I am a freshmeat with Charm City and Beaux Toxx's derby wife. I tried out last February, didn't make it but she convinced me to try reffing as way to have access to practices and work on my skills. It was a huge help, and I often recommend it to people who are too busy staring at their feet or obviously thinking too much to just skate. It was fun and a great way to stay involved - I even went to a wftda ref clinic, but I knew I could be a great skater and it can suck not cheering on friends. I'm so glad I made it on the league this past October. I still have a decent way to go but I know I will get there eventually. My goals are to be scrimmage ready by ECDX(the weekend of my 31st birthday) and be draftable for our next home season in Fall of 2012.

I saw my first bout in my home town of Cleveland, the Burning River Roller Girls. How confusing it was at first, but awesome. At half time there was the best thing ever. Roller derby musical chairs. The winner won by putting the chair over her opponent and sitting on it. I fell in love. But at the time, I was satisfied going to bouts. My mom once went with me and nudged me - You could do this T! But it was a year or more and after I moved to Baltimore that I realized she was making sense. I've been in my share of dangerous sports and it was odd to be encouraged to add another one to the list. But now she can't wait for me to bout.

My weight has stayed relatively the same since I started skating almost a year ago, which is a little frustrating save for the fact that my body has changed significantly - I'm much stronger and more flexible, and can do things I never thought possible. On Jan 13 I will begin a two-month weight loss and fitness program with a college gym, which I am hoping will help me establish a workout routine off skates and could potentially earn me a free membership period at the gym too. My biggest struggle has really been finding things to do on non-practice nights and sticking to it.

My other biggest struggle: plow stops. Only I would master the hard one - toe stops in both directions - before the easiest one.

hi, i'm jasmine, skating out of columbus,ga. we're starting up the first derby league in the area so we're getting paperwork, bylaws and local support together now. the community has been very welcoming of our presence which is VERY motivating. we're just doing the basic skate skills right now, trying to get everyone roughly on the same level of ability. we also have a derby boot camp this month to get us all in shape to be scrimmage ready. i must say i'm genuinely hooked. i can't think of anything else honestly lol. it's nice to see some charm city girls on here because i'm moving to maryland in march and was going to look into trying out for their freshmeat team

hi, i'm jasmine, skating out of columbus,ga. we're starting up the first derby league in the area so we're getting paperwork, bylaws and local support together now. the community has been very welcoming of our presence which is VERY motivating. we're just doing the basic skate skills right now, trying to get everyone roughly on the same level of ability. we also have a derby boot camp this month to get us all in shape to be scrimmage ready. i must say i'm genuinely hooked. i can't think of anything else honestly lol. it's nice to see some charm city girls on here because i'm moving to maryland in march and was going to look into trying out for their freshmeat team

I used to skate with Burn City Rollers, while I was living at Fort Benning! I heard there was a league started in Columbus right around the time I left. I hope you girls do wonderfully!