EROC 2016

Me and Only talking about Team Structure at EROC 2016

I have been to EROC more than once, more than twice, more than trice... I've been to EROC a total of FOUR times, and there has been SIX EROC. I really love EROC, and this year I came to represent Track Advantage and to run two seminars, one by myself and one with Only.

It is so interesting to see how rollerderby in Europe is developing and growing, how we face new challanges and leave old ones behind us. I truly love to observe that we truly grow and are becoming a force to reckon. Everyone has worked so hard on making their leauges stronger and trying to figure things out. EROC is such a wonderful place where we all can meet and talk, get together and see that problems are easier to go trough and solve when you don't have to do it by yourself.

I am always happy to see so many of my friends and acctually realize what a positive influence rollerderby have had on my life. We all work towards the same goal, together to become something amazing and more organised, to take ownership of the sport we like.

The WFTDA discussions are always interesting, and we work towards a great goal, to be able to steer the sport towards the goals of what we want. And who are we, WE are every skater that stepped into a pair of derbyskates and fell in love. Driven by passion to create an inclusive and revolutionary sport, rollerderby is athletic and fun, it's friendship and togetherness, and all of this is something I fins at EROC, every year... and yeah, we are getting older... the parties are not as wild and we are happy to have it hat way. Well, at least I am, but yeah... of course I will drink some wineschorle... because its so tasty...

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..

Swedish Championships 2015

The third swedish Championships was played last weekend, in a town five hours north of Stockholm called Sundsvall. I got a ride up with one of my best friends from Stockholm Rollerderby, Becky Lawless. Seriously, the car was so hot that I think we all melted away, BUT luckily we are in Sweden where the sun doesn't set in the summer (well, not until about 10.30 or so) and we stopped by a lake and soaked ourselves. well, at least me and Tess got in it, while Quad and Becky  did some serious gas station shopping.

Since I nowdays play for Gotham and not Stockholm, I wasn't going to play, but I was going to ANNOUNCE, and I do really like announcing. I think that and coaching is what I wanna do when I no longer want to play rollerderby competativley. Well, nevermind... when we got to Sundsvall we put our sleepingbags out on the floor of the classroom. All volonteers and players were housed in a High School... delightful... I probably should have brought my blow-up queensized matress... because I was busy packing pretty outfits for the announcing.

Me and Salivet announcing Gothenburg vs. Stockholm getting our tan on
Photo by Camilla Höög

I was scedualed to announce with Saliva, and our first bout was the semifinal between Stockholm and Gothenburg. Stockholm was the clear favorite in this one, and did not have much problems with pulling of a win. I was VERY impressed by a few of the Gothenburg skaters, this one girl whos name I never seemed to be able to get right, but she was #71 did a great job as a pivot/blocker, I would probably have jammed her more, since she was greatly sucessful everytime she got the starpass. damn those ladies in their lower twenties and all that talent. Well, me an Salivet were dressed nicley and we went with a flowery theme. It was really sunny, and I got a nice tan.

Elitseriekval Norrköping vs. Luleå See me and Salivet announcing in the background
Photo by Rickard Höög, 

That was the only bout that we announced on Saturday, even if I for sure watched the other semifinal where Crime City effortless beat Dock City. In the night me and Salivet took a round to look if there was anything fun to do on a Saturday night, and we probably would just have been better off just staying and laying on that classroom floor.

Sunday was the day of the final, the battle of the GOLD, the game that was going to decide if Stockholm would become Swedish Champs for a third time or if it was Crime Citys turn. AND I was going to announce it, and for this I had brought my fanciest dress! Well, nw I'm getting ahead of myself, we started out with announcing the Elitserie Qualifications. Sweden has an internal play, and currently it is Elitserien as the higest six ranked teams play in and Division 1 that are the six lower teams. In the end of the season the number five in Elitserien play number two in Divison 1. So it was Luleå Rollerderby (5 in Elitserien) playing Norrköping (2 in Div 1) to vinna eller försvinna (to win or disapear). It was SUCH a great bout, I haven't seen Luleå play for years and I never seen Norrköping before, and I was really impressed by both teams! It was fun to anounce, even if I had a little trouble getting all the blockers right in the beginning. AND it was sooo close, WOW!

