Never let the sun go down on you

We are practicing in the country of the midnight sun. Summer in Stockholm and we are revving up for the Swedish Championships! It's quite EPIC! 

The fun with the unexpected

Life will always throw you a curveball -and you can't always hot homeruns... So being lost by trying to use some odd baseball analogy all I wanted to say was: fuck it and smile - it ain't that bad after all... There is a solution to everything... Threesome (ok I lost track again) nevermind

I got on skates - just a few minutes - did 30 laps - I feel accomplished. Little things that makes me happy - being able to rollerskate - you don't know how much you love it and will miss it when you just can't.

I ran late from work, jumped on the bike, got home grabbed my gear bag and ran to practice. At the bus with Becky I realised I had forgotten my whistle... Coaching without a whistle always make me wake up the next day sounding like Janis Joplin after a harsh night on the town... (That I would buy her)

Our practice is in a small little town outside Stockholm, and I figured the grocery store would be a better bet for whistles than the pharmacy... The girl working shook her head and said "nope, we have no whistles" and then me and Becky turned around to discover WHISTLES!! They might be used more for parties, but when in need... They were just PERFECT!!! 

Whistle - whistle....

Practice was superfun, I really love coaching a motivated and hardworking team! Few things come easy, and if they come to easy, you usually don't value it as much. 

One of my skaters broke her plate - about the third time this year, I guess R3's are only designed for so much fun... 

It's so crazy light outside now, 9pm and it's still bright outside! I love the summer in my country! This is what we all live for! Midsummerweekend,  I am gonna hang out with my bro/sis Becky Lawless. 

Midsummernightsun

There is so much to rollerderby...

Coming back from an injury is not easy - it's never easy to not being able to be on track and just wait and for your body to heal. I am one of those people for the very first time, this is the longest I've been off skates since I started rollerderby 5 years ago...

Potential Fresh Meat after theri first Foundational Skills exercise

It's hard, but I've at the same time had a gerat time continuing doing what I usually do, I still come to practice and run practice, and I am more relaxed coaching when I don't have to try to improve my own playing. I also have spent some quality time on how we are going to get new girls into the leauge. We are running some foundationals skill classes - a few sundays, so girls that are interested in rollerderby can come and test and see if this is acctually something that they want to do. It's open to anyone that have their own gear and you do not have to be a member... if you wanna know more about it... you can read about it HERE!

And then we are going to have try-outs, we will start a Fresh Meat program with girls that already know the basics of skating and derby, and have the motivation and have a hunch of what it means to be a derbygirl. I really like running foundational skill sessions... It's superfun to see all the girls that are interested in joining us working so hard, and looking really awesome!

So I am off skates, but everyone else are on, and that is completly fine with me! I have my bike - and we are really getting really close nowdays! Like REALLY! I try to bike about 20km per day, and it is fun, and I am gettting an odd tan and it's amazing!

Oh, and I am back in school, taking leadership and oragnization classes, I just had an exam in communication... It's quite AWESOME!

WFTDA Annual Meeting - exciting things

A few times that thought of not being involved on rollerderby has hit me - and I really conmsidered it, but then I always have to rethink it because I go on amazing journeys and rediscover the essence of why I started rollerderby from the get go.

PPL that work (non-payed) in the oragnization got a hat... so we could recognize them and say how  much we appreciate them (and also to ask them questions)

This year I had the opportunity to go to the WFTDA Annual Meeting that was held in Florida, Stockholm has just gotten our fullmembership and we were allowed to bring two reps, all leauges that are full members are welcome to join. And it was AMAZING to sit around and discuss the sport that we have built, the sport that we all love and try to draw up guidelines for what the future will entail.

Crime City Rollers representing by Muffa

WFTDA har grown out of a few leauges deciding it be good if they all played under the same ruleset; back in the day - like 10 years ago, there was no agreed upon ruleset, and teams would come together and decide  before the game what was legal and not legal. I mean, I started 6 years ago, and I can say, that was never the case for me, but I also know how the existance of WFTDA has hightened the level of gameplay, it has made us grow into organized, amazing, strong athletes, in a very revolutionary way.

