I spent a weekend in Bremerton recently at the 2nd annual Wild West Showdown where roller derby teams from all over the nation come to compete against each other as well as mix and match members of teams into different teams for what they called Challenge bouts. Three days of derby. I was in heaven. It was a short drive to Seattle to catch the Walla Walla ferry over to Bremerton and the ferry ride was wonderfully empty. Pretty much everyone that was on board belonged to one derby team or another. I enjoyed a nice salad on the way over, we had clear skies and calm water which I imagine was the reason for the "quarterly drills" that in all honesty freaked some people out. I will admit, that floating without power in the middle of the ocean is a little stressful, but I figured if anything happened, I was sitting on a floatation device. And no, I don't mean my butt.
Fire station on the ferry.
Empty car deck on the Walla Walla.
It was another short drive to my hotel in Silverdale and I pulled into town just as the weather started to turn and by turn, I mean really turn. It poured solid for the next 24 hours but I didn't really care since the bouts were all indoors and it was less than a mile from the hotel to the venue. Friday was a bit low key, there were a few bouts...all very good bouts and an unofficial party at "the cow" a local bar but I didn't go given that Saturday was going to be full of derby action and the famed "pants off dance off" after the bouts are over Saturday night. The major highlight of the weekend was getting the chance to meet two of my favorite derby players and local heroes...Anya Heels and Re-AnimateHer both skate for the Rat City Rollergirls. It was really great getting to have an actual conversation with Anya because she wasn't playing due to an injury. Which it so happens has her out the rest of the season, which makes me very sad. I love to watch her play, she is amazing.
Saturday's bouts went very well, although Rat City didn't seem to have the finer points of teamwork going in their favor and lost two bouts that day. I had a great time watching some of the challenge bouts from teams called Sharkasaurus, Vagine Regime, The Situation and many others that I can't really talk about because the names are rated XXX.
My friend Pandora Blox...she's in the middle with the funky socks.
In any event, the challenge bouts were really fun to watch and it was amazing seeing people from all over the nation come together and skate like they were regular team mates. It also gave me a chance to see some of my facebook friends in action which was great. After the bouts ended everyone headed to the Cow for the official after party, which was a bit of a cultural shock. Derby girls practice hard, play harder but it would seem that they party hardest. Seriously. I felt out of place there because I didn't know anyone but a girl dressed in green asked if she and her friends could sit at my table and of course I said yes. She was the only one who spoke to me that night, even though several members of Rat City were there...I left them alone. I danced with a guy I didn't know and had a great time watching the local male rugby team do a stage dance to Ring of Fire.
The rugby players singing Ring of Fire.
This is how rugby players party it would appear.
I didn't know it at the time, but that girl dressed in green is now a good friend of mine and I very much enjoyed getting to cheer for her on Sunday while she was playing with her team The Dockyard Derby Dames. Viva la Rabbit Kix.
Aaaannnnddd here's Rabbit Kix.
Sunday was sad as the weekend was flying by and I knew it was coming to an end. But there was still good derby to watch and I was going to be able to hang with my pal Pandora, who I have been friends with on facebook but only this weekend got to meet face to face. For the last official bout of the weekend, Rat City finally pulled themselves together as a team and played much better than on Saturday, and they closed out the festivities with a win over Philly.
Re-AnimateHer.
Rat City All Stars getting gear checks.
Carmen Getsome getting ready for the jam whistle.
After all the kids left and the families headed home...came the drunken derby games. It was perhaps the most funniest event ever...watching people half dressed roll around the rink, break the rules and come up with their own rules at the same time. Lots of swearing, lots of beer and a ton of crude talking which was hilarious. Great way to end the weekend. I managed to leave in time to catch one of the last ferries back to Seattle that night and enjoyed the ferry ride back that was as empty as the ride over. I was able to recall my absolute highlight of the weekend, were Anya Heels said hi to me by my name and I hadn't even seen her. I remember thinking, oh my gosh she said my name, she remembered my name and said hi to me when she didn't have to. It's awesome to have a hero know who you are...and even cooler when they recognize you and call you by your name.
So when I think back on the events of that weekend, I will recall how nice some people were to me, how rude some other people were, all the new friends I made, some I decided to leave behind but overall it was an amazing experience. I got to meet people from Denver, Philly, Arizona, California and Oregon. I was able to meet face to face people that I am friends with on facebook, and in turn now have friends on facebook that I met at WWS. It was good getting to see teams play that I normally never would and fun getting to further my knowledge of the sport so I can become an NSO (non skating official) until such time I can actually play derby. I very much look forward to attending this event next year and being able to continue learning the ins and outs of the sport. I've met a lot of really great people...supportive people willing to get to know me and teach me. I've also been able to let go of the relationships that at one time were positive but no longer are and take it in stride. I have really good friends...and some of them, I still have yet to meet face to face. But they are super supportive nonetheless. And new people keep coming into my life because of this sport, to which I am very grateful.
Thank you to Rabbit, Pandora, Red, Cavina, Grace, Susan, Scott, Spears, LeAnn, Joe, Anya, Carmen and Re-AnimateHer. I love you all...and not in the creepy way.
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