The bronze game with Gothenburg and Dock City was REALLY exciting, especally the first half, before Dock City showed that they still are the number three team in Sweden. but Gothenburg showed that they are a true contender. At times Swedish rollerderby makes me teareyed, I love this sport so much and I love how everyone playing are pouring so much time and soul into it. AMAZING!

THE THE FINAL... it was REALLY great to get to annonce the two Swedish teams I've been a part of. I know almost all the players from both teams and there is so much talent and brains on both teams. Both teams went to US this year, Crime City to Beach Brawl in Florida where they DESTROYED their opponents and Stockholm to ECDX where they beat both Charm and Detroit, teams ranked way above them. When the new rankings are coming out in a few days this will place both those teams in WFTDAs Division one, meaning that they are both going to head back to US, to playoffs. I am SO excited that little Sweden has TWO DIVISION ONE teams! Dreams do come true.

Well, well... After the first ten minutes Stockholm had taken a clear lead, both teams played really awesome, but Crime had one too many penalties. In the end Stockholm pulled away and took a clear win. Ahhh... amazing! I was supercold... brrrrrrrr...

Me and Salivet announcing the SM final!
Photo by Martin Sörensen

Hm, I am trying to remember who got the MVP's and so on... I think I missed someone.... but this is what I remember...

Quad Shop MVP: Lil Slinky (Stockholm)
Quad Shop MVJ: Curly Håår (Crime City)
Peoples Choice: Anja Knees (Norrköping)
Sticky Skates MVP: Stopless (Gothenburg)

Awards Cermony
Photo by Camilla Höög

Well HELLO Berglöf!

So Facebook decided that I no longer could be Swede Hurt, I've been Swede Hurt on Facebook since 2009... So all of a sudden I'm Lina Berglöf... It's HELLA weird!
It's not that I mind my given name at all, I quite enjoy being Lina, it's more the fact that I am Swede to most of my Facebook friends, and they are all thrown off by this strange person Lina all of a sudden liking their pictures and chatting them up... I have been skating as Berglöf several times, the last time being the World Cup, representing Sweden. Btw Berglöf means mountain leaf in Swedish, and Lina is the name of my great grandmother... so I do like and honor both my names... but still, I also like being Swede... it has been my name more than Lina for the past 7 years...

Ah... well... there is a time for everthing, and I guess right now I'm Lina Berglöf to the Facebook world, in good and bad... can't say I'm thrilled, but I just don't feel like I have the energy to fight it. Not right now... maybe another day! 

Good to Go - again

So this year I took a real off-season, in that way that I didn't skate, I did continue to work out, but not as much, more maintaining than really building. I needed that, I took some mental "me" time, I took care of some things that was long overdue.

I made the Gotham Allstar 2015 squad, but January was a HARD month on me. Really hard! Even if it had amazing highlights, I have amazing roomies, I have an amazing brother that made my birthday fantastic and a whole bunch of supportive friends. AND me and Krissy Krash finalised our plans on blockerseekingjammer.com 

Now it feels like I can see the light in the end of the tunnel, I guess you have to hit the low points to be able to appreciate the high parts. And I'm currently working on getting my body and mind completely ready for the 2015 season. 

Practicing with Gotham Allstars is one of the most amazing experiances ever, but it is also super hard, and you are always expected to push yourself. 

Currently I'm in Sweden for a two weeks to work, and since I've come home I've already been at Good to Go twice and had amazing work outs and my body is SORE! I was also invited by BSTRDs to come and join their practice. It was superduperfun to see a bunch of familiar faces from Stockholm Roller Derby.

Battle of the Allstars State tournament 2015

Ten different state teams gathered somewhere in Pennsylvania to battle out who was to win the trophy and the medals in a double elimination tournament. Once again I had the honor and opportunity to play on Team New York... And did I get to play! It was so much fun, but also one of the hardest weekend on my body ever.

On Friday we only had 9 skaters and we managed to pull a win over Virginia that played really well. This set us up to play against Maryland on Saturday, this time we had a 13 count of skaters, and it was a very tight and exciting game with eight lead changes and great plays from both our and their side, Maryland came out the leader of that one and dropped us down to losers bracket. Since it was a double elimination tournament you had to loose twice to be out.

Sunday we were down to 12 skaters and knowing we probably would have to face both Maryland (again) and  Pennsylvania to win. We played Virginia in the morning, and won, advanced to play Michigan two hours later, and won, just to be facing off Maryland 30 min later. That was a tough game, but I think we all pulled out the last energy we had to win, and we won. We all pulled it together and it made me so proud of the team. BUT this meant we were set up to play Pennsylvania 30 min later. And so we did, exhausted and with smiles on our faces. 

