Hugh Husse Heffner and Swede the Playboybunny

What happens in Norrland, stays in Norrland... We spend Midsummer at Husses parents house! It was amazing! And there is always a reasson to dress up and stuff your bra...

Swedish Midsummer with skates on - traditional

We are VERY traditional... dancing around the pole... 

In Norrland

So we all got here, Husse, Enoc, Jazz, Hell, Becky, Sarra, Cheryl and me.. by the fire waitign for the sun to never set.

Going North.... for MIDSUMMER

And Husse told me the theme for Midsummer is beach... I am ready... 

So it's how it always is... I am terrible at planning for the actual Midsummer: because I'm never home for it! I really am not! Last year I was coaching a bootcamp in Germany, and the year before that, I was in Phill, skating at the EastCoast Extravaganza with Gotham (my first bouts with the Allstars).
And the year before that... hm... EastCoastExtraVaganza with Rat City... yeah... I live a rought life... So rollerderby has really gotten in the way of celebrating midsummer... but this year... we will be REAL Swedes... and sicne I been a little distracted by different reasons... I totally did a terrible job of packing... I did remember outdoor wheels for Husses girlfriend - and she's bringing me a DRESS for midsummer and a bikini for whenever...
I guess things will sort themselves out... I might need this break from Stockholm! We'll see how it all goes...

Second day shooting music video

Second day of music video... 

And the dude was "JUST ONE MORE TIME"

Second day of music video - my blisters were getting worse and our energy was running low. Skating in small, small, small circles... yeah... so cool right now! 

Shooting another music video...

We are skating around and around and around... and I have blisters and Loony got to spit fake blood... 

We're going to Ibiza...

Me and Amy in the best outfits of the year...

Lot's pf things going on right now, and I am not ready to blog about it, but I'm just not a very happy camper... BUT the unhappiness and tears wer interupted by an intraleauge game this weekend... We parted Stockholm Rollerderby into two teams, and bouted. Since we are quite few, we invited two girls from Black River Rebels to play on a team each.
Everyone did an mazing and fantastic job, and I could not be any more proud of Stockholm Rollerderby and the people that play, reff, NSO and volonteer... We are all amazing!

Our team had a charter/Venga Boy/Ibiza theme, and it was HILLERIOUS - who said you cannot wear redicoulous clothes and do a great job. I still find myself walking around singing "we're going to Ibiza" to myself. I had so much selftanner in my face I looked dirty... maybe I was dirty... and a bright coral lipstick, that I can't belive I actually paid for... but totally WORTH it! Oh, and I jammed, twice...

I am so happy and proud to see that all our rookies have exceeded my expectations, and are becomming really skillfulled derbyplayers... My team won by a small margin....

A Legit weekend...

Photo by Margaret Tyson

It was an amazing weekend - I got to see lot's of my American (and Canadian - Tush and Wile) friends and play some amazing banked track rollerderby. I love roller derby! In a crazy amount, it is the most amazing sport ever. Team Legit has always been a great team to skate with, and I am superhappy and proud that I am a part of it. And I was extreamly happy that I got to skate in Everett, because that is where I started rollerderby... 4,5 years ago... I started to skate in Everett... at the SkateDeck...

I got some time to hang out at Fast Girls, and I even coaxed myself into getting a pair of lift and separate shorts... yepp... I am going all girly on ya! 

Critical Mass

Our MASS was à mass of skaters and not a mass of bikers - We had a great time skating with the few bikers that showed up. And then we got some beers, sat in a park until late.

2008 - RollerCon it was

I went to RollerCon 2008, 2009 and 2010 - and all of those years I had a blast for different reasons... This photo is from my first year at RollerCon - I had been skating for about 9 months and I was starstruck and the classes were in a garage... we had black vs. white scrimmages during the night at Flamingo Banks and it was HOT HOT HOT and I remember the floor to be slick, slick, slick... oh, and all those Rat City girls totally sweet talked me... I was in heaven... 

That thing about the WFTDA minimum skills, again

I've talked about this before - but after some recent discussions and talks with new derbygirls - I feel the urge to once again bring it up... why we require our fresh meat to pass minimum skills before we let them participate in scrimmage... I am just going to quote myself, since i ma honestly to lazy to write it all again... this is what I wrote about a year ago about passing minimum skills and why it is so important...


"So some people think that passing test means you are boutready - in my opinion it doesn't - it means you are ready to scrimmage, and start working towards becoming boutready. It means that you are safe to skate in a pack - and that you know the BASICS of roller-derby... it pretty much means that you are SAFE. For me saftey is really important - you HAVE to be a safe skater for me to let you on track with my girls - not only for others but also for yourself.
Minimum skills are not very hard, but they are not easy either - they contain a very wide array of skills, because derby is not only about being a good skater - it is also about paying attention, knowing how to hit, how to take a hit, to control speed, to look BEHIND you, to know the rules, to jump over someone that has fallen, to not hold onto people when you fall, balancing on one foot, speeding up, keeping pace, communicating and skating in a pack without falling.
So there are lots of things to derby - and trying to skip the basics are not making anyone a better skater, just a dangerous force on the track. Giving your body time to build the muscles that are required for derby will reduce the risk for injuries - and also make you a better derby player."

