There are 2 types of derby players. Girls who admit to having said the non-edited version of this (out loud, in mind thoughts, scrawled into their Gummi Bears journal) and liars. Seriously, at some point, everyone has wanted to execute the perfect toe cap to helmet trajectory.

This typically happens after a bad practice. A Bad Practice has the ability to spill into your soul and kill the joy. All of it. It can happen for a variety of reasons, and it’s usually a combination of them all. You did nothing but fall drills, you couldn’t keep up because you had BBQ 5 days in a row, everyone’s favorite character clearly died in last night’s episode of whatever, traffic terrorized your soul and you just can’t shake it. Maybe you were sent out to jam against a wall of super blockers.

A teammate has spent all of practice trying to beat candy out of you because apparently you remind her of a childhood birthday piñata that refused to break and she is working out some long-held issues about it.

You’re blocking your heart out to pieces and the jammer teleports. Again and again and again.

Once your Bad Practice has finally ended, you de-gear, put your skate bag in your trunk, and head home. On the drive home, you decide to hate the most offending teammates and list them Arya style. (On Game of Thrones she kept a running list of people she wanted to murder, for those of you not getting your dork on every Sunday night.) While chanting their names, you realize that you actually love all of them. And they were just playing the game and doing their best. It wasn’t personal, it’s derby. Then you get even madder because you don’t have a legitimate reason to be furious and taking a person’s reason for anger away is just really, really low.

So then you move on to humiliating yourself. You list every mistake, missed opportunity, zig you should have zagged, and fall. You drive in shock, just KNOWING that your team is appalled to have you and currently plotting to steal and burn your jersey you worked so dang hard for.

This is typically when logic should make its appearance (infuriatingly enough, it’s usually in your captain or coach’s voice). We all have had a Bad Practice. They hurt for 2 main reasons: 1- they’re kind of rare and therefore more memorable and shocking and 2- we want to get better, if we didn’t, we wouldn’t care.

Here’s a secret- your teammates are not keeping a tally of your mistakes. They have their own to focus, mentally abuse themselves, and work on. Everyone has been disappointed in their performance at some time. It’s part of being human. Even Suzy Hotrod has bad days. Michael Jordan has missed shots. Heck, Jesus himself got lost in a desert for 40 days. IT IS OK. Wrap around some Advil and a heating pad, tomorrow is another day and next practice will be better. It is totally acceptable to have some self-pity tears in the shower, but then you have to move on.

We play derby for a reason, and that reason has never been because it’s easy and every practice is a rainbow glitterfest. Let it go. No one is perfect. Except Spock- and even he cried.

The only person who can truly defeat you, is yourself.

And come see us throw all our practice induced prowess at our home season opener against the W-B Roller Radicals this Sunday!