I had an amazing time, and to my suprise I got tournament Blocker MVP! It really meant a lot to me. Sometimes you need a boost, and even if my body is aching today and I feel like I got hit by a train, I love Rollerderby.. 

But if anyone asks me to play 4 full length games during a day again, i might not be totally psyked about it... Hahaha

Yay... it's such an honor!!

So I jammed once, this is the photo evidence.... 

Scrimmage with Stockholm Rollerderby

Me and Blow Me having the best of times... as always

On Sunday I went to scrimmage with Stockholm, and it was superfun. I miss my old team, it would be strange if I didn't. It's a group of hardworking and compassionate women. They are among the top teams in Europe and are really deserving of the high ranking they acheived this year. Some of the most fun bouts I've ever played were played with Stockholm Allstars. I think I will always feel like I'm a part of Stockholm, it's that one leauge I just can't really leave, Stockholm is and will always be in my heart, and they say that your home is where your heart is.

I had SUCH a blast, and I'm REALLY happy that I went! I can't wait until I am back in Stockholm again and can come and play again! 

An old Facebook status I wanted to share...

This will be a long post, it's about how I bought a pair of rollerskates, fell into the lap of rollerderby and never turned back.  It's about how I always strive to be the best I can be; as a skater, coach, teammate, person and friend. It is about not crumbling under pressure and expectations, it's about all the friends I've made and the weird rumours I've heard about myself. It's about how fit I've become, about the countless hours I've put into planning, accommodating and helping others. It's about how thankful I am to every person that been there along the way, how every coach and teammate has pushed me in different ways, how we together have won, lost and afterpartied. It is about all the places I've traveled to, all the airports I've visited and the awards I've gotten. It's about being different and accepted. It's about all the games I've played, coached and watched. It's about being nervous and not showing it, it's about pepptalks, broken skates, broken hearts and suprises. It's about trust and smiles, it's about the wins, beers and injuries. It's about two whistles that became one and it's about women, men and juniors, it's about long meetings, phonecalls, tears and lack of training facilities. It's about taking the time, working out and soreness, it's about falling in love and it's about the past seven years of my life... 

Coaching Junior Rollerderby and MRDA Champs

Today I asked Gotham juniors, and it was so much fun. I never coached junior, well, in a very long time, so it was a great experiance. It's funny, when I got there Mick said to me: Oh, the big kid is coaching the smaller kids. And it might be that way, I am a real big goofball... it was a little odd coaching at first, since I really have not been coaching since I left Sweden a few months ago. But coaching juniors is pretty much like coaching anyone. Maybe their attentionspan is a little shotrer, but then half of the derbyplayers I know seem to suffer from ADHD or some simular attentionspan deficency. It is what it is....
I did my favorite off-skate and the warm-up I used to run with Stockholm all the time, I havent either coached such a small group in a long time, it sort of reminded me of when I started coming over to Sweden, and all leauges only had 7-15 players at practice.

After coaching I went over to a friend and watched NYSE play their first game in Tacoma at the Man Champs. They did good and won with alsmost 200 points... it's cool to see two of your coaches play, and some part of me want to tease Buster about going to the box so much.

So today been full of derby, and I am still watching the men play, my first coach from Jet City plays on Puget Sounds, so it's fun to watch them play Bridgetown (Portland) that I also slightly know some players on.

As I*ve said before, I adore derby, womam, man and junior... the rollerderby I play will always be closest to my heart... but at the same time... the more derby, the better. Tomorrow NYSE will be playing the Gatekeepers, so it's gonna be real exciting.... I am sooo down for watching more roller derby!

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... 

RollerCon 2014

RollerCon is always fun, but you never really know what to expect more than it is going to be fun and that you get to play with and against of awesome and exciting people.

Last year sort of sucked, because I was injured and wanted to skate so bad that I did skate but performed really poorly and was in pain the entire time. I guess on the plusside last year was that I met Eagle, it was worth all the pain ;-)

Well, this year Vagine Regime was a great bout to play, the people on the roster makes me so excited it makes me almost wet myself, but I don't because it would totlly show on the grey pants...

