RollerCon 2015 - short late recap

Team Fasholes vs. Team Tomboys by Tristan King

I had an AMAZING time at RollerCon, it was my SEVENTH RollerCon and it was just as magic as any other year. I played some truly fun bouts with talented and kickass people, and most of all... i got to dress up while playing rollerderby... meeting old and new friends!

I was honored to be voted in for the East Coast Team this year, it is truly humbling and amazing to get to skate with this team. And AGAINST Team West that really had some of the finest skaters on it. Oh, and we won... but it was an amazing and hardfought bout...

Team Cruz always leaves me feeling like a BEZErKING VIKING, I am not complaining... I couldn't stop grunting for a really long time after...   Team Fashole just get better and better each year... both outfitwise and skating, this year we event made points...  we alsmost gave those tomboys a run for their money... with our tits out... yeah we did!!
Team Vagine is the highlight of the weekend, being able to be a part of a team with such talented and queer skaters makes me super happy. Skating for a cause, because we are who we are, and we are not afraid to be who we are. Oh, yeah, we also won this year again...

And as always, skating with Cheezeballs Precision Skate Bearings is always a great time and so are the bearings spinning in my wheels... even if we didn't win, we still kicked some ass and had a GOOD time both against Bont and S1!!

I also had a good time seeing that Roll Line Roller Derby had a booth there this year, and my Gladiator wheels totally tore up the floor..

Back in NYC and as entertained as ever

I am laying on the bed of my best friend, she's working away, and I am sore and slightly whiney. Yesterday Facebook decided that Swede Hurt s nt my real name, and I'm now Lina Berglöf with the world. Also yesterday I scrimmaged with Bronx and then with the Allstars and did those fun landrills that we always do on scrimmage days... This mornign I got up early and went to work out with my Bronx captain... Because the season is in full swing, and fitness is not going to be an issue.... I really do like to work out, but I can't do it myself, I just can't. I am WAY to easily distracted, I just come up with a thousand things I should do insted of the squats, pushups pullups or whatever is on the docket... So working out with a buddy keeps me on track...

I also decided I have to go on a healthier diet, not that I eat unhealthy, I just sort of over or undereat... I need to acctually be a little more consistant in my eating... 

OH OH OH... I got three TANKGIRL albums, I am more than delighted and will spend tonight falling asleep to the most amazing comics ever... Hells yeah! 

Fifteen skaters, a track, a deadleg and a musicvideo

A small but fun gang... SCRIMMAGE TIME!

Monday was a looong day at work, fun, but lots of new things. I am currently working on a project for SQORE. If you are competative in academics, this is really something to check out! Just do it! ok?

Yesterday due to most ppl were a little derbyout after the weekend (BSTRDS played in Barcelona and Team Sweden had practice) we only had 15 people able and willing to scrimmage. And it was fun, everyone got to jam, and play with each other. Having to go in two jams in a row, or even three and then sit one just ot be able to jam, it does wonders for your endurance, my way of reducing having to run, run, run....

But what is cool too, is that about just two years ago, 15 people at practice would have been considered a well attended practice...

I had tons of fun, even if I was feeling a little stressed in the beginning of the scrimmage, running out of work straight to practice while chewing down food does that too you. There something about practice, I don't know if it's because rollerderby is hella fun or because of all the endorphines, but in 99% of the cases I leave practice feeling 100% better than when I came there.

I got a pretty bad "Charlie horse" already on Sunday, but it did only get worse after another bony/muscular ass to it... damn derbygirls I urge you all to eat some more fat so your hits become fluffier and less painful on me! Seriously, I can barley walk today, and tonight is fighting fit! I am taking tomorrow off, and that is probably a real good thing. Sometimes you need to take a deep breath and just take it easy.. .this might not really be what I do, but I am saying... sometimes it is for the best.

