Like amazingness.... and you guys know me - winning the afterparty is also important!

Rollerderby in Malmö

It is sort of funny -but we are bouting on Saturday - against Stockholm

First Offical Crime City Scrimmage

We invited Copenhagen Rollerderby and their reffs over for a scrimmage yesterday, they are our closest leauge and have a bunch of very talented skaters. They are bouting Royal Windsor in two weeks, so it was good for both us and them to get a real scrimmage in, since we bout Stockholm this weekend.

It was the first time CCR scrimmaged with line-ups and we even laid down rope on the track, so they got a feel for what it's like. It was quite a scrimmage, and I was very proud of us, everyone have worked really hard to get here, and everyone looked great during the scrimmage.

It has been quite a journey for me, and I have learned how to become a better coach, how to really explain how to play derby, and CCR have been so receptive and hardworking, it has been a joy.

Sorry - been on skiivaccation with the father and sisters...

Yeah - been skiing... but before that I manged to get my knee to look like this... Oh yeah... Not the best way to start a three-day vaccation with a sister that is really eager to go skiing with you... Maloony got to try some snowboarding and some more skiing...