first league meeting

whether people realize it or not, there is a lot that goes into making roller derby actually happen. most people see cute girls skating around in fishnets with their intimidating names and kinda assume that's the end of it. when in fact, that is the end RESULT of a lot of very hard work behind the scenes. as a member of this league, as scary as this may sound, i am also now a part-owner of the league. scary, but cool! the fact that modern roller derby is "for the skaters, by the skaters" is one of my favorite aspects of the whole thing.

yesterday was my very first league meeting. we have them every other month as a way for all of us to remain on the same page, discuss concerns, give praise, share new ideas, revise policy, etc. i never realized roller derby has SO MANY committees! as a newbie i was immediately put on bout committee, meaning that on bout day, i am one of the people who makes things run smoothly, like setting up seating, taking tickets, etc. i kind of thought that was the main "chunk" of the organizational part of derby, and how very wrong i was! even when the girls aren't bouting, there is a lot that needs to be taken care of, such as publicity, merchandise, coaching, recruitment, events, insurance, safety, sponsorship, charity, graphics, website, etc.....whew! thats a lot of stuff!!! i was kind of intimidated at first, but realized that its not on my shoulders to do ALL of it; i just need to do my share. and if everyone does their share, we will thrive as a league.

the meeting was long, but left me very excited to be a member of this league. as a two-week old newbie, there isn't much i can do (yet), but in a few months i will have voting rights and i will really be able to get myself actively involved in running ARRG. for now, i can just be helpful and assist with as much as possible. i've flyered at events, talked to countless people about what modern derby is all about, pimped our league on my facebook page, and in a couple of weeks i will even be appearing in my very first parade as a rollergirl! i just need to figure out what my skillset is and how i will be best able to help the league, and join the appropriate committees. because if we didn't take care of this league, it wouldn't exist! and at the end of the day, ARRG exists because we love to skate, right? :)

coming up: second week of practice, st. patrick's day parade, and our march bouts!