It is very cool knowing that WFTDA is expanding internationally, that we have more and more European leauges joining, Australian, Asian - it's a worldwide revolution, of a sport that was founded and most people thought was a fad, traditional sportsfederations laughed at us and the newspapers thought we belonged in "nöjesidorna". The ruleset is getting translated and as a small step of that a few of us international skaters, translated the WFTDA missionstatement into our native language. I must say it almost made me cry to stand infront of hunderads of WFTDA reps and read out the missionstatement.

WFTDA is so much more than a platform for competative play, it's a forum for disscussion, for developing, for asking questions, to answer questions and to make your voice heard and your vote count!

We all walked around with little nametags, the sticker showed how many times you had attended, This was  my first year, so I had one! 

WFTDA Annual meeting was amazing - we sat indoors in sunny Florida  from 9am until 5 pm and shared opinions, thoughts, dissaponiments, views and visions. We shared what has worked for us, and what is not working, and then we had free drinks (true story, the hotel had an open bar for an hour) and kept on talking poolside. 

Only at WFTDACon you will end up in a cuddlepuddle with some of your favorite skaters!

I am back!! It is time!

Practice is done at sunset!

So I didn't feel like writing, and it's hard to force yourself to do something you don't wanna do, so I didn't... There are so many other things In life you gotta do that's sort of forced... And something you love doing, shouldn't be on that list...

I have spent the past six weeks off-skates since a scary sort of shark bit me during a bout... Worst pain ever! During the five years I've played rollerderby I have never been off skates more than barley three weeks... So this is a new experience! 

And to be honest - I LOVE rollerderby - and I do love the opportunity to be able to skate, but coaching and building a leauge and sport is also VERY important and fun!

I think we constantly need the reminder that this is OUR sport - and we are pushing it forward and we are all little important pieces in the awesomeness that rollerderby is.

You don't become an amazing athlete over a night - you work on it, you fall asleep visualising how amazing you and your teammates will do the next day, building rollerderby is just the same! We are all together building an amazing sport that makes me proud to be a part of, we surprise ourselves and the people that don't really understand us. We are former athletes, barstars, bartenders, mothers, sisters, brothers, hipsters, hippies, yuppies, homos, hetros, whatevers together we are all strong and together we can build something that matters, something slightly different, something that is competitive but that is not the only thing! Rollerderby is a sport - but to me it is and will always be so much more: it's what made me believe in myself and has taught me to be a teamplayer!

Hurt is Hurt

It sort of sucks...

Limping and being in pain 

The blog that stopped...

I don't know what happened, but I just don't feel like blogging anymore - there are so many things to tell, so many things to share... and still... I don't have the urge to go all out and tell you.

Maybe it's because this blog started about how I wanted to becoem a faster, harder and better derbyplayer, and I achived almost everythign I ever wanted. I am more fit now than I was when I started this blog, I have moved a continent away, I have had a terrible break-up, I have gotten a new amazing girlfriend, I have gotten a job, I have started to get new goals, I have started to plan for what might not be a completly derbyobsessed future.

I cna never deny how much derby has made me into the person I am today - how much I have worked to help European and foremost Scandinavian rollerderby grow... and I have grown with it, and it has been an amazign journey...

Touch down

I was in Berlin, I was in Stockholm and now I am soon in Tallinn... Work and derby really takes me places... Makes me superexcited and tired at the same time...

Next week I will be going skiing with Britta for a few days, and it will be great to be back on snow again, it's not very often...

Working 9 - 5 breaks me down even more than traveling, honestly office hours must be the most boring thing in the world
!

This weekend was Berlin vs. Stockholm

This time we won, but damn, it was a VERY hardfaught win... I am soooo tired and sore today!

I got a bike...

