Scarlett Heartless

I am so not a natural athlete. When I was at school I was always your typical "last girl to get picked for PE" sort, so once that ordeal was over I never really pictured myself doing anything particularly active again, especially in a team setting! But back in autumn 2010, I reached a point where I found I was wanting something more in my life, something different. When I found out about roller derby I thought it looked like basically the most awesome thing anyone could do ever, so I went along, not really knowing what to expect (I didn't even bring a bottle of water to my first session- that shows how completely unprepared I was!). And I went home hooked.
Of course, the fairy tale doesn't end there- I didn't skate off into the sunset with amazing new footwork skills and instantly become awesome. I'm still not a natural athlete and fitting derby around my very demanding job turned out to be a difficult feat. It would have been easy for my default "confidence fail" setting to kick in and give up, at so many different points. It's a testament to the amazingly supportive, kind, encouraging and talented people I've been lucky enough to get to know since I joined that I never once felt like I shouldn't be there.
It took me nine months to pass minimum skills and when I did it was about the proudest moment of my life. When I first started scrimmaging I was terrified; now I can hardly bear to miss a week. I never had a particularly positive relationship with my body- I was always this weak, awkward, unco-ordinated girl- or that's what I thought, anyway. Turns out there was a derby girl in there the whole time and I can do things I never, ever imagined I could.
If roller derby has taught me anything it's that perseverance is the key. It doesn't matter how long it takes you to get where you want to be as long as you keep pushing yourself to do the best you can. And it doesn't matter how many times you end up on the floor as long as you always get back up again.