Rusty Stiletto’s Eureka!

Last night, I passed up a big work shindig in favour of going to derby training. Now, we're not talking regular after work drinks on a Friday... this was a no holds barred casino night, complete with high roller gaming tables, costumes, a free flowing champagne tower and a g-e-n-uine crooner. Normally, I'd be one of the last sad cases left at the end of the night, demanding the dj play the theme song from Dirty Dancing.

But this particular Friday, I gave that all up so I could go skating. Very out of character! And it got me thinking about why I love going to training so much.

Let me tell you straight - I've never liked sports, and I've never been good at sports. And while I'm not overweight, I've never been that happy with my body either. I was first attracted to playing derby by the image of being tough and feminine at the same time, the clever pseudonyms and probably because no one else I knew was doing it, so I could be that kinda weird girl at work who went roller skating ("what? not rollerblades?!").

Every woman who plays derby will probably tell you the same thing; you discover that it's so much more than that. Through learning derby, I've befriended amazing women who I probably wouldn't otherwise ever meet. I've become fitter and stronger, and I've been way outside my comfort zone.

But my biggest realisation is that for the first time in my life, I'm not worried about being skinnier or fixing things that are 'wrong' with my figure. I can now appreciate my unique strengths, accept my shortcomings, and like my body exactly how it is - an ass that stops people getting past me, hips that can knock them over, feet trained in corporate high heels that can run on toe stops...

Roller derby needs the short and the tall, the small & sneaky and the curvy & foreboding, the hitters and the sprinters, the loud talkers and the quiet thinkers, the big dreamers and the practical realists. No one woman can be all of those things. Derby shows you that every single body on the track is different, and is awesome in its own way.

Rusty Stiletto