february '11 bout

last night was my first bout as a member of the league! i was very excited to make my big "debut", but little did i know that would become much more literal than i had imagined it to be...

these bouts were the beginning of the ARRG season playoffs: RSA (rebel skate alliance, and our newest local team) vs the M-80s, and the Smashinistas vs the Stunt Devils. I knew it was going to be a great couple of bouts before i even made it to the all-american sports mall (where all our bouts are held); i had heard that we had completely SOLD OUT!! there's been a few sell-outs before, but it was always because of ticket sales at the door. this time, we were sold out through online presales! our cap is at 1100 fans, so it's pretty incredible to realize that derby has become so popular, and that our sport just continues to thrive and grow every day.

didnt want to pull a "christina"!

i made it to the venue early, since i was volunteering. i signed in and was shown to the merch table (yay! as a member of the league, im allowed to handle money now!), and stayed there for about twenty minutes until trippity hooha, one of the bout coordinators, pulled me aside. i TOTALLY thought i was in trouble for something, but it turned out that she wanted to know if i would be okay with singing the national anthem! it was pretty cool that they put so much faith in my singing talents, especially since i'd never formally auditioned or anything; i had merely expressed interest. so here i am, about to sing in front of over a THOUSAND people, and all i can think about is "i hope i dont forget the words!"

of course it went great, and i did fine (although i probably couldve done a little better, but it was a LOT of people, okay??), and i got a lot of compliments afterwards. but now, there were bouts to watch! i finished up my merch table duty and watched the second half of the first bout as well as all of the second. i feel like every time i watch derby (and i've watched a LOT, believe me) i learn something. i'm really starting to understand the fine points and strategy of the game better now.

the afterparty was a lot of fun as always, and i was able to talk derby with lots of different people. i got to hear some feedback about my tryout from one of the judges, and she told me she could tell that i had been working very hard on my skills, and that i was ahead of the pack as a result. that was really, really nice to hear. i just have to keep working hard and show everyone in the league now how passionate i am about this, and when the time rolls around, they will be fighting to draft me! haha

first newbie practice tomorrow...so excited!