Fasholes vs. Tomboys is always the most hillerious, and this year I think I got "best outfit", another bout that was hillerious and I hope I get invited to skate in next year again was Prancersice vs. Twerk... I am a natural born Prancersicer... not sure if that is something to be proud of... but I AM!! Also playing with team Cruz is always delightful, I get to let my inner Viking out and just growl at everyone... yeah, that's what I consider a sucessful bout.

I guess what's fun with most of the challange bouts at rollercon is that they don't matter, some do, like the VR-bout, but many you just step on the track and do your best and mistakes can just be laughed away... I jam... and I jam... but mostly block and I try new things!

Hanging out in the pool, or by the pool during night was also great, this year I spent a lot of time with Rose City skaters, I guess I've visited Portland quite a bit the past year, and also this year they had quite a representation.

We went to the Vegas Haufbrau Haus, it's the third year we did that, and it was amazing and awefully fun and this year I had two steins of wheat beer and got way to intoxicated. It's an off-campus activity that I really appreciate being a part of. I love RollerCon, but after a few days at the Riviera it's nice to just leave and do something different with your friends.

If you wanna get  better view of what happened at RollerCon 2014, get the next issue of Five on Five, since I wrote a RollerCon 2014 re-cap for them.

Sorry this post is late, but I've been very focused on other things... like making GOTHAM ALLSTARS... :-D

Playing Team USA again

I had an amazing weekend playing rollerderby in Stuttgart, Germany. Team Sweden played Team USA, and we scored so much more than we did last time. The level of rollerderby in Sweden have really done HUGE strides forward. The game was really fast and I felt like we played well together, it was fun to be in the same line as Alotta and Tjutet, two Crime City players. Alotta has been around since I lived, skated and coached Crime, Tjutet was Fresh Meat when I was leaving, and they are both great strong players. 

It was great to see so many friends in one weekend,both American, German and Swedish! International hugfest!

Team USA held a bootcamp during the weekend, and I participated in the Sunday sessions, and it's always really interesting to listen and learn from other coaches. I really liked the blocking session that Smarty, Jackie and Baller ran, I think I really picked up a few things. 

I did miss half of the blocking backwards session that Pfister, AJ and Cherri ran, because I decided on having breakfast. It really is not what I'm the best at, and I need to practice more, I stand up too much when I do it. Even if I do know that I probably always will be most successful blocking with my ass... But as I always say, the more tricks you have in your bag...

ECDX weekend was awesome

Of course it totally sucked not to skate and the lack of pool. ECDX pool has always been an amazing experiance, I will always rememebr when Montreal had a little danceshow for us. And talking about Montreal, their spacewolf pants this year are aaaamazing! Keeping the dream alive.

It was real fun to see Tiger Bay, Helsinki and of course Crime City play, it's so amazing and awesome to see how well  European teams are performing, and proving over and over that Europe is underanked. Victoria from Australia showed that they very much deserve the ranking that they are at.

 Crime City vs. Providence was REALLY exciting, I am SO impressed over how they kept it together and played well, despite that Juciy, one of their skaters, broke her ankle in the game the day before.

Other games that were ttally worth watching were Montreal and Terminal City that played a tight and superexciting game, Gotham vs. Philly that was a little tigher than I would have assumed, but freaking LOVE to watch Slaydie and Diva go at it. The clash of the Titans! And damn Bonnie, she's just sort of "OK guys, I am just gonna stick myself between you and slide by". Impressive and lovable!

I also had a good time just haning out with friends talking about rollerderby, watching rollerderby and having a few beers. I was stayng with OMG and Bonnie and even if they were playing I think I was the first one to fall asleep. I've become such a sleeper the past year... Sleeping is goood for you!

Today I'm going to practice and I am very excited about it, YAYAAAAA... I gotta go rollerskating... Tomorrow I think I am gonna go outdoor rollerskating, I miss it! Just skating up the West Side High Way on Manhattan is SO MUCH FUN!! (fuck running, when you can skate) I once made Trish do it with me, and she got the worst blisters, so my mission is to get her a pair of better fitting skates...

Weekend of Team Sweden practice coming up

Yesterday I went to Fighting Fit after a long bikeride, it was great weather for bikeriding, sunny but not superhot. On Wednesday we had on-skate practice with our Advanced skaters,  I focused on endurance and walls. It was fun!

