I survived without dying of nervousness!!

Tonight was the recruitment information event, and I went to it! This morning I had myself convinced that I didn't like roller derby at all and that it was better if I just skipped the event to throw my skates into the Silver River. To say I was anxious is putting it mildly. I was actually sure I was going to vomit. Of course, once I got there it was a different story.

First off, the gear I've been waiting on: the coach was supposed to bring my elbow pads and wrist guards tonight, but he left them at home. So while I should have had them last Monday, I won't even have them until Tuesday. To avoid drama I am not going to stir things up or get pissy, but let's just say that he should be glad that I'm being civil. Seriously.

Okay, with that out of the way LET ME TELL YOU GUYS ABOUT RECRUITMENT, OMG.

I got there about five minutes before it was supposed to start. They had a sheet to sign in, so I wrote down my name, why I was there (interest in being a skater), email address, and phone number. I got the fresh meat info packet which had information on fresh meat, advice, stuff I should have in my gear bag, the FAQ from the site, Roller Derby 101, WFTDA minimum skills requirements, gear guide, an off skate workout guide, and roller derby nutrition tips. All sorts of great information! The team was just finishing up practice so the captain (I'm unsure whether or not I want to mention which team I'm going for in text just in case someone decides to google themselves and comes across my stupid blog) came over and we started to go over everything.

They have practice three times a week, where each person has to attend at least 2 of them. Since the team is in the middle of a venue change, location will depend from practice to practice until they get everything all sorted out at the new venue. For next week, the Tuesday and Thursday 6:30-9:00 practices will be at the rink, and then the 3-6 practice on Saturday may be at a public park (woo trail skating! Also, I require outdoor wheels immediately!) or another venue. Also, this means that I will continue to go to the Monday Adult night since I won't be able to get my skating fix for a few weeks.

The fresh meat is a 12 week program, and the minimum skills is at the end of that 12 weeks. The first two weeks of practice will be off skate practice which will allow all of the ladies to get all of the gear required to skate.

Even though about 40+ people RSVP'd for the event on facebook, only about 10-15 (?) were there as fresh meat (most of the rsvp people were on the team or didn't show up). At least two of the girls have done derby before and two of them used to be on the team. There were some people that didn't show up to the meeting, but had already spoken with the captain about it, so I expect more people at practice Tuesday than were there today.

After about an hour of going over the information and a brief q&a, the captain asked if anyone had skates and wanted to skates. ME! ME! I had my skate bag and I was desperate to get on my skates. I popped my contacts in (I was wearing my glasses because I spaced my contacts completely until I was almost out the door) and strapped my skates on.

Pretty much all of the girls that were practicing left at this point (since they had been practicing for the last 3 hours), so it was about 20ish people hanging around. No one was on the skating floor, so I was the first to step on. It was great. I am a fidgety person. When I'm nervous I wrap my index finger in the hem of my shirt, fold and unfold papers, pick at anything I can, and adjust my glasses like crazy. I was doing all of those things during the meeting and talking bit, but once I took my first stride, it just melted away.

I did a lap before I was joined by the captain. We got to the first curve and she asked if I could do a crossover. I said that I thought I could do a kind of cross over and showed her what I've been doing. I do it right, I just need to push with my left leg a bit more so I get more speed from it. We chatted for a bit while we did some laps. A few more people got onto the floor and I got to speak to another one of the derby girls. We talked about how kids are scary, and that she was a transfer from the Jacksonville team, and I asked her about the public skate session that started at 7pm (it was about 6:50 at that point and I was planning on staying for the session). She told me that it is a very dangerous session to go to. Kids will skate the wrong way, stop for no reason, fall in front of you, cut across tons of skaters, and STOP TO TEXT. Soooo, yeah. I decided to skip the public session and pack it in when the others girls did.

I also admitted to the captain that I had been stalking the team's facebook page and website. When she asked if I could identify everyone by their face I lied and said no. Honestly, I can probably name at least 75% of their players. I AM A STALKER AND NOT PROUD OF IT.