South 'n Roll Camp in Montpellier Day ONE

Putting the fork together...

So after spending that short, hot time in Paris I jumped on a train to Montpellier toghether with Pooky, Fenix, Bella and Tique. With the risk to come off as very ignorant and clueless, I have to admitt I had NO clue were I was going. I knew I was going to Montpellier but had NO idea where in France it might be.... I googled it to find out that I was going trough almost all of France to hit the town.
We got picked up at the trainstation and taken to the place we were staying, to our horror we discovered that they were smoking inside. We all know how strongly I feel about not smoking, and I can tell you having a cold deos not make it more delightful... Well, well.. we got fed and it was LOVLEY with food, and the girl who lived in the house was amazing, she also gave me some red wine, and in France I'm quite sure it's a law that I have to drink a ghlass of red every night...

Tall Coaching... 

The next day we got up to coach, and we had two tracks an 58 mostly French ladies (I learned later there were three girls from Switzerland there too)... We started with a quite hard-core warmup, went into footwork, followed by blocking... and then lunch, some more contact drills to end the day with more specific juking and jammign exercises.
It was fun to coach with Fenix and Pooky, and it really was a help to have someone that spoke French, sometimes everyone looked at me like I was speaking Swedish (and not English)... It's so awesome to see how everyone took one exercise and used it in the next drill. It's what's sooo rewarding as a coach, when everyone are just pushing themselves and learnign. Everyone looked POOOPED in the end of the day, and so were we, just loooning to get som food into our bellies.
So after showers we were taken downtown to get some Italian food (when in France) and then get escorted to the afterparty... There was rugby on the screen and I watched some of that while drinking my Kriek (true story) and then me and Fenix took over the dancefloor with Barbie Girl... yeah... this is also true story... 

At dinner we realized we are Charlies Angels...

Montpellier by night... 

In Paris - transit

Burgers and red wine... when in Paris.... 

So on my way to coach in Montpellier I spent one night in Paris with my best friend Em. Em has NOTHinG to do with derby, we know each other from back in the day when we both competed in snowboarding... Now neither of us really snowboard anymore, but we are friends for life. She's probably the person in the world that knows me the best! It was great to get to hang out with her and to catch up on what's happening in both of our lives. We haven't seen each other since we went to Barcelona with my mother in May, and as we all know, lots of things have changed since then.
We went out for food, had some red wine, I insisted on the red wine since we were in France, I mean, she lives here, and I don' 't but I like red wine.

In the morning we went to the bakery and got the baguette and the croissant - just like they do in the movies. Back at Ems 17m2 we made coffe and had a mellow and supernice breakfast.

Best friend EVER!

The bread is still WARM from the bakery! 

Crime City wins over Paris Rollergirls

It was quite a messy bout, both teams were quite penalty ridden - but it was good times and we ended up winning and the team still did look great. We have lot's to learn, I am slowly growing into the role as team-captain... even if i think the travel-team start to need a manager... sometimes I feel like I am spreading myself quite thin... but who isn't nowdays... I am finally back in bed, my own bed, after spending the past four nights on wooden floors, air-matresses and couch pillows... so my body loves me a little more now.
I have about 30 unread e-mails that needs answering, I am leaving for Stuttgart in a few days, since I am coaching at Ralley in the Valley... anyone need a ride from Malmö to Stuttgart?
If I have some more time tomorrow I will write more about the Paris trip and the bout, it was good times. 

Busy times... and Paris tomorrow...

Loony, Alotta and Me, photo by Pony

Worked away on Battle of the Nordic Light all morning, figuring things out that you never done before is always a challange, it is fun, and I am happy that everyone are being very helpful. Loony altered out bout-shirts and I answered a bunch of customer questions, and then we realized we had to get out, or we would kill each other... living in a studio apartment makes you feel slightly claustrophobic... So we headed over to Alotta Riots house to hang out with her and PinkPony (who by the way decided to give up rollerderby and start motorbiking instead). Pony was celebrating that her summer vaccation started, and I think that Alotta was too... so they twisted our arms and made us pet the dog (Ponys dog), the baby (Alottas kid) and have some wine...  and just chill and have a good time...

Tomorrow we are going to Paris because on Saturday Crime City Rollers are playing Paris Rollergirls...  We all were hoping to get to bout by hte Eiffel Tower, but were told it was to crowded by crazy tourists (like us) so I think we will have to spend Sunday eating wine and drinking baguette... Sadly enough my French is limited to: baguette, fromage, je ma pelle and voulez vou couche avec moi...

Working in the name of derby....

Haz wheelz - you wantz?

I love rollerderby to death, it is the most amazing thing I have ever gotten involved in and it has given me soo much, and I am giving back as much as I can, somedays I just feel so drained.... sooooo drained.... SwedeVix Skateshop takes time - but so does Crime City Rollers....

I used to just be just a skater, and then things have just added on, and I am amazingly happy to help as much as I can, but sometimes it get very draining, it is like swimming in mud (not that I ever tried, but I can imagine it is not very easy), I take one step forward, just to be shoved back two...

I still decided that it is ok, as long as I work hard and I see everyone around me work hard, I am fine with it,  I am even fine with being the hardest worker, I do like to work hard, keep my spinning head spinning, and I guess being a little dizzy at times makes life easier to deal with. (until you puke, ha ha ha) As long as things do go forward, and I get to skate more and more and more.....

We just picked the team that is going to Paris, and I'm thrilled, because it was so hard to pick, and decide who the alternates were going to be, since everyone are so hardworking and dedicated. Being a coach is not easy at all, but all things considered, it has made me a better person, derby has made me a better person... and the team is looking better and better.

....even if my dear girlfriend think I do take too much work on and that I spend too much time on meetings... but this weekend we are going to Stockholm together to be announcers at Stockholm Rollerderbys bout against Hamburg... ohhh... and the theme is cirkus... MOHAAHahahAHHAhahaha