The Rebellion Melbourne roller derby tournament brought together 6 division one and 10 division two teams, from across Australia, to battle it out for glory and some shiny trophies.  Our league submitted our A travel team, the Sirens into Div 1, and our B team, the Banshees, hooked up with Diamond Valley Roller Derby to form the Valley of the Banshees team to tackle Div 2.  This weekend also had the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) championships running in Philly over in the US, to determine the number one team in the world (nope – my league did not attend.. well actually one member did: in the audience…)

I love watching derby at its highest level of play and purchased my WFTDA champs watch pass months in advance with so much anticipation.  Our wedding vows included:  “Will you promise to be available to watch the American derby playoffs whilst she yells at the TV, at obscene hours of the morning?” so you can see it pretty darn important to me.  You learn a heap just from watching, its obviously entertaining, plus Australia’s own Victorian Roller Derby League (VRDL) were hot contenders for the Hydra (the trophy) this year after coming 3rd the last two years.  VRDL are already huge winners in my eyes.   The league pioneered derby in Australia, making it much easier for other leagues to start up and be successful.  They are world leaders in skills, drills and strategy and with generous spirits share that knowledge.  It’s amazing to be involved in a sport that has top athletes and coaches on our doorstep, where we’re not a couple of years behind or have to bring out overseas talent.  And most importantly they are so inspirational.  You know they are extraordinary but not such that they magically made it – you’ve seen them work so hard over time.  It allows you to believe it could be you (if you choose to put in that level of dedication).  Plans to cheer on amazing derbies = winning!

So my weekend initially looked like – watch derby online streaming WFTDA champs from 1am til 11amish Sat, Sun and Monday.

Then I added: play 2 games of derby on Saturday 3:15pm and 7:40pm, 1 game on Sunday with the time dependent on the outcomes of games 1 and 2.  I was also honored to be one of the team’s captains this time around, so slightly more pressure and paperwork required.  Humbled and so proud to be a co-captain = winning!

Then the wonderfully talented husband signed on as head photographer for the tournament, meaning we had to be at the event from beginning (early) to end (late) each day.  Did I mention the venue is 1 hours travel away from us?  So purchased additional mobile data, so I could stream the WFTDA champs games to my phone whilst at the more local tournie =winning!

Then because I realised I’d already gone too far – I signed on as at tournie photographer too.  I wouldn’t be shooting the entire time as I was playing, but hoped to get some shots in around my games and give some lens loving to my beloved Banshees.  Have been perfecting the back carry with the baby so that the bigger lenses required for derby won’t boop her on the head whilst I’m shooting = winning!

Then, because I’m an over achiever obviously, I sprained a ligament the week prior.  Go to the physio and am able to train and play with an ankle covered in copious amounts of tape = winning!

Then the baby got a cold (the silver lining got a little dulled here…) The nights prior to champs she was up all night without me having any derby to watch – and then came good about 2am of the first night of champs aka the night before Rebellion… so 3.5 hours sleep for me the day before the tournament… nope.. how about the baby feeling a bit better = winning?

The Baby

I am so proud of the baby this weekend.  These were horribly long days, she wasn’t in perfect health, and the crowds, whistles etc had the potential for total over stimulation.  Not only did she take it all in her stride, but she became a crowd favorite with her duckface and derby hand signals.  Seriously there is nothing cuter than an infant who can ‘call it off’ or signal ‘no pack’.  Having a baby carrier, as usual, is a life saver.  Having crowds and a derby track means constant supervision when she’s out and about on the floor.  If I wanted to actually watch a game, she needed to be in the carrier – yeah I have to walk around, but I get to see the action. In hindsight I probably should’ve used the pram a bit more because her sleeping position in the back carry is horrifying but I’m still very pram adverse…  She really only cried once all weekend and it was totally my fault. I went to take her out of the back carry onto a cushion, and her head missed the cushion!  So much mummy guilt.  Lesson learnt: next time just ask for assistance. Idiot.

The Photography

I do enjoy roller derby photography.  My style is heavily influenced by my husband’s style of sportraiture (sports portraits) capturing emotions and personalities on track versus just the action.  For this, I like to get in close, inside the track, and was not able to this time around whilst wearing the baby (tournament decision for safety – which is fair enough) so it took me a little time to change up my mindset and get into the groove.  I went in with unrealistic expectations on what I could achieve with the baby in my care and the husband as tournie head photographer.  He needed to cover games on both tracks, off track action and ambiance and edit and upload the entire day.  He did an amazing job (and produced amazing images as usual) and understandably wasn’t able to take the baby much.  Whilst a 40 min family portrait shoot is totally doable with just Riley and myself, my expectations on what I can achieve on a full day whilst baby wrangling have been seriously adjusted.

The Derby

So we lost all of our games and came last…  I’m so proud of our first loss – the half time score was 93 to 39, we made some hard decisions and changed things up for a great comeback to bring it within 19 points.  Our second loss was so disappointing.  We played a team that we’d always beaten until recently, and to whom a few of our top skaters had transferred to.  To be honest, they had won the game before we even rolled onto the track, we were just not mentally prepared to win.  I’m not taking anything away from our opponents, they deserved to win, have been working hard and their skills have advanced greatly this year.  They just didn’t deserve to win by 300+ points.