After practice I stuffed my car full of ladies... well I stuffed five girls into my volvo, to go and skate back and forth on a bridge for some musicvideo that Amy is in. It was odd but both fun and funny. And then I went home, made a HUGE sallad and watched Penelope. darn, it's the cutest little freaking romantic comedy I've seen in a long time!
HIGHLY recommend it, partly because I think that Christina Ricci is adorable, but the story is for sure really cute (predictble, but cute, and what RomCom is NOT predictble).

Long but productive Team Sweden weekend

This weekend was superduper intense, I totally nejoyed it, but I was also so exhausted yesterday that I fell asleep 21.30 and slept like a baby until 06.30, still wearing my clothes. Yepp, that is how life is, in all sorts of ways.

On Satuday we met in the morning and did drills until lunch, and after lunch Glory and Fenix ran a bunch of drills with us. It all turned out to be a really great overall practice. I'm starting to feel like I know the other skaters better and better and our strides start to gel. We start to recognise each others voices.

We went over a bunch of termology, so we all understand what we are talking about when we are on the track, since we all come from different leauges and have different names for walls and offense.

After practice we all went to Vinterviken (the infamous derbycommun) and had food and watched the Philly vs. Texas game from Big O, and of course soem of the SKOD tournament that was going on during the weekend. Texas really are GREAT at playing offense without sacreficing too much of their defense, really a joy to watch them play!

On Sunday we started off with some off-skate before suiting up for some more wallwork ran by Glory and then lunch. After lunch we had the fortune to have reffs to come and join us, and we were able to scrimmage. Scrimmage went quite well, and we really got to put some of the things we had worked on during practice to use. It's frustrating that we are so good ;-)

I know I say this a lot, but it truly is amazing to think how far Swedish Roller Derby has come the past years! It makes me really happy, and more and more willing to push myself and coach others, because it DOES show results.

I enjoy women going for it... Photo by Steve Newton

What happened after Florida? I went to PORTLAND!

This girl is something... something...

Since I already was in USA it only made sense to go and visit my lady in Portland (it's only a 7 hour flight from Florida).  It's really nice to hang out with someone that is so different yet like myself, she's such a genuine person and makes my heart skip a beat. Most of all I have HELLA fun with her, and she does make me push myself... freaking speedskating was EPIC! Trying to shoot with her bow during camping (sorry for destroying an arrow) and also just talking about everythign and nothing. I am for sure more obsessed about coffee...

 I was able to attend a few Rose City practices and also got to see Eagle play a bout with her home team Guns and Rollers. It's really awesome to just go to practice and not have to think much of it, on Sunday it was endurance practice, it was AMAZING, - I had a blast just skating laps and sprinting. I WANNA GO AGAIN! All I did was jus thinking "just one more lap" until my legs want to give in.
On Monday I got to attend A Guns and Rollers practice, it was great, maybe a little to slow for my Monday hyper self. 

I also got to attend two scrimmages and got to scrimmage with AoA agains WOJ, and it was SUPERFUN, you know hitting on a nice taqll jammer... gotta love it.. . I also picked up on some bad habits I've developed and I need to work on. Back to getting a lower centre of gravity in my plows when someone is pushing me from behind. "MUST GET BETTER"  it's that darn chatter that Eagle looooves to talk about... I tink it comes naturally for hockey plaers (THERE, I said it)

It was also really fun to see Sorelsen and Rivas arriving from Denver, just starting fresh meat in Rose. Rivas has always been one of my favorite skaters, she's good. I've had the pleasure to skate with her on VR before, and I've always called her quiet girl. Favorite nickname!

I also sort of feelt accomplished since I actually went for a 45 min run on the Thursday practice when Eags had WOJ practice. I know it doesn't sound like THAT great of an achievement, but when you haven't been able to run for such a long time (one year due to the hamstring rupture), that really is something I feel utterly excited about. 

We also went on a fantastic bike ride along the rive before the Sunday BEFORE the endurance skate.. .and we did go camping for a day, and that was EPIC, probably one of the best campingtrips I have ever done. 

