Elle Beaux and Chase, just before he eats a booger sandwich

While most of the Sixthman team was in LA working on our first event on the west coast, I was having a few new experiences here in Atlanta. You may remember that I hurt my knee a few months ago, and with the cruise schedule, and another stupid injury, it had been 8 months since I had skated in a bout. That’s entirely too long for any self respecting rollergirl to go without some good fishnet burn.

You may also know that I love a challenge. So, along with this “first game in 8 months” thing going on, I decided it would be the perfect time to meet my boyfriend’s 4 year old son, Chase. To be fair, his dad has taken him to bouts before, and he is friends with other rollergirls, so I wasn’t going to scare him or anything. Still…He might scare me. Kids are scary. They eat boogers! Babies are absolutely terrifying. Good thing I function on the same level as a kindergartener.

So. It’s my first jam in 8 months. I line up against a few bruisers from the New Jax City Rollers from Jacksonville, FL. They are big girls. The whistle blows. I skate. I dodge a few hits, get close to my teammates, and start playing derby! Yeah! This is fun! I missed this! Any thoughts I may have had about reoccurring injuries were gone from my head, until BAM! Suddenly I’m on the floor, and I can’t breathe. I don’t know who did it, but someone came out of nowhere and jabbed their shoulder into my diaphragm at full speed. That’s a totally illegal hit zone, by the way. As I lay there on the floor, gasping, I thought to myself, “I’m not ready for this. I’m pulling myself out of this game.” I crawled to the bench, the medic listened to me breathe and poked around to make sure I wasn’t bleeding from the inside. Then my favorite thing happened. Adrenaline. Endorphines. Racing through my veins. Once I caught my breath, I was ready to rumble. It felt good.

I love roller derby.

During half time, I spotted my man and this littler version of him coming around the side of the track. I skated up behind him and grabbed his hand. He introduced me to a very shy little boy who kept burying his face in daddy’s neck. I introduced myself. Chase made sure to tell me that his father’s name was Charles, (what a thoughtful little booger eater!) so I (re) introduced myself to my boyfriend. We chatted for a bit, and I came to realize that it’s REALLY easy to be friends with a 4 year old. Turns out, we have a lot of the same thought processes. Whew!

So we get through the second half of the game- we won! It was a nail biter. Atlanta- 96, New Jax City- 89. Unfortunately, we had a few injuries. Reba Smackentyre had to be carried off the track by the medics, and sent directly to the hospital for a torn ligament. That’s always a reality of the game, but it still sucks to see your teammate go down like that.

Later that night, Chase was playing with his Hot Wheels, and had an ambulance out. His dad asked where it was going, and he said, “To go get rollergirls!” I think I may have fallen in love with a booger eater.

-Barb