A weekend with VR Nordic

Me and Dykestalker blocking together
Photo by Paul Delooze

A long time ago I moved back to Sweden, or even before I moved back, we started up VR Nordic. I've been skating on Team Vagine since 2008, and it was only natural for me to be a part of starting up a Nordic chapter, of something that have given me soo much.

VR Nordic played our first game against Crime City Rollers a few years back, during the Derby Festival and then it seem like we have gotten invited to play a game each year.



VR Nordic has been a very fun experiance, and I love to be able to hang out with some of the best Queer skaters of the Nordic countries and just have a relaxed and fun game. Me, Only and Pygmi have been making sure there has been merch and that games are set up. Currently I have 25 VR shirts at my house I have to mail out... Has to wait until after this weekend and my semester is over... UGH...

Well, nevermind... this year we secured a game against VR UK in Birmingham, during a mens tournament. Except from neitther of us being a big fan of Birmingham, we're all keen on playing. We had some new additons to the roster such as Dykestalker from CCR and BlowMe from Stockholm and Team Norway skater Yoshibitchu. Also Fenix from Team Sweden joined us for the first time... and the bout was SO MUCH FUN!

I played an entire bout without a single penalty, and that felt really good. It was my first bout in a long time, and it totally made me remember why I do love rollerderby so much! Everyone seemed to have such a good time and played so well together.

We all went out for dinner together for an all you can eat, a little spicy for some of the queers, but some beers and we were ready for the lesbian bar... and we tore that place up! We CLOSED that place!
and we did win at the pool table... after some hard fought times! Good times with the locals!

The gayness of rollerderby

Rollerderby is so gay, well - it is a very happy sport, and it's completly OK to be whoever you happen to be, as long as you are respectful towards everyonelse. I have never felt as confident about myself as I am in teh derbyworld, and I never have to hide the fact that I prefer women over men. I don't mind men, I just don't like to date them...

It be wrong to say that I always been gay, I really have not, always known I was gay, I've had my fair share of men, and it really took me quite a while to come out to myself, to be confident enough in my feelings to be able to look myself in the mirror and say: "HEy Girl Hey, I'm gay!" Rollerderby have been a great environment to be out and proud, it feels safe and maybe sometimes my friends doubt my choices of dating, but it's not because of the gender of the person, but rahter the person I'm dating.

When I skated in US, I quickly ran into Vagine Regime, I saw Team Vagine skate my first year at RollerCon (that be 2008) and the next year I was asked to join the ranks and had the honor to be a part of Team Vagine and got to skate with some of the coolest and most fun queer derbygirls of US. Bringin back love and queerness to Scandinavia Vagine Regime Nordic got started back in 2010, not much action but it is slowly picking up and now we have a Vagine Regime Nordic bout against Kallio Rolling Rainbows this upcomming Saturday. It will be fun to be back in Helsinki and get to hang out with my friend Only.

There are many girls that thook their first queer steps during their time in rollerderby, and it is not that rollerderby turns anyone gay. You don't turn gay, you just realise that you are fine with being in love with someone of your own sex. In the rollerderby community you will not be judged for your choice of partner, and the supportsystem is huge. Rollerderby is not a datingservice, even if there are quite a few women that meet each other on the track, but that is not why we play rollerderby.

Rollerderby and the inclusioness is so different from what I felt like when I was competing in snowboarding, I loved the sport snowboarding, and I still love dragging the board to the mountain during the winter. I just could never get used to the world of dudes and utter sexism that existed. I always felt like I was wrong and that I was never good enough, rollerderby is of course not always amazing, I have days I feel like crying... but for most times it's a warm and welcoming feeling to meet another derbygirl, to step on a strange floor, to play a teamsport where I can just be myself...