So that special lady I've been spending time with bikes everywhere... And one of the first times we met she told me I'm stupid because I have a car... Well, that my be truth with a little modification - nevermind. The point is that I haven't had a bike in Stockholm since 2009 when my trustworthy old bike got stolen... I've had a lot of bikes in my life - and lots of then tend to be stolen... So I guess I just haven't bothered to get a new one in Stockholm. It sort of has been on the agenda - but everything else has just gotten in the way... I've talked about it, but I just haven't gotten around to it...
The other day I made the decision: I'm getting a bike, so when I was at work Britta did some extensive research work for where to get the best bike in town... Conveniently it was just right by her house... So I hurried there after work and told them they were the best according to the Internet and I needed a bike... Since I had decided that I am gonna start commute on bike to work... No more subway!!
So the they found me a bike - I gotta ride it for a bit and I decided it was miiiiiine! So now I have an amaaaaazing bike... Britta approves!

I am a proud GYM-member

So I got a gym membership through my fantastic job, and we all know that I really like to work out, even if I am a really laaaazy girl... So I am now a member of SATS and now I've decided to really use those classes that they offer. Most of their classes are crazy popular and you have to book about a week in advance, and that is probably not really awesome for me, considering I'm quite an impulsive person.

I hate lifting weights by myself, and a personal trainer is currently not in my budget, so the next best would probably be the classes. So during the next few days I will tell you all about the classes I have attended...

So the first one I went to was called SATS Energy, it was supposed to be a high energy class with simple steps inspired by athletic movements...  
To be honest - I might be a very good rollerderby player, I still have NO clue how I can be, since my coordination is bad. People are known to compare me to a ragdoll... But simple and athletic movements sounded like someting that even a mildly aerobic challanged person like me could pass... WELL, if they by athletic inspired movements mean inspired by cheerleaders and gymnastics - I'll understand... I still did probably look very entertaining to everyone else... I really wanted to leave the class - but since I am such a trooper - I stayed around til the end... but SERIOUSLY - you will NEVER see me there again, jumping sideways while moving my arms out of sync... (everyone else were synced)

The second one I went to was Deadball, and you get a partner and then you spend 45 minutes throwing a 2,5 kg ball between you. The ball does not bounce... it's VERY dead! 
I had a great time, maybe because the random girl I got partnered with was one of the most positive people I've ever worked out with, it made me positive and we were both so supportive of each other that I almost started to think that we could compete in this, we were going pro.. but I don't think deadball is a competative sport... but I will return to this class, hoping that my new special friend will be there...

Stay tuned and I will let you know about, Box, Crosstraining, GRITPlyo, SATSCore and probably something else I have tried by then... now I am off to my dad to pick up a TV - since he apperently got a new one... so that mean i get his old as my new...

You may wonder what this picture has to do with the text... It's cookies and milk... I call it the best recovery meal EVER!

Running practice and then drinking (alcoholfree) beer

Caught in the action...

For some reason I haven't really been excited about coaching for a bit. I've just felt like I haven't been progressing and I'm just spending time on others. I know it's not the way it is, but sometimes it just feels that way...
BUT for some reason everything changed when I went to Montpellier and coached with Fenix and Pooky. I realised I acctually LOVE to coach and that it is superduperfun to see how everyone progresses.
I am one of those coaches that will yell at you to get better, I will make you skate for the entire three hours if we have a three hour practice... Yesterday we had a three hour practice - and my amazing leauge skated hard for three hours! I felt when our A-team skated against Crime City that we all needed some more endurance and also to work on our footwork, I figured if that is what the A-team need, then it's probably what the rest of the league need too... So skills and footwork - with mixed in endurance was what we did... For three hours... And almost everyone lasted the entire practice!

We might look crazy but we smell good

We have a bunch of girls that jus passed their minimum-skills a few weeks ago, and they are all looking stellar! I am EXCITED to coach everyone in our amazing leauge! Yay Stockholm Rollerderby, we ROCK!