I am back in the swing of working out, but I can't deny that I feel a little lost in the way that i have a hard time motivating myself. There is nothing to work towards, nothingness and that feels hard. I am a little slow on my goalsetting right now, probably because I feel liek there are so many things that are up in hte air right now.

BUT ONE THING I KNOW WILL HAPPEN is that Team Sweden is playing Team USA in Stuttgart in the end of June, so I will really focus on that. It's going to be REALLY exciting and fun, fun, fun!

So this weekend we have on-skate practice with Team Sweden, and I am looking forward to it, feels like it will contain a little of everything. A mixed bag of goods, the way I like it, hopefully lot's of focus on skating together and staying together. A more cohesive offence with better communication from the jammers.

Since I've felt a little stuck in my development lately, maybe because I coach to much, I'm considering going back to some jamming. Not to become a main jammer or somethign crazy like that, but to jam because I can get better at it... I do like jamming, but that means I have to start working out a little different, and a change might be good for me! Getting outside of my "safespace"...

LOOK, I jammed back in 2008...  (and yes, I am wearing dipers and R3's)

Team Sweden in London

Photo by John Hesse

Damn, I was menatally not ready for this. Sometimes life get's a little overwhelming, and the past weeks have been like this. The utter dissapointment in that Stockholm will not make it to Division Two Playoffs (where we clearly belong) in combination with some other things have really left me feeling at an all-time low. It's hard sometimes when you work really hard during a looong time to achive something.

Digging yourself out of such a place is not the easiest, but having friends that support you makes it easier!

Right when I got back from my US trip, I went on a work trip to Tallinn and when I came home from that I litterally got SUPERSICK nad could not get out of bed, and ontop of that I had really severe jet-lag and really couldn't sleep. Lack of sleep is really a tool to make life feel a little more dramatic than it acctually is!

 Not the best place to be just a few days before playing Team England...  well, well...

The bouts ended up being stellar, first we played Team England and lost and then we played Brawl Saints and won. I did much better in the second game. The first game i was fighting all those feelings above and I was penalty heavy in the first half, the second half went better and I got used to the floor. I already miss the sportscourt of USA...

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... 

Team Sweden vs. Team Finland

This weekend was spent in Helsinki, the past years I've spent A LOT of time in Helsinki...

Game over :-D Finland and Sweden (photo by Vincent Micheletti)

Ouch, my body is drained and so is my brain... I had a great time playing rollerderby with Team Sweden, such an amazing team! Such a challange to play Team Finland, so many friends and so many amazing players! Scandinavian Rollerderby makes me happy, how far we have gotten the past years is beyond amazing...

On Saturday we played Finland, and they had a very strong team, and so did we. In the end they walked away with the win, but the entire bout wasa back and forth, and it could have gone either way. They were the better team at this time!
I had a great time playing with people I never really have played with before, but it took a while before we did find the synergy on the track, and truly got to feel like a sucessful pack. I am never really happy with my performance after a bout, well, I am happy, but I always think I can improve, and improve I shall.

(photo by Vincent Micheletti)

Both Team Sweden and Stockholm Rollerderby have VERY exciting futures, and I am more than excited to go towards that future! I want to be stronger, faster and more skilled!

On Sunday we got to Scrimmage against Helsinkis travelteam, and that was amazingly fun, I feel like many people were more relaxed, and we also figured out some things that we didn't really get to work the previous night. I am proud to be a coach of such an inspiring and hardworking team!

After scrimmage we set off to a REAL Finnish experiance, NAKED sauna! Yeah, it was a swiminghall, with a few saunas and a big pool. It's odd that I've been to Helsinki probably about 15 times the past years, and no one has taken me here. On Sundays it was women only and you could have a beer by a small table on the second floor, overlooking the lap-pool, where half of the women were swimming laps naked.. I had a beer, I deserved it, after the scrimmage I chugged a protein shake, so I was in need of cabs, and nothing could be better than this yummy beer! And after the beer I swimmeda few laps with Becky. It was a perfect ending with the team after an amazing but vey draining weekend.

Overall. this was a great weekend with rollerderby and a bunch of amazing people that I enjoy to play rollerderby with! Of course it was hard both physically and mentally, nad most of all I just want to lay down and sleep... sleep and sleep some more....

Watching mens rollerderby and longong for a shower (photo by Markko Nimleä)

Cancelled flight to Helsinki

Soooo I showed up to the airport with plenty of time just to find out that my flight was cancelled. Helsinki flight at 19.20 was not leaving. 

