Get in the Box

Injury sucks.  I keep reminding myself that I could have been hurt much worse.  A little bit more to the left, or bending my leg just a hair more and I might never use my left arm again.  Yes, it could have been so much worse, but it still sucks.

I wish I had an exciting story to go along with this injury. Something like:

I was Pack Ref for the last jam in the bout.  The score was tied and on the last pass through the pack the lead jammer cuts to the inside to score the winning point.  As she passed the inside blocker to win the game, her skate caught the copping sending her flying into me.  We both hit the ground with my elbow bending in a most unnatural way.

Back in reality, it is always the little things that usually lead to the most pain.  I was assisting at AZDD Brats practice last Wednesday, just running a simple balance drill for the girls.  Whistle in mouth and stop watch in hand, when I lifted one of my skates to help demonstrate the proper motion for this exercise, I immediately felt myself falling backwards.  My other skate must not have been positioned correctly, or my balance was just slightly off.

In the split second that I was falling, I wasn't concerned.  I've fallen like this literally a hundred times.  Arms bent to act as shock absorbers, butt tucked in to protect my tailbone, and preparing myself for the insignificant bruising pain.  But that's not what happened next.

Legendary Derby Ref Bill Morrissey

I was hoping to have more posts on this blog before this one.  Although I am following this Roller Derby path, it seems that I truly have no real control over its direction.

Earlier tonight I took my first Penalty Skills test.  I have been studying for this test for three months, but I still felt that I was not quite ready for it.  After all, the Roller Derby Coalition of Leagues (RDCL) current ruleset (RDCL v1.3) is over 40 pages of nit picking detail.  I knew how devious Regulator Captain John Wilkes Boosh was going to be when devising this tortuous test.

I sat down to take the 10 page test before our League practice tonight.  Halfway though the test Boosh came over to me and whispered, "I expect no less than a pass from you, Castro."  Mustering all of the bravado I had left, I looked him square in the eyes and stated, "I'm shooting for 110%."  He gave me a smirk and a nod before leaving me to finish the test.

I had to wait until after the League practice for my results.  Surprisingly, I didn't worry about the results at all during practice.  After practice was another mater altogether.  Boosh hid himself away in a corner to grade the tests while the rest of us sat around nervously waiting for our results.  I knew I had passed when Boosh commented out loud to himself, "Castro is tearing this up."  What I didn't realize was I was going to score near the top of all the Regulators with a 92% on my first try.

So, what does this mean for me?  First, I think I can drop the "Young Gun" title and start calling myself a full fledged Regulator.  Second, it means that I am now qualified to wear stripes and call penalties in the Outside Pack Referee position.  In the next bout, I will be shadowing BamBam and Rev. KnuckleFace to get real world experience in this position.  I expect to be officially filling this position early next season.

Now I have to concentrate on my skating skills.  With any luck (and a new pair of skates), I will pass the Skating Skills test before Season 8 starts.

Everyone finds their own unique path through life.  Some people plan out each and every choice they make to reach a long term goal.  Others take life day by day, seeking their path through accidental meetings and serendipitous events.  My path most certainly follows the latter.

This particular path towards Roller Derby started in the spring of '08 when I picked up a Phoenix New Times to read during my lunch break.  I had gotten hooked on reading the New Times over lunch every Thursday due to their entertaining 'pull no punches' columnists.  This particular issue featured an article about Roller Derby in Phoenix with Arizona Derby Dames.  Since I'm always looking for that new experience, this sounded like a whole lot of fun.  I dutifully marked this event down in my mental calendar and promptly forgot about it when Real Life™ reasserted itself on me.