Sunday, March 04, 2007

Has it really been 3 days since I was here?

wow, time flies when you're... something...

So, to recap Friday, which is still kind of a blur to me -

I woke up FREAKING OUT - I was pacing the house, I couldn't calm down - I wasn't so much worried about the skating, we'd been working on that for a year, I was freaking out about everything else - what if the programs were icky? what if the band didn't show? what if none of the volunteers showed up? what if the media people didn't get there? what if the Atlanta team didn't get there in time? People were paying to see this and it had to be good!

I got to the rink around 5 wearing my uniform (red shirt with my name and number ironed on the back, floofy black skirt with shorts and fishnets underneath and black and white striped socks - I was wearing too much eyeliner and mascara) and dragging my skate bag, an extra cooler, 75 copies of Skirt magazine, a giant bottle of tropical mango Gatorade, my phone, my camera, my uniform, extra multi-vitamins and a pair of jeans in case I needed to change (yes it took me about 3 trips to get it all inside).

By about 6:30 the whole league was there, all fifteen of us, different ages, from different walks of life and different parts of the country, united by a year of hard training training and red and black uniforms - there was no chatter in our dressing room (a cramped space where they keep all of the rental skates), just the primal beat of the drummer of the band soundchecking on the other side of the wall - it was very dramatic and soundtrack-y.

By about 6:45, the Atlanta skaters were filtering in - they were rock stars, resplendent in black and silver outfits with so much attitude that they seemed bigger than life. We just showed them to their dressing room (the game room complete with bathroom and air hockey table) and scurried away.

By 7:15 the doors opened and people started showing up - lots of people - more than just our friends and families - people we didn't know, people who were paying to get in. By 7:40 when the National Anthem was being played, there were more people than I had imagined.

It was kind of a sensory overload. I knew that there were people that I knew in the audience, but I couldn't even begin to look for them, there were just too many people.

By 8 when the bout officially started, nothing else mattered, it was just us against them. I didn't get a lot of skate time, but that's okay because I got to watch my team. And that's what they were, in spite of any drama and petty shit we've been through, they were my team. And they skated really, really well.

Unfortunately, the Atlanta girls skated better, and we kind of got our asses handed to us - the final score was 180-something to 50-something, but that doesn't really reflect how hard we played, or how much we put into it. We knew it was super ambitious to take on a veteran team like Atlanta in our first bout, but we played hard until the last buzzer. (unfortunately, right before that last buzzer, I tripped over a downed skater and fell on my assbone and I've been bed-ridden for two days)

After the bout, the Atlanta girls couldn't stop telling us what a great job we did and they insisted that we skate their victory lap with them.

Then we cleaned up the rink and limped across town to the afterparty where the two teams kind of kept to themselves for the most part until the alcohol was flowing freely and it became a love fest - it was all hugs and boobs and "you guys are so awesome" - then it was dancing and singing along to Def Leppard - and it was all girls, rubbing, grinding, dancing, spilling beer, laughing, there were no boys allowed in the inner-circle.

The only things that truly sucked about the experience were my stupid social-retardedness and my clumsiness that kept me from enjoying the party to the fullest. Other than that, I wouldn't change a single thing about losing my derby-virginity.