Coaching Co-Ed in Gothenburg

Bootcamp time DAY 1

I got invited down to Gothenburg to coach their mens team, Salty Seamen, I know... great name... wait until you see their logo... it is JUST a fish, I promise. Well, now when that is out of the minds... It was fun to coach, to be honest, I was a little nervous the first hour, it has been a long time since I went and coached. But everyone seemed really happy, and I think everyone learned a few new things and pushed themselves outside their comfortzone.

The camp was acctually co-ed, and I dont think I have coached co-ed before, but it really is not that much of a difference. Well, guys are bigger, and YES they in general are.
I am a "big" girl with my six feet frame, and I usually weigh about 170 pounds (we are talking about this later). But most women are not my frame, I am not the avarage, and nor is the tiniest guy on the team. SO yes, guys are in general bigger and more muscular than women players. Playing with men, I have to contain even more, and hit even less. I can't hit people that weigh that much out of my way, and if I wanted to, I would have to crazy SWING at them, and that is usually not advicable, ever.

We worked on walls, walls, walls, skills and some offence, and on Sunday we ended it with a 2 hour scrimmage, and I joined in and scrimmaged. Made me miss skating with NYSE a little, but I had a REALLY good time! This is what I love doing, skating with different people, and learning from coaching others. Understanding your and others strength and weaknesses... makes you and your team better.

I had a really good time, and it felt good to be back coaching! Made me wanna watch and coach more derby and analyze how we all can get better... I need more friends to do that with...

NYSE manager 2015

I am superhappy to have been elected for a New York Shock Exchange manager for 2015 together with three other amazing Gotham Allstars (Maven,Vish and Salydie). I'm happy to be working with in my eyes the best MRDA team... YAYAAAA... it is going to be a great time... I love to be a part!

A great Sunday on skates and some thoughts about men derby...

This morning I woke up to NO coffee, taht is for sure not a great morning, I woke up, took a shower, trampled a small cockroach, emailed Abe and asked if I could join the Shock Exchange practice (that's the New York mens team) and took off to Crashpad to spy on Fresh Meat and help Bones with some paper filing. I met her on the subway and the great rson she is, she had COFFEE in a jar to share with me. Right then I knew it was gonna be a great day. After over an hour of filing paperwork for our rec leauge I ran into Abe who told me I was welcome to skate with the dudes. Yay, day was getting better.

To be honest, I've always have had very mixed feelings about men and their desire to play rollerderby. It's not that I have anything against mens rollerderby, I for a long time felt like rollerderby was something that I as a woman worked really hard to make what it is today (absolutley with help from male referees and volonteers). I felt that if men wanted to play a fullcontact sport, why couldn't they just play hockey or something else that men already had a really big presence in. I felt very entiteled to rollerderby, and there are several reasons to it, several things that are to personal to write about in this blog and some simple reasons as in that we live in a patriarchy. I don't hate men in any way, some men annoy me, so does some women. And to be honest, I don't mind playing rollerderby with men, most men I've played rollerderby with are delightful and amazing. They love this sport just as much as I do and work hard to push it forward, they recognize that women are what made rollerderby to what it is today.
What worries me is that it might get lost, the respect for women, but there are so many things that might get lost, and when it comes down to it all, "the more rollerderby, the better". I love to play rollerderby, and who would I be to take that away from anyone. Still I have to admit it scares me.

I had a great time skating with NYSE today, they are all really nice and cool dudes, some of them freaking amazing derbyplayers, and their size really does challange me, I am used to be able to push other players out of the way... not so much here. They have a different style of play, MUCH more backwards blocking, def a skill I need to work on more, and are all really hardworking. I had a great time, and they are going to MRDA champs next weekend. And I wish them ALL the luck, and some more in Tacoma... ahhh... good old Tacoma!

After practice i had a beer and then I went home and made a great pasta meal for me and Vish. Yepp, life is not bad at all...