In love with my wheelie feet!

It doesn't even feel like exercise when it's fun.

Back in September I was at my lowest and knew I needed something to do. A change of scenery and new faces. I've always wanted to play a sport so I figured why not try that? The sport I chose? ROLLER DERBY. It's a full contact sport played on roller skates. You play in teams, one jammer who scores points for every member (a blocker) of the opposite team they skate passed and blockers who stop the opposite jammer scoring those points. There's more to it but that's it in a nutshell and it's awesome.

I'd watched the movie 'Whip It' a few years ago, which is a great movie I would recommend you see it, and from there I did some roller derby research. Just out of curiosity I looked up what the nearest team to me was and luckily enough there was one in the next town. Only a 20 minute drive away. At that time I wasn't very confident about doing things on my own, anxiety and all that, so I chickened out on the fresh meat intake. Since then I've grown as an adult and done things so I'm now more comfortable going places on my own. 

As I said, last September I was desperate to climb out if my emotional hell hole and what's comes along? A facebook post for a fresh meat intake for my local roller derby team. I signed up, went by myself  and I've been going ever since. 

Don't get me wrong, some bits are tough to learn. You need to conquer a fear of falling down and of getting hurt because those things will happen. I've lost count of the amount of times I've fallen straight on my ass. I survived. That's why you wear pads though, elbows, knees and wrists and a helmet. Also a mouth guard when you play matches. So while you may get bruised you're not broken. At derby we compare war wounds, the more impressive the bruise the more badass you are. Thars not the only evidence of your training you'll get. When you play roller derby prepare for sweaty knees and the sweat patches it leaves! It's weird but a thing. 

Like any sport it takes practice to get better,  I've been playing for 5 months ish and I'm only just starting to feel confident about the basics. One the introductory session I was like bambi on ice. I've never stress sweat so much in my life. Skating towards was hard and the only way I was stopping was when I hit the ground. I hated it but fell in love with it at the same time. I've gone through my first batch of testing and now I'm allowed to the intermediate,  big girl, training sessions. I'm not brave enough to go yet but I'm building up to it. We've just done another in take of fresh meat and it's really built my confidence to see how far I've come.  Repeating the basics with the newbies and seeing that I can do it without an issue. Now I'm pushing myself to do the scarier skills and being pleasantly surprised to see that I can actually do them. I just need to get my speed up and I'll be set!

I love roller derby. I've said it already but I'll keep saying it. The people I've met there are lovely and so supportive. We have a laugh and hang out after training. It's my own thing that I do just for me. It's also great exercise, a 2 hour session of cardio. Everything about it is amazing.

I urge you to look it up on YouTube, watch some professional matches. Those women are skilled on skates,  brutal and absolutely amazing.

If roller derby isn't your thing then pick something else. Dungeons and dragons, online gaming, bird watching,  dancing, history , science or music. Anything you're passionate about do you're research and find others like you. Being amongst people who share your passion is one of the best things. Let's all be nerds together.

I am tricking out my skates again. I'll do another post on that though as it's a little technical but I will take plenty of pictures. 

As always much love.

L xx (aka Pumella Isley, number 19)

P.s find me on Twitter @Laurenailie or Instagram @ chonker-plonker for more of mine and Kelly's fitness transformation.