Travel

DL: Tell us who you are, and how you got started in roller derby?

NDS: I'm Niky Dee Stroys-U from Tropic Terrors Derby League in Puerto Rico and I was the founder of roller derby on the Island. I put my first skates on in January 2011 without even knowing that I would like roller derby. After 9 months of practicing, I played my first regulated scrimmage and knew from that moment that I wanted to be a Jammer. Right now I play for Reckless Bandidas mostly as a Pivot but I'm training to become a Jammer for my team.

Editor's Note: Have Derby, Will Travel was Hurt Reynolds' original derby blog as he travelled across the U. S. and Canada for a year (2006-2007) volunteering for derby leagues and events at a time when derby was spreading like wildfire. In honor of all the women competing in Denver this weekend, here's a look back at some coverage of WFTDA Nationals in Austin, TX, 2007. It was that same weekend that Justice Feelgood Marshall launched Derby News Network.

In a recent humor article for effing amazing blog (which you should be reading whenever you're not reading your derby blogs) The Hairpin, about how to interpret movie reviews, Emily Weiss and Katie Heaney interpreted the phrase “...power of the human spirit” to mean “someone goes from poor to rich/sports team wins a thing.”

Music was her first love...and most definitely her last..

Of how Jane inspired me to inspire her.

A little over a year ago I had a lucid dream; I owned a pair of quad skates, much like the ones I used to have when I was eleven, and I was awesome on them! I could do tricks, skate as fast as lightning and dance on them! It felt awesome being on those four wheels.

On my recent travels to the ‘Battle of the Nordic Light’ in Malmö, Sweden, I was fortunate enough to get acquainted with the lovable Handsome Joe Hanson, home announcer for the Crime City Rollers. He was awesome to work with, not only getting me comfortable, but also coffee, water, sandwiches and even a much needed shower -though that might also have been more to his than my benefit.

He only had one wish; Every time we would start calling people in to the bleachers to come see the bouts we’d play this song; ‘The Roller Derby Bout’

Several encounters with Derby people from outside Europe made me realise that a lot of folk have no real idea what is going on over here. So if you're interested, I give you a quick overview about the status of European Roller Derby.

At this point there are 85 bouting leagues and another about 120 not-yet-bouting groupings in Europe; the majority were founded within the last 18 months. Many of them are not even bout ready. Most of Europe is still a developing derby country, but this is only half of the story.

Time Magazine's World section ran a decent piece on the developing derby community in Colombia, as well as the US, centered on the first Colombian roller derby league - the Rock N Roller Queens.

One skater shares sentiment we can all relate to,

"I used to play soccer," Perdomo, one of the Queens' best skaters, said while taking a breather. "But when I tried roller derby, I really fell in love."

It’s been a tough couple of weeks since I last wrote from old Austria. First of all, my computer broke and I’m writing this from the humble computer lab in the building where I go to school. I am largely separated from the Facebook group that serves as VOSRG’s “boards,” I can’t watch the Big 5 on WFTDA’s fuzzy feed, and the last time I went to practice, I left one skate (I’ve wiggled my way into some borrowed R3’s) across town under my bed. Yes, just one.

Though I had known about it for quite some time, the decision to go to Malmö and see the ‘Battle of the Nordic Light’ came relatively late. Triggered by a post on Facebook by Pixie Spankalot, head referee for the Eindhoven RockCity Rollers, in which she asked who was up for an eight hour drive to Sweden. As I am always a sucker for road trips, I immediately jumped the opportunity. And that got the ball rolling.