After practice we sprayed some "smell good" on, washed our wrists and hit downtown Stockholm... Well, a few of us did, some other people hit up the pizza place, and that was probably smarter... After an (alcoholfree) beer I was just too tired to even think and hungry as a wolf, since I hadn't had time to eat before practice, so I just had to go home... and so I did...

Kix, Salivet and Becky....

Stockholm rollerderby vs. Crime City Rollers: PART 3

Our Fresh Meat came and cheered us on!

Third time is a charm, whatever that is supposed to mean, this is called part three, since it's the third time Stockholm and Crime City play each other.....
So the first full WFTDA sanctioned bout in Sweden happened yesterday. Stockholm and Crime City have done lots of firsts, and it's about two years since we played the first bout in Sweden... In Malmö - and at that time me, Loony and Firebird all played with Crime City, and now we play with Stockholm, both amazing teams, and I'm so happy to be a part of Swedish rollerderby!

I been sort of not into derby lately, I've acctually honestly thought about retirement, I've just felt like I don't have it in me. But after this weekend I do feel much more positive and I remembered why I love rollerderby... I still have decided to re-prioritise some things... Life will rule rollerderby and not the other way around! Yesterdays game was fun, I wasn't prepared for it to be as much fin as it was and our off-skate is freaking HILLERIOUS, we all do the off-skate and then randomly starting to sing "My Girl" and half of the team don't really know the lysrics, but we fake it really well...

This is how much fun it is to talk about line-ups before the game...

We won yesterday, and the game was a nailbiter, it was our first game with the new rules, and we had one player foul out, in the last 10 min, I guess it could have been worse. We are still playing rollerderby, and as long as we keep it legal, the changes aren't that crazy different... Oh, and I got MVP and it really meant a lot to me, thank you CCR, and thank you STRD for helping me pushing myself and being a part of something that is amazing, and sorry I've been pissy and difficult lately...

I also wanna give out Fresh Meat an extra shoot-out for coming down and cheering us on, we needed that extra love!

I love rollerderby Sweden, you guys are awesome, I love the hard work we put in together! Amazing!!

My really cute MVP award!

And I do admit I love my A-team a tad extra, what is there not to love after seeing them sing karoke or dance at the stage in sports bras? Seriously! I must say I miss Husse, with her in the crew we knew we would win the afterparty, she's an animal... (and she was good to have on the track too)

Lets continue work hard and have those stupid laughs together..: and the drive to play great and amazing derby (and it feels good when we win too)

Karoke afterparty... and seriously... me and Becky do NOT sing... Amy is the star!

STRD Allstars team meeting

Our Allstars are all moooodels..... 

So another day with no practice, so we had a team meeting instead. I love my team, everyone are so sweet and silly, we also have a few new additions to the Allstars, that I hope will work out really well. It feels like the season hasn't really started yet and people are just done decompressing from last season...

We are playing Crime City on Saturday. That will be fun and also my last weekend trip in quite a few weeks.

Don get me wrong, I love to travel, but it's really tiering, and I wanan be home and cuddle!

Look HOW excited we are... probably need less cupcakes and more beer?

South 'n Roll Camp in Montpellier Day TWO

Sunday we ran a three hours of practice - mostly pack-drills... since the previous day we had worked on more induvudual work... and since we all know that rollerderby is a team-sport it's important to get all those induvidual skills into the your packwork... and so we did... and it was great to see how many opf the girls already were using things we had taught them the previous day.
We kept on havingPooky translating the drills into French and me and Fenix showing it with our non-French speaking bodies... It was a good time!
Lunch was tons of food and that made me SUPERDUPER happy, sicne all we got for breakfast was a pain au chocolate (tha's like a chocolate crossiant) and hardly breakfast for athletes, and made me think about the World Cup in Toronto, when the breakfast was NOT suitable for girls that were about to play 1-4 bouts that day. Eating nutriousious is SO important when you work out and use your body for hours and hours...