 I guess active vacations are my style over just sitting around doing nothing, even if I can appreciate doing nothing too... well at least staying in bed... 

EXHAUSTING scrimmage, but fun!

Lately we have had so many people at scrimmage that we almost have felt like people don't get enough playtime. Yesterday my dear friends was NOT one of those days!

BSTRDS (our B-team) had a bout in Hamburg on the Saturday, and since our Allstar team has a few cross-overs we were running low, and half of the leauge seem to lay in their beds suffering from a really bad case of the seasonal flu.

So we only had 17 people showing up at practice, 5 of them coming straight from Hamburg! So the 7 allstars taht showed up ended up playing the rest of the leauge (the remaining 10 people). It was fun, even if I wish that htere would have been more people, but noone can complain that they did not get tracktime...

Well, I mean - skating every jam for two hours does leave little room for complaining...

I had a great time, even if we cut the scrimmage short about 30 min, because people were just getting exhausted and we could feel the injuries hovering. Instead we did a drill, and used the remaining time for some freeskating and fun. The whole practice/scrimmage was really amazing, and it made me think how far our rookies have come, they really can hold their own! 

My legs really are feeling EXHAUSTED today, I am worried that it might be the flu moving in on me, my joints and my body is hurting and I'm feeling really tired. BUT we have practice tonight, so I have to shake that feeling and put my head down and get better... Beach Brawl is just about two months away... and before that we will be playing both Crime City and Rocky Mountain!

Last night I spent at my mohters with one of my best friends visiting from Paris. Went to bed quite early borrowing my moms iPad and watching LRG vs. Atlanta.

This picture is completly inrelated to teh text (it's VR Nordic)

An AMAZING trip

I had such a great trip, from a snowy Sweden to a snowy NYC to a overcast but warmer LA, with lots of rollerderby! I got to see some of my amazing friends and skate both banked and flat track with Team Wolfpack!
I got to skate with some amazing skaters from allover USA, and I had such a blast... I did get blisters under my feet, it has been about 1,5 years since I was on a banked track last.
Coming back to Sweden I'm just as pepp as ever to play more rollerderby, why is it so much fun!?

On Sunday we scrimmaged against ACDG

In LA I was staying with my friend Mad Dog, and she was jsut the best host ever and even better was that Demanda and her girl came down from SF to hang out! The only thing that was a bummer was taht I didn't get to go to Portland. 

Skating in NYC again

Scrimmage at the CrashPad!

Today I got to come and guest scrimmage with Brooklyn, it was superfun! Thanks so much to Brooklyn for haing me!  I really miss skating with Gotham, so it's awesome to come and see old friends once in a while, and skate is even better!

I felt good skating, even if the jetlag almost made me bail on practice, and the off-skate after the skating was gruesome... I always eat too little while on trips and jetlagged, I just don't seem to get hungry.

Tomorrow I'm going to hang out at Five Stride, get myself new wheels and probably something more... 

There is honestly a CRAZY amount of snow in New York!

Me and Freddie bonding

Stockholm Winterbootcamp

Stockholm held a two day bootcamp this past weekend, and it was fab, Scald Eagle from Rose City Rollers was here and coached two sessions each day and myself coached one session each day. This year felt really awesome and less stress than the last time I did it. I had a really good time coaching, first class was on briding and offence, while the second one was on reaction, communication and ass towards the jammer. And Eagel had some really fancy footwark classes, jamming and all that stuff she's good at, she has for sure a fiiiine step, and on Sunday I was lucky enough to be able to step in on her morning class, she is a really great coach. Bootcamp was fun, everyone in the leauge worked really hard to make this happen, and hopefully we will be doing the same thing next year. It felt like we all got something out of it!