Remember they are called MINUMUM skills and not "I'm all that skills", rollerderby and skating skills is something you will develop every practice... so to keep your skills you have to show up to more than one practice a month, I'd even dare to say that you need one practice a week to MAINTAIN the skill you are at, and if you want to progress and get better, you need at least two practices a week a few times/month.

This Sunday we had a minimum skills test - and since we really wanna help Västerås and Uppsala (they are two newly upstarted leauges quite close to Stockholm) out, we invited girls from both leauges, but only the Västerås girls could make it... we also had five STRD girls taking the test! Everyone did such an amazing job, and I am really amazed over how much everyone are progressing!

Photo by Gitta Wilen - STRD freshmeat/referee

Full-contact or hugging?

Should I be worried taht Suvii is hitting on my girlfriend?

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...

The derby hair in STRD

Becky and Only has it...

Lonni is a hipster and keep it short on one side

You cannot deny Ice going all the way

But to be fair - Jazz really is the all that

And Husse for sure does it...

They all do it... shave a side, two sides, half a side... something is at least shaved... and they play derby... I really tried to find photos of the ladies in the full hair glory - but apperently shaving your hair also entails wearing something on the head... bummer...

And everyone are for sure not pictured... I just got to lazy to find pictres... but also Saliva, Amy, Red, Ryssen and probably someone else that I have missed has it too... and I see more of them in the future... summer and shaving is easy...

Not to miss that our referee has joined forces...

Back in Stockholm with fancy beer

Sun is also comming out in Stockholm - so after-work was spent in the sun with a beer, Jazz, Husse and Enoc and when the sun settled we all headed to Monks House of Porter to drink some really amazing beer. Me and Jazz shared 50 cm of dark beers, and it left both of us relly excited and satisfied but still urging for more. I am so happy that Jazz and Husse are my friends, sometimes it feel like we don't get enought time to hang out - even if we do see each other at practice twice a week!

For you who do not know me, I'm sort of a beersnob - I love beer, but I'm more or less specific about what beers I drink. I want them to have lots and lots of taste - and most of the time I'm all about the porters and the stouts - I don't really like IPA's, but that doesn't mean I exclude any beer without trying it.... and on a VERY hot summerday I will drink PBR or any other shitty beer if I get offered...

Later on a whole bunch of beerthirsty Stockholm Rollerderby girls showed up, had a beer and then all wanted to head to Roxy to win some bet about picking up the most phonenumbers... in the end of the night I ended up at the derby collective eating popcorn and cake since it was Becky's birthday...

Today we are gonna go see Royals scrimmage - it's not a bout it's a scrimmage... i don't know why, but I am really curious to see a public scrimmage with them. Royals is the other leauge of Stockholm that was founded about 9 month ago... 

Leaving Barcelona

Time flies when you are having fun - now back home - straight into a training committee meeting.

It's been a great time with family, food and slow Internet... And a tiny bit shopping... I think I even spotted a derby girl in the city yesterday, she had a HRD bag... We all stared at each other...

At one point I found a bear! Or can I say I became one?  I really enjoyed Barcelona - but at the same time I'm really excited I'm back in Stockholm... I love the lovley Stockholm... I just have to wait a little longer to skate around in a bikini!

Skating Barcelona

Like every normal derbygirl we tried to go on vacation - but we could not leave the skates behind...

We even made Em skate with us... Ah... Barcelona is really great for skating - so much darn fun!

Vaccationtime in Barcelona

Eating, walking and just living and laughing with family.
Yesterday was walking around enjoying some shopping and food!
Today we're gonna skate down to the beach and chill in the sun. Maybe even drinking some sangria!

In Barcelona

Maybe having a flight at 6.20 the day after a bout is not the brightest of the ideas... but we made the flight, even if the things I brought are a little mixed... we did bring our skates for some beach skating...

Today we got here, ate tapas and then went for a very long walk down the Rambla and all the way down to the beach, just to put our feet into the ocean. Amazingness! I love it! But I do admitt we feelt a little like shit, sore and slightly hungover, and awesome... all in one..

Wearing flip-flops and strolling in the sun... and lots and lots of AMAZING food and great wine! Vaccation time! It's me, Loony, my mother, stepfather, brother and one of my best friends Em. 

Won bout against Helsinki.....

My team is amazing! And now I'm on a flight to Barcelona... Supergood game against Helsinki... Thanks to Helsinki for giving us such an amazing game!

Photo shamelessly stolen from Facebook