When I had my first experience of playing roller derby in front of a crowd.

Back in May, I did the scariest thing I have done in years!! I had my first open door roller derby bout.

The entire journey to Norwich I felt ill, I will do some thing stupid and the crowd will laugh, all these other skaters will be amazing and I'll look like I don't know what I'm doing. I'll be an embarrassment and no one will ever want to skate with me again! 

I met up with the other skaters from my league, some on my team some on the opposition of this 'cherry popper' opening bout. For some of us it was our first bout, some already had a few under their belt and those were the ladies I was more concerned about. My legs shook slightly as I wheeled my suitcase through to the changing rooms. How am I going to skate when walking is becoming a struggle?!

As soon as I put my skates on I felt better! I know how to skate! No one would put me in for this if I wasn't good enough. My rational mind came back to me and my confidence started to creep higher.

It was a blast, I didn't hear the crowd, I was so focussed on skating hard and fast.
And it was the best day of my life!!

I leant to have more belief in my self and my abilities. Derby people are lovely and friendly, so don't be scared of them!
My derby league is like a family, they screamed my name and cheered. They always support me and we laugh and learn together.

These things are important to remember.

Think about the things you've done that were terrifying in the beginning but made you feel amazing in the end. We all deserve to let these exciting experiences make us stronger people.

I still go back to that day in May and let the awesomeness lift me out of low self confidence. I did that and I was pretty awesome!

Kisses