Roller Derby's surprising effect on our lives!

Life has been crazy in the K household for a while now, the blog, and various websites have all but been ignored as of late. Between all the new responsibilities I have at work, with a growing Educational Technology company, working on my masters’ degree in Educational Leadership through the University of Cincinnati, raising a 14 year old teenage boy and a two and half year old baby girl, all while trying to stay in touch with my beautiful spouse whenever possible. It has been hard to stay sane with all that is going on, and you would think that adding something else to the mix would only make things worse, but we have found that Roller Derby had has had the opposite effect. My wife and I have both found an escape from the everyday life through roller derby. No neither of us skate, we are fans who have become part of the Cincinnati Rollergirls family through volunteering.

We first fell in love with the sport during the 2008 Season after being invited by a friend who volunteers. Our friends Derby name is Penal Eyes, that is the first thing you notice as part of roller derby you choose your own name and can create your own identity. When this season started Tresha decided to start volunteering and at least once a week sometimes more she transforms into Mother Fuchsia, the pink haired Mistress of the Penalty Box. She has had several different jobs this season, being a Jammer timer at an away bout, and a stats person for a neighboring roller derby league. But her home is in the box, she loves being in charge of the penalty box. She likes the interaction with the skaters as they come into the box, often times ticked of at the refs, but the stories she hears takes the game and the passion of the game to a whole new level!

I have been enjoying my escape from reality from the sidelines with front row seats to every game, until this last week. I was asked to be a bout caster along with Rabid Derby Fan (www.rabidderbyfan.com) but due to some miss communication we were not able to do so, he continued taking his awesome pictures, and I was asked to be the wrangler. I wasn’t really sure what I was doing at first, but I think I caught on after a bit. I need to take time to learn the various penalty signals from the refs, that would have helped tremendously. But it was exciting watching the game from inside the circle, a really different view of the game. It also helped me realize how much stress and chaos happens inside the circle and gave me a better understanding of the game. I really enjoyed it and think it will help me be a better bout caster if they need me doing that next game. Until then in my spare time (if I can find any) will be spent trying to get a better understanding of the penalty signals and the nuances of the game.

The big question will be what should my derby name be? Right now I am most likely sticking with my online persona of The Kman, but have also thought of making it Drunk Santa and wearing a Santa hat to each game. I already have the domain name DrunkSanta.com so maybe I could finally make some use of it. Also have the domain name UglyFatGuy.com I could use too.

So what do you think, when it comes to my life inside the derby world, should I stay The Kman, or create a new persona Drunk Santa or even Ugly Fat Guy? Or should I figure out a name that some how corresponds with Mother Fuchsia?