Ari Ridpath

1. French derby girls are amazing and are the most fantastic hosts. After dropping our stuff at Marie’s house on Sunday, it was over to the venue for a scrimmage of mixed French and UK girls by way of a ‘get to know you’. After getting the track down and signing everyone in and issuing ribbons for entrance the following day, the teams split into their levels (A, B and C) and got down to some scrimmage goodness. Food was laid on in the form of a huge buffet which was not expected but very welcome after lots of travelling and not a huge amount of sleep. Due to bench managing for the first time ever the next day, I coached all levels and by the end of the evening I think I found my flow and the skaters were settling into their groove.

2. I am a confident first-aider. The only negative experience of the first evening was a skater taking a fall and having someone land on her head and hearing a nasty noise in her neck, so I cracked out the second spinal first aid in less than a month. I am so grateful that I knew what to do but even more grateful when (the very hot indeed) team of medics arrived to take over. One neck brace, one inflatable stretcher and several x rays later, she was home in time to watch the games the next day with nothing broken but ligament damage that requires support and rest. Very relieved it wasn’t more serious.

3. French roads. Gah! Enough said. One thing I did like very much though was the mini set of traffic lights at window level on the side of the traffic lights. Genius for buggers like me that always stop too close and then have to crane to see the lights.

4. Bench managing. I was very nervous at managing the English C team in the event as I’ve never done the job before. That being said, I have observed many awesome bench coaches in their natural habitat while refereeing, so I had an idea of what I was letting myself in for. I think I did a good job and shouted and jumped up and down and gesticulated my heart out. Unfortunately we were benched in front of the video camera in the second half (which I entirely failed to notice) so I made a total dick out of myself! See DVD for proof. By full time, I was tired but I thoroughly enjoyed myself and some of the newer skaters told me that they had learned a lot which really made my day.

5. Extreme tiredness leads to the invention of silly games aboard ferries on choppy seas. This in turn leads people to frown at us.

6. Skodas are actually quite good cars. I still wouldn’t buy one though.

After a monumental 9 hour journey (due to missing our ferry after being held up at passport control, grrr) we all returned in one piece looking forward to the rematch on English soil.

There is probably more, but I need to decompress more first. Oh yes, we also played the ‘guess what Ari’s name is short for’ game. No one got it, but Claudia decided that it should be Ariesspe-eeceetee. I like it.

Old style roller derby grew into something akin to american wrestling before it petered out, with huge personalities pulling choreographed moves around the track with the crowd baying for more.  It literally could be described as wrestling on skates with everything from clotheslines to full on body slams a regular occurrence. These days things have moved on a long way. There are still leagues (mainly in the states) that still buy into that ideal, but a majority of flat track roller derby teams are doing their best to be recognised as athletes and not just a piece of ass in fishnets and make up fannying around on skates. Roller derby is fun; the most fun you’ll ever have, but to play roller derby properly is hard work and requires commitment and perseverance, and we are moving more and more away from show for the sake of show and toward a more professional appearance.

There will always be a DIY feel to roller derby, even on super awesome teams that play the most professional game you’ve ever seen will likely customise their uniform, let their personality shine through, and one thing that reflects this is derby names. I think it’s an awesome nod to the days of roller derby’s childhood age, a thank you to all the men and women (yep, it was co-ed) that laid the foundations for roller derby to grow into what it has become today. Ask most people why they have a derby name, and they’ll tell you it’s so that they can leave themselves on the sidelines and get to be someone else for two 30 minute periods, to turn into the alter ego that was always there inside them waiting to get out; and that’s true too. You get to leave your mum, wife, librarian, childminder self behind for a little while and let yourself go. You get to be who you always wanted to be.

To me, your roller derby name should be deeply personal. You were given a name at birth and will probably use it your whole life (even if you change it, your family will still call you your old name, trust me, I know this!) This is your chance to let your imagination go wild, be who you want to be, start to let that derby girl out.

Recently I heard something that disturbed me. I overheard someone say “we finally found someone to have that name”. This set alarm bells ringing, choosing names for other people? I guessed that this was a new skater that was having trouble picking a name and had asked her teammates for help and I left it there, I was refereeing and had other things to think about. Later I thought about it again and checked out the team list. A majority of the names on the list ran the same theme and the bells were ringing again.

It’s not my place to tell a league that they shouldn’t push names onto people, if the girls are happy enough to accept them and live with them then fine, that’s their call, they’re old enough to make up their own mind. But what if they were intimidated into taking it? What if they weren’t informed that they could and should choose their own name? I feel like asking them, are you happy with the name that I wouldn’t like to call you in front of my children? Are you happy with your children knowing that that is your name? That you have chosen for yourself?

What brought things to a head with me was a picture I saw on facebook. I have been a childminder for 6 years and I have a 12 and a 3 year old, so am very sensitive to what children are exposed to. Hopefully you’ll bear that in mind and see where I’m coming from, if you don’t, then that’s fine too; I fully expect comment to be made on this piece. At roller derby matches it’s customary for crowd members to make hand made signs for their favourite skaters, much like any other sport. Roller derby is also a family friendly sport that has a crowd covering the whole age spectrum. The picture in question had a young child holding a sign with huge letters of a derby name that can only be described as crude. I know the child most likely didn’t know what it said, but were the people with the child also shouting out that name? Does the child think that it represents perfectly acceptable every day language? I really hope the child doesn’t go to school and call the teacher by that name!

I’m not going to get into details, it’s not for me to call out individuals or teams. But please, when you are starting your derby career and are thinking of a name, think hard. Make it funny, make it rude if you want to; innuendo is what derby names were made for, make it clever, make it YOURS. Don’t let anyone give you a name that you wouldn’t be comfortable having shouted at you in the street. Would you be happy for that little kid in the second row shout your name as you skated on by? Would you be proud? Would you smile? Or would you wince?

Be who you want to be, not what someone else says you should.