Roller Derby Ruckus

My friend Em took me to my first ever roller derby.  The two teams of fourteen women each, the Derailing Darlings in bright purple and the Misfit Mommas in hot pink, dashed, clashed, stumbled, tripped, fell, elbowed, bumped, hip-checked, cursed, yelled and roller skated their way to raising money for a local dog shelter and to leaving me in a state of awe.

A woman sitting next to me heard my steady stream of questions aimed at Emily, for clarification of the rules and interpretation of the referee's gestures.  The woman next to me, donning a bright purple jersey, quickly asked if I was interested in joining her team and turned around to show me the back of her jersey, sporting the word Coach.