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A quirky young girl endures coming of age and navigating tumultuous relationships with her parents, boyfriend, and best friend, all the while playing roller derby with her newly found diverse surrogate family.

Is all of this just Hollywood fluff? Written to do nothing more than entertain audiences and try to evoke emotions? Would any of this ever happen in the “real world”?

I’ve heard many a player say that they always felt the dramatic, angst-y, then uplifting story line of “Whip It” was a bit unrealistic.

So. You've just been to the amazing extravaganza of glitter and awesome that is roller derby and you know more than anything you've ever known in your life that you NEED to do this.

Congratulations, you're fresh meat. Here are some tips to help you on your way.

In the last week USARS released a draft flat-track roller derby rule set, and announced the names of leagues participating in the testing phase. The rule set is a quick read at 24 pages including appendices, and if you're already familiar with the WFTDA rule set, the read goes even quicker.

What say you, Derby Nation?

There is a little girl who lives inside my head. Every day is her birthday and she is never wrong. She has the annoying habit of believing that her opinions are actually facts. She and I have been having a little trouble lately. The truth of the matter is this: I don't like to be told what to do. I prefer to discover how to do things for myself, even though this is likely to be more difficult and painful in the long run. As a fresh meat skater I know that "doing it my way" is probably a stupid idea. I haven’t been skating long enough to have a way.

Derby women are tough, but their feet aren’t always as tough as they are. Blisters are a common problem for roller derby: because of ill-fitted new - or old - skates – however cool they may be; because of stressors (heat, sweat, harder training) put on feet; and because some feet are not naturally built to deal with rough use.