SAS was kind enough to book us on a flight that was 3,5 hours later and give us (me and Loony) a voucher of 75 kr each (about 10 dollars) to a restaurant where the cheapest option was 130 kr. Very generous! 

So afte some stretching and cracking my back in the sort of empty airport we still have another hour left until our flight leaves... And tomorrow we have a bout and all I wanted to do was to hangout with Only and Pygmi in the sauna... Vittu! 

 

Team Sweden 2014 - first practice and first bout

The Team Sweden training group that were in Malmö this weekend

This past weekend the traininggroup for Team Sweden 2014 got together in Malmö, to get ready for the bout we have this upcoming weekend in Helsinki.

A few years ago, in 2010 to be completly accurate I applied to be the HeadCoach of Sweden, at that time Sweden had one full bouting team, and that was Stockholm rollerderby that JUST had bouted their first time. When we held the try-outs in May 2011, a majority of the girls trying-out had only one or two bouts under their belt, but most of them were in their first season and a few had just been scrimmaging. I had NO clue what I was getting myself into, and it was probably one of the hardest things I've done in my life. Having to dissapoint people is the worst thing I know. I didn't have any clue what was coming, and I did my best and I had times really fun, but most of the times I had no clue what I was supposed to do, but all I can say was that I learned a lot from it! I learned how important it is to delegate, how important it is that people show up on time and that we are all human and here to help and support each other. But I did learn this the hard way.

Being a coach this year, I'm in a completly different position, we have a few coaches working together, we have the Swedish Skating Federation helping us. And I have said that this time around I mainly want to do the on-skate training, I also want to progress as a skater, I don't want to be stuck in admin or telling people that they are not good enough, I don't want to worry about what shirts we are bouting in or if people are in time. I love seeing the game evolve and I love pushing forward, I just wanna be one of the players, one pwersaon on the team, a part of this amazing team that I know we can become.
I am so proud of what we, rollerderby players of Sweden have accomplished, that we together have multiple bouting teams, that we have arranged a Swedish Championship, that we have pushed forward and upward, we have two leauges that are full members of WFTDA going to US this year to compete beyond the level most had even seen four years ago. We have so much talent and we have so much drive, and I love it!

I love playing rollerderby, it really makes me happy, I work out because it makes me a better derbyplayer, and I love the girls I've become friends with in rollerderby. I love my homeleauge Stockholm Roller Derby soo much, all the girls are soooo hardworking and developing fast. I also LOVE that we have a National Team, I have such a great time to see everyone on the track pushing themselves, I love explaining a drill, and everyone understands why and how it's done in no time. I love that we have so many high level players in Sweden! And it makes me feel a tiny bit old, that i remember a bunch of those girls from when they JUST began rollerderby!

I love how we just can line up next to each other,  all from different leauges and we already know what to do, what to look for and how to act and react together. I love that we can do this together, that we can travel to finland and feel confident that we are a great team. We are made up by induviduals but with a great goal to push ourselves together, because it's all about making the team look good, let our jammers shine, let us all work together. And most of all, let us all just have freaking FUN!

Can I tell you I'm SOOOOO excited to play Team Finland this Saturday in Helsinki, and the next day we get to scrimmage against Helsinki Rollerderbys A-team. This is going to be epic, and I love rollerderby and being a part of this.

Shitty, shitty SHITTY day

Damn, all I need is a hug...

Well, yesterday was one of those days when everything was superduper frustrating, I missed Eagle more than usual and I just felt superdeuper lonly!

Practice was good, lot's of ppl shopwed up and we did a bunch of great drills, I still feel like I am not fit enough, and there is just not enought time in the day for me to get as fit as I want too.

One big problem is that I just don't sleep enough, I go to bed, and I close my eyes, but I just don't sleep, I don't fall asleep. It is SO frustrating and I'm always sort of tired, and I feel like nothign can inspire me! I want to be inspired, I want to push forward, I wanna see my girlfriend, I want my team to get tremendously much better. I feel like I don't develop, that I don't get better, I feel like I'm bringing others down by being a grumpy old lady!

Yikes, life is not easy! There are so many things that are positive and awesome, but sometimes it's hard to see the forrest because of all the trees... and yesterday I just saw hellalot of trees...  All I need is a hug and a pat telling me that I am good at what I do and that I really should stop doubting, becvause it's really silly!