Trying out for the Big Easy Roller Girls

Written by Heather Goodwin | Friday, 08 May 2009 13:26 Rink Rash
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berg1.gifI decided years ago that I wanted to be a Big Easy Roller Girl.  Unfortunately, I have never been able to make it to tryouts due to the craziness that is my life.  Well, it is that time of year yet again and I have decided that regardless of the fact that I am moving into a new house and only have a short period of time to complete this task, I am trying out.  I had planned on attending the clinics the Big Easy Roller Girls set up so that I wouldn’t be going into tryouts completely blind, but that just didn’t happen.  I had missed both of the clinics and the first tryouts, but I was determined and there was one more tryout session left on Wednesday, May 6th. 

Wednesday morning I woke up, got ready for work and packed my roller girl tryout bag, including my “White Ice Princess “ skates.  I dredged through the workday with excitement building up in my belly.  Finally, the time arrived and I headed over to Skate Country in Terrytown and, as I got closer to the roller-rink, the knots in my stomach got tighter and tighter.  I’m not usually nervous about trying new things but this was different.  I don’t know if I have ever been this nervous about anything!  When I pulled up in the parking lot, there were only 3 cars and I was worried that perhaps they picked who they wanted and cancelled the tryouts.  I told myself  “Your nerves are getting the best of you!  Get your butt in there and do your best!”


dumaineattraction.jpgI took a deep breath, grabbed my skates and went inside.  Fleur d’Lethal and Deb U Taunt immediately greeted me at the door and handed me a clipboard with about four pages for me to fill out.  I flew through the paperwork, anxious to get down and dirty.  Shay-Bay hooked me up with my skater girl essentials; kneepads, elbow pads, wrist guards and a helmet.  After putting on my gear, I was directed to skate some laps to warm up.  I skated some laps, looked around and noticed a few girls still getting ready, so I went to sit down. Once seated, I met Marissa who was also trying out and had been to one of the clinics.  She warned me to stretch and I did, a little.  Looking back I probably should have stretched a bit more.

Finally, duMaine Attraction called all the wannabes over to the middle of the rink and gave us some information about what to expect and instructions of what to do.   We skated some laps, occasionally touching our right or left skate, skating on one foot or the other and practicing falling on either the left or right knee or four point (knees and elbows).  I think to myself “Cool! I can do this!” especially since I got some help from Buckwild.  After what seems like an eternity, we are once again called to the center of the rink.  We stretched out, and as my body had learned, there is no such thing as too much stretching.  We were broken into 2 groups to be assessed on various skills such as crossovers, stomps, sculling, different falling techniques, buckwild.jpgt-stops and plowing.  To make it really interesting, we were lined up to do one and five minute laps.  They wanted us to achieve five laps in one minute and twenty laps in five minutes.  “Wow,” I thought to myself,  “that seems like a very tall order!”

As we were lining up, I was suddenly transported back to 1988 at the end of a long skate night and at the starting line waiting for the race.  Then duMaine Attraction said, “Go!” and I am brought right back to 2009 and I took off!  I was racing as fast as possible and on the 3rd lap and while taking the turn, my left foot slid out from under me and I crashed on my left hip.  Oh my Lord!  The pain I felt was awful, but I ignored it because I was focused on making my goal.  I hopped back up and raced around trying to make up for lost time.  Honestly, I don’t know if I made my five laps on the first runcheap.jpg.

We rested before starting the five-minute laps and I thought to myself,  ‘I am not going to fall this time and I WILL do twenty laps even though know I will feel it in the morning!”  I knew five minutes would feel like forever so I paced myself in the beginning.  I surprised even myself when I managed to do twenty laps with seconds leftover!  I don’t even know how I managed it.  I felt sore everywhere, especially my hip, and I thought the night must be almost over by now...but I was wrong. 

Cheap Thrill interviewed me and gave me a big seal of approval, which was awesome! Then, they wanted us to do some crazy relay and I am not sure if I followed the directions correctly, but it was something about rolling on the ground, skating on one foot and crawling backwards.  Our group didn’t win but we had a blast in the process!  I finally sat down and stripped off all of my gear.  My hair was drenched with sweat and my body still felt like it was on roller skates.

They told us that the Big Easy Roller Girl’s final bout is Sat. May 16th and they would like everyone that tried out to be there.  Also, they told us to be expecting an email within the week about the success of our tryout.  Now, I am playing the waiting game with my fingers crossed hoping for the best.

To find out more information about The Big Easy Roller Girls, visit their website http://www.bigeasyrollergirls.com/.
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written by Marisa, May 25, 2009
I like that I made it into the blog, Heather! Practice Saturday was fun, and I'm not as sore as I thought I'd be. smilies/grin.gif
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written by Meredith, May 08, 2009
Yay, Heather - great article! It sounds like you did amazing! Here's hoping that you get to be a future BERGer very soon!

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written by @, May 08, 2009
omg good luck heather!

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