By Magic Lee Malicious

I knew about the league when it was forming and I wanted to join. At the time, I was dating a guy who thought derby was “weird” and convinced me not to join. I wish I could bump into that guy today and kick him with my skates on. Skip forward a year and a half and life brings me a new job and Pain Austen. She convinced me to join BRRG.
My first year of derby was the hardest. I had so much to learn and all my free time managed to be consumed by derby. I compare it to joining a cult, but fellow skaters always cringe when I say that. A few times during the first season I thought to myself, ‘what the hell am I doing? I am 33, I haven’t played sports in 16 years, and now I am doing something that could break my legs.’
Second year was a tad easier – at least the skating part. I volunteered for Bout Production and learned it was possible for derby to take up even more of your life.  Juggling a job, a dog, a house, practices, and making sure every bout went on without a noticeable hitch, was stressful. I learned something very important that season: You can’t please everyone.
Now in my third season, derby has taken a whole new role. As a skater, I rack my brain on strategy and improving my footwork. As president, I spend countless hours on derby – answering emails, meetings, phone calls, paperwork. I work hard to be supportive of other board members as I know what a tough job we all have. Being president is a mentally and emotionally exhausting job. I volunteered because I wanted to help BRRG succeed. I can only hope that is my legacy.
So after all of this, what does derby mean to me? It means pushing myself in ways I normally wouldn’t – like shaking my fear of performing in front of a crowd, making myself skate or workout when I’d rather be home reading a book. It means accepting that I can’t please everyone and all I can do is my best. It means taking constructive criticism and accepting it for what it is. It means letting negativity roll off my back, which is never easy. It means making lifelong friends and being a true friend. It means building someone up when it would be easier to knock them down. Mostly, it means working every day to be a better president, skater, teammate, league-mate, and person. Sometimes I fall down and thankfully many of my fellow skaters have been there to pick me up.

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