Eagle jamming 

We also had a referee camp that was lead by Cherry Fury, so we decided on having as much of scrimmage as possible, because it's fun to scrimmage with people you don't know, and referees need as much practice as possible. It was also a way of making it able for all of our Stockholm Rollerderby members to get to skate. The bootcamp was more advanced and participants had to been bouting for at least a season, which made the scrimmage  more challanging and it was great to see that both some of Swedens finest and Finlands finest where there. On the Sunday we did let our rookies in on the scrimmage, they got their own rookieline and got to play against each other, and they did soooo good, our rookies are going places! Europe look out!  I had SUCH a blast. A SUPERHUGE plus was of course that I got to skate with Eagle, and since we both are such derbynerds, it's about the best date ever. (like really)

The bootcamp was also real fun because of the simple reason that lots of fun people were participating, my very missed friend Only from Kallio was there, and her gf Pygmi, so I got to practice my Finnish that still is not very good, I guess I really need to go to Helsinki more, or even better have them move here. Sigh... I wish... 

Eags, me and Becky at Wintergames

We also had Eagle coach two Stockholm Rollerderby practices, and that was awesome, and it was so much fun to have an external coach come in with new drills and ways of thinking. I learned a few new things and got a few new things to work on, it is so awesome to get pushed and the feeling of getting better. Todays session was superfun, and we did some one on one that I forgot how much I like it. Reminded me that it is something we need to practice more often, just a few min every practice can take you a LOOONG way!

So tomorrow will be a very sad day since I have to drive Eagle to the airport and then go to work. The past three weeks been truly amazing, and I don't even know how to put words to how much I have learned about myself, how great my friends are and also that regular iceskating is hellafun!

HAPPY NEW 2014

Scrimmage with Freshies

So we had four girls yesterday that got just passed their minimumskills - and now got to partake in scrimmage for the first time. We made sure that each line only had one girl, and I really tried to be peppy and verbally help the new girl that got to play when I was on track. All participants knew it was their first scrimmage - so we tried to work really hard on teamwork and bootyblocking - rather than big hits. We didn't wanna kill our newbies at their first scrimmage, it's confusing enought to just be oin track for them. And I was really impressed, they all did really well, and all of them got the opportunity to both block and to jam.

Sometimes it's frustrating to tone your game down, but at the same time you know it's good for the leauge in the long-run, so it's ok, plus it's so great to see when the new girls just progress, and progress, and progress... and soonish I hope to see them bout with our B-team. .

So it is...

Time to make decisions, time to move forward, time to figure out what I want. It's hard when there is so much I want and only limited time!

Spent the day with Becky, Kix and Kim watching lesbian movies and eating - now off to scrimmage with new rules...

Drinking coffee with Kristina and Becky 

There is snow and cold outside... I love it! 

Coaching in Gothenburg, again!

There is no one I love to coach with as much as Mad Maloony, we are both good induvidual coaches, but our coaching styles really complete each other and going on trips and coaching with her is something we both enjoy. Even that we no longer are a couple, we are still very good friends, and share lots of laughts and goals.
So this weekend she got invited to coach Gothenburg, and asked me to come with, and of course I could not say no to tha, because I love coaching Gothenburg. They are such fighters, and work really hard and push themselves, and it is great to see.
We were staying with Obi, and that was superduper awesome, she took the best care of us ever, picked us up at the train, fed us, gave us coffee, and made sure we got to a party with a drink in our hands and then home again in the rain.. .what else is there to a good host...? Oh, she also gave me a cane when my leg was hurting... so I could walk like the old lady I am!

Thanks so much to Gothenburg Rollerderby for inviting us to come coach! It was a nice weekend, even if it involved a 7 o'clock morning train on Saturday...

Getting ready to skate, skate, skate... 

A little sun and a walk before getting on the train - Loony and Obi

On the train going to Gothenburg

The rain while waiting for the tram

Beer at the suprise party

Scrimmage practices are back

Sunday scrimmage practices are back - new structures for the fall are getting planned, my old friend Fisti Cuffs will be here next week, and I am excited about that.

Todays scrimmage went well, we played around a little, we laughted real hard, and I got a helmet in my face real hard... Yeah... the things we do for derby...  third time this week I gotten a really hard hit to my nose, I think they are after my nose!

