Sunday, February 27, 2011

Blooded



It's over - I have made my derby debut! And not only did I not puke on the track as I feared, but I actually performed quite well. In the spirit of Carnival of Carnage, where you give everything a go, I jammed twice, and got lead jammer BOTH times - not to mention nailing a 15-point power jam the first time!




The Chiko Rollers played really well as a team. We were beaten by the Hot Jammer Donuts in our first bout (57-36), but beat the Candy Caners in the second bout 115-33, so were pretty pleased with our performance. I really liked my team, not only on the track but as individuals. I am sad that from now we pretty much all go our separate ways into the League Teams, and won't get to play together again. Boo!

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Carnival of Carnage!

Holy crap it's roller derby debut time! On 26 February, after 50 weeks of skating, Fresh Meat 2010 will be making their debuts at the Carnival of Carnage!

This is a low-key, family and friends only event, not open to the general public. It's designed to give us a less intimidating introduction to public bouting.

Because there's so many of us, they've divided us into not the usual two teams (the Hot Jammer Donuts and the Candy Caners), but THREE teams! And I'm a Mexican Chola - I mean, a Chiko Roller! Stoked!

We'll be playing in a round robin-type tournament, so we'll effectively be playing two 30 minute bouts on the night. The winning team will be based on points. I am terrified, and the thought of doing this - especially jamming, whcih we're all going to have a crack at - scares the HELL outta me! But I'm also pumped because I've got a really great team, and hopefully we'll keep it in perspective and just go out there and have fun with it.

I've also been drafted to a proper CRDL league team - I'm a Brindabelter! Admittedly it wasn't my first choice of team, but the girls on the team are all a pretty good bunch, and I have the opportunity to learn from some pretty kick-ass skaters, so I'm actually quite happy about it. Our first public bout will be on April 30th. Not sure if I'll be on the player roster, as we have 16 on the team and you can only field a team of 14 on bout day, but we'll see. Benching would be a pretty good experience too.

Bring on the 2011 tournament!

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Pelicans are cool



I saw this fella grooming himself on a pylon on Rottnest Island the other day, during an early morning walk. He let me get very close to take these shots, and didn't in the slightest object. I could have reached out and touched him, I was so close. But I didn't because, being so close, I realised what big birds pelicans actually are!