Winston Churchill said, "Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts." I don't know what he was talking about, but it's also true in roller derby.
This last Wednesday, the team was doing some hip-whipping drills. This is when everyone skates in a line fairly close together and the person at the back of the line weaves through, propelling herself by pulling really hard on people's hips. When done correctly, the person weaving through will pull hard enough to almost make the other girl stop.
So imagine this is your, oh, maybe fourth derby practice ever. Or maybe it's your third practice since getting injured early in the fall, and you hadn't been skating very long then. Now imagine you're concentrating on keeping up with girls who've been playing for four or five years and you're thinking about skating fast enough, crossing over, looking behind you, and suddenly someone skates up and jerks on your hips nearly as hard as she can. And then you're on the ground. And then you're getting yelled at to get up, catch up, get back in line, stay an arm's length apart, cross over, skate faster, look back... next girl comes up, you're on the ground. Then do it again!
It nearly brought tears to my eyes to see these girls keep getting up, keep catching up, keep getting better, and just plain keep going. And the frustration and determination! None of them complained a single word. None of them quit. And they'll all be back.
If I had joined an already established team, gone to practice a few times, and gotten pulled to the floor repeatedly, I probably would have been like, "Pshw. I'm outta here. I'm not coming back for this agony. No way I'll ever make it to being the one knocking people over."
But really, I just can't believe these girls. They want to play so badly. This is how it should be.