I just seem to be cursed with injuries latley, I might not have mentioned this before, but two weeks ago I fell of a bardisk dancing, and my leg/foot has been a mess ever since. We been taping it so I can skate on it, sort of was needed for the Rainy City game.. yikes... 

Outdoor skate to Visätra

We concurred this in about 1,5 h

Me, Husse and Interupted all took our skates out to Visätra to watch Royals play their second public scrimmage, thye have four hometeams with girls on vary varying levels. There is lots and talent in the leauge, but they for sure need more practice, and for sure to pass minimum skills (from my understanding this is why they call it a scrimmage and not a bout, even if everything was set up just like a bout). Me and Husse were asked to announce for the first bout - I got a little nervous since I didn't even know the names of the girls playing.

I loved skating outdoors - it was really an AWESOME day to skate for 1,5 h - it was sunny but not to hot, and the road had some hills but not majorly and there was both up-and downhills... just like life! And we did not even get lost once... 

I am looking forward to many days skating outdoors this summer, I'm thinking that skating to work might be an option since I don't have a bike, and riding the bus in th summer sort of sucks...

Sunday Scrimmage and Saturday toddler

Sometimes we get indoor practices - and then we scrimmage... so yesterday we had scrimmage... It was fun, but not as fun as usual. I guess you cannot always be 100%... it was a long weekend - and I also had to catch up on some work...

Tomorrow me an Loony are going to Åre to spend a few days skiing/snowboarding with my father and his new family. I'm really looking forward to that...

On Saturday it was Hell's birthday party and I dressed up, very fancy, I was wearing a dress and that is not the most common sight. But it was fun, and some people got really drunk and some less... and we had a danceparty in her tiny apartment... Good fun!  Now I'm off to present rollerderby to Stockholm City... yepp... very formal - I even made power point...

We might have watched too much Toddlers and Tiaras

Indoor practice

Today is the day - we have practice INDOORS... I don't need long-johns and a down-vest on... Almost feels weird...
It's scrimmage, and this time we chose to only have it open for the girls that passed minimumskills before december, so the girls that are newer had a chance to NSO.
I think it is superimportant to watch and NSO some scrimmage before you get to throw yourself 100% into it.

From Berlin with love...

We also call her MONKEY at times

Rotation also made us smell the flowers - there were signs with the Latin AND German names

Rotation took us for many walks - and everywhere I found something to play with

We had to hide in a play-house because it rained so hard, and then we walked to the car in our underwear

We went to Hanna Hellfires Baby Shower and I petted a dog

I did the Bunny with Bunny aka Beatrix Slaughter, my old team mate from Gotham

So I am currently suffering from writers block... so I guess I'll just go with the old saying, a picture say more than a thousand words, and just imagine how much those seven pictures with captions are saying... they just told you all EVERYTHING about my Berlin trip.... well, we also as I said earlier scrimmaged with the Berlin Bombshells (thanks for having us), I got SUPERSICK for 24hours and almost thought I was gonna die, we watched the worst movie ever... I promised not to tell ANYONE we watched it... we walked by Master Blasters skateshop that is under construction, and it looked hella nice, we spent lots of time with Rotation and as much time as we could with Shevil, since she had to work... and then we took the darn bus home...

Scrimmage at Stapelbädden

And at this picture Loony is jam-reffing...

It started to rain and I thought we would have to cancel practice - but then we ended up not having to!

First we started with the usual big pack warm-up and then into some never-ending pacelines... good for endurance... and when we were streching the first raindrops started to fall... and then some more.. .so we figured maybe we will get one or two jams in before the rain will hammer down and we will ahve to spend the rest of our practice indoor talking rules and strategy... But OH how wrong we were.... it just sprinkled for a bit and we kept on playing, and all of a sudden we had been playing for 40 minutes and no rain... YAYAAaaa... everyone seem to get more an more comfortable on our outdoor track, we also have a few girls that are developing into quite accomplished derby skaters... CCR are looking better and better... makes me proud and happy.