Nevermind, we got lot's and lots of yummy food for lunch and after that it was scrimmage time for the girls in the bootcamp... It was superfun to watch and see how well everyone were doing, using different skills we had worked on during the two days of the camp... I have NO clue if the white or the black team won, but both did great...

And then it was just for me to head back to the train that would take me back to Paris and another night of haning out with my favorite Em.

Trivial Pursuit...

I love quiz games... and I just discovered that you can play TP on Wii... I am not completly down with those handheld damn devices that usually do exactly the opposite that I want... but I am totally down with the game!
Britta keep on beating me... but not for long... not for long.... 

A free day in BERLIN

So on Monday I stayed in Berlin to just hang out with Titty and Anna, and sadly enough Titty got sick... so I had to hit town with Anna and Kosmic... and after almost carting Kosmic off to the wrong airport (Berlin has two main airports) it was just me and Anna running out and in in stores... I tried on hiiiigh heels and then we had some Aisian food before we headed home to Titty who was in bed with the flu. To make my life a little more exciting I missed my flight, since i for some crazy reason had looked on my arrival time in Stockholm and assumed it was my departure time from Berlin. So I had to spend some hard earned savings on a new ticket home, because staying another day was not an option, I had a late night date waiting in Stockholm and a job e next day that enable me to go on those travels...  

Best shoes EVER.... I did NOT buy them!

South 'n Roll Camp in Montpellier Day ONE

Putting the fork together...

So after spending that short, hot time in Paris I jumped on a train to Montpellier toghether with Pooky, Fenix, Bella and Tique. With the risk to come off as very ignorant and clueless, I have to admitt I had NO clue were I was going. I knew I was going to Montpellier but had NO idea where in France it might be.... I googled it to find out that I was going trough almost all of France to hit the town.
We got picked up at the trainstation and taken to the place we were staying, to our horror we discovered that they were smoking inside. We all know how strongly I feel about not smoking, and I can tell you having a cold deos not make it more delightful... Well, well.. we got fed and it was LOVLEY with food, and the girl who lived in the house was amazing, she also gave me some red wine, and in France I'm quite sure it's a law that I have to drink a ghlass of red every night...

Tall Coaching... 

The next day we got up to coach, and we had two tracks an 58 mostly French ladies (I learned later there were three girls from Switzerland there too)... We started with a quite hard-core warmup, went into footwork, followed by blocking... and then lunch, some more contact drills to end the day with more specific juking and jammign exercises.
It was fun to coach with Fenix and Pooky, and it really was a help to have someone that spoke French, sometimes everyone looked at me like I was speaking Swedish (and not English)... It's so awesome to see how everyone took one exercise and used it in the next drill. It's what's sooo rewarding as a coach, when everyone are just pushing themselves and learnign. Everyone looked POOOPED in the end of the day, and so were we, just loooning to get som food into our bellies.
So after showers we were taken downtown to get some Italian food (when in France) and then get escorted to the afterparty... There was rugby on the screen and I watched some of that while drinking my Kriek (true story) and then me and Fenix took over the dancefloor with Barbie Girl... yeah... this is also true story... 

At dinner we realized we are Charlies Angels...

Montpellier by night... 

In Paris - transit

Burgers and red wine... when in Paris.... 

So on my way to coach in Montpellier I spent one night in Paris with my best friend Em. Em has NOTHinG to do with derby, we know each other from back in the day when we both competed in snowboarding... Now neither of us really snowboard anymore, but we are friends for life. She's probably the person in the world that knows me the best! It was great to get to hang out with her and to catch up on what's happening in both of our lives. We haven't seen each other since we went to Barcelona with my mother in May, and as we all know, lots of things have changed since then.
We went out for food, had some red wine, I insisted on the red wine since we were in France, I mean, she lives here, and I don' 't but I like red wine.

In the morning we went to the bakery and got the baguette and the croissant - just like they do in the movies. Back at Ems 17m2 we made coffe and had a mellow and supernice breakfast.

Best friend EVER!

The bread is still WARM from the bakery! 

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