Today a girl from radio were there and interviewed a few of us, and I got to say my favorite things about derby ''it's a team sport, we are ALL important'' and also that ''rollerderby is a sport, a different but amazing sport, and it is not the apperance that shows who is a derbygirl, but the attitude and the love she carries for rollerderby''... amen

The personal challange and derby

Me and Twisted from Stockholm

We all have different challenges when it comes playing derby, and it is lots and lots about yourself and what you wanna make derby to be for you! We all have personal goals and personal agendas, and we all face struggles. My largest struggle right now is that I just can't skate as much derby as I want.

I am currently in NYC, and it is just amazing to be back, and play derby the way I really enjoy playing derby. I LOVE this sport - it is hard work, tremendously hard work, but it is so satisfactory when it all works out. 

Don't get me wrong, I love coaching, I really do, I work really hard to figure out the best ways to teach people, to have girls up their skating and derby level, and I ADORE when I see girls progress. It makes ever hour I spend coaching worth it. Because I want everyone to share my passion, but I do  understand that everyone are not as passionate or driven. I still think that the ground rule is that if you wanna play roller derby, you will have to work for it, because everyone around you is working so hard for you. Coaching is not easy, not at all... I don't think I ever realized when I was in Rat City how hard of a job Carmen Getsome and all the other RCRG coaches had, and how great Gothams coaching committe was... not until now... coaching and keeping a large and very diverse group motivated and working hard is ... hard (so everyone give your coaches an extra pat on the shoulder next time you see them)

I have always belived in hard work, so I work hard, and then I expect everyone else to work hard. Roller derby is amazing, it's the most fun I can ever ask for, it makes my feet and ear tingle. Everyone have a different way of taking on challenges, but working hard usually gives results, and it might be a longer journey for some, that does not make them any less amazing, but it will just take longer, but I still want everyone to work hard. Practice time is practice time, play time is playtime, and we do that outside practice... I have noticed that the hardest practices are the practices that people come up to me afterwards telling me that they had an amazing time....

I think rollerderby is amazing fun, when I started skating, I worked soooo hard to get to the level where I'd be allowed to participate in scrimmages, and it paid off, because there is nothing that is as fun as to play rollerderby. Sure, there are lots and lots of things around rollerderby that might be fun, but the core is the game, the thits, the jam, the adrenalin, the smiles from your team mates and that team play out on the track. I really don't care about the rest, I just wanna PLAY ROLLERDERBY!

When it comes down to it all, JUST play rollerderby, it is the best fun you can have... and it also keeps you in shape and make you wake up with a smile every morning. But to play derby you have to work for it, it just don't come for free... nothing in life is for free... (yeah I took economics in collage)

Sorry, this was sort of a rant... but I love derby so much, but I also realize that it is hard work, and it is not all about walking around looking good in fish-nets. I walk around and look good because I play derby, and I think fish-net burns are stupid... why would you want a burn that you can avoid... (and if you wanna wear fishnets, wear skin colored dance tights under, in that way you will not get the fish-net burn, he he he)

Animals and no skating

Petting the 2 day old lamb

Today we left the city of Stockholm early to go hang out at my mothers place again, it's really really awesome here. We petted the new lambs and Loony got to see her little chicken... it is really sad because the little chicken has a foot that is not functioning and Loony wants to bring it home with us to make sure that it's not killed after we leave. Because the chicken can't be put back with the other chicknens, since they would kill her, picking her to death.

Everyone in Stockholm seem to be out skating today, understandable, since the weather is just AMAZING. Today is not a skating day for us, I have a blister under my foot, and we had a great practice with Stockholm Rollerderby yesterday. Scrimmage was fun, and I got to play on the same team as Loony and Kris, and that was mucho, mucho fun. One day I hope all three of us will end up on the same team... and hoooly gooolly, the floors here in Sweden are slick.

Stockholm is the new Montreal