We came into our final game for 5th/6th place missing 3 of our high rotation players – injury, family commitments and going to the hospital with their girlfriend who was injured in a proceeding game.  I am loathe to say a single person is responsible for a win or loss, but in this case, the absence of three skaters did have an impact.  I actually fouled out of this game (accruing 7 penalties – 3 I agreed with, 2 I believe were the incorrect type of penalty but still deserved and 2 I whole heartedly disagree with!) Fouling out is 🙁 but as there were only 20 seconds remaining in the game  🙂 = winning!

I’ve come away from these games with a much clearer sense on how we can structure a winning team and am glad we’ve got our game against our old teammates over and done with.  They went on to win the tournament with us cheering them on the loudest.  It’s also amazing fun playing against people you’ve never played before and so cannot predict what they’ll do next, and the trust and teamwork in your team grows so much at these events.  I feel I was an asset to my team and have some great personal successes and team successes to celebrate.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, VRDL smashed it and are bringing home the Hydra – all 53 pounds of it.  I don’t have the words to express the awe and admiration I feel.  I guess I mostly just want say thanks for showing us what determination and dedication can achieve.

I’m off to edit photos, sleep, take pain killers (stupid DOMS), hug the baby (not sure which order) and try to decide which category this blog goes in… 😉  I hope your weekend was also epic!

p.s. gender stereotypes didn’t end up being mentioned because the roller derby community smashes them xxx

[dropcap type=”square”] M [/dropcap]iranda

The post Winning and losing doesn’t rely on the score… appeared first on Miranda Mayle Photography.

The whole parenting gig means I’m so sleep deprived my coffee needs a coffee…. and that I sometimes (read 99.98% of the time) do not have control over what I can do with my time if the baby so decides, but there are a few things I say to myself that get me training anyways:

• My health is important – staying active is a pretty big contributor to well being both physical and mental. And nowadays its not just me that relies on me
• My team is relying on me – its kinda hard to predict the play if you haven’t practiced the play.
• I’ve never once regretted training once I actually get my butt there!

^^ that last one is the biggie.  I’m pretty sure we all have that warm/sore/fuzzy/endorphin fueled post activity feels, yet we manage to so easily forget when its cold, dark and the couch seems to be a gravity well.  It helps to take a moment after training to store for later so you can remind yourself next time the front door seems a million miles away.

Anyways, I’m full of snot – a legitimate reason not to train because a) my health is important, b) my teammates health is important and c) if you can’t breath you can’t train…  so this is a short one…  Comment for me to read on my sick bed: what stops you from training? And then more importantly what gets you to training?  (And remember you can share that story to support, encourage and inspire each other at thisgirlcan.com.au and you could be selected for the This Girl Can Victoria campaign launching in early 2018.)

[dropcap type=”square”]M[/dropcap]iranda

To connect with the This Girl Can Victoria community, use:

• This Girl Can website: www.thisgirlcan.com.au
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/ThisGirlCanVIC
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/ThisGirlCanVIC
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThisGirlCanVIC
• YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/VicHealthMedia
• Hashtag #ThisGirlCanVIC

This Girl Can by VicHealth encourages women to get active: “This Girl Can celebrates women who are all kinds of active. Women who are giving their all, or giving it a go, but not giving a damn!” I am a This Girl Can Victoria Ambassador. However, the views expressed here are my views only and not those of VicHealth.

The post I didn’t train because… appeared first on Miranda Mayle Photography.

I grew up with my mum and sister, and I was the largest.  I remember them both looking in mirrors exclaiming themselves to be too fat yet when I pointed out that I was larger, the reply was always ‘I didn’t mean you’.  At the time it made no sense, if they were smaller than me and too large, then obviously I was too large and they did mean me.  Now I understand how the reply was also true as the judgement we are happy to throw at ourselves is a bazillion times more scathing than how we view others.

I was always just going to lose that last five kilograms (or work on losing 10% of my body weight at a time, as that was a healthier aim).  A number on a scale used to define me – I would be a better person somehow if that number diminished.  I would be liked more if that number was smaller.  I would be celebrated for reducing the number no matter how unhealthy it might be on my quest to do so.  I was told I ‘held’ my weight well (aka, you don’t look as crap as you could when you weigh that much), somehow it was even good that I was faking the number?!

Enter roller derby.

I’ve always had chunky thighs but when they are toned and muscular they look so different.  People say it all the time: muscle weighs more than fat.  And its true!  I was the same weight as I was at my heaviest but my measurements and body shape was totally different.  Suddenly the number didn’t matter, how I felt and what I could do was more important.  I stopped weighing myself. Those chunky thighs can propel me around the track at great speed, help me stay upright when I get a solid hit and allow me to send the opposition flying.  

I’m proud of what my body can do.  Its not perfect but its capable.  I don’t weigh myself. Ever. I have no idea how much weight I gained during my pregnancy last year because the obstetrician let me stand on the scales backward so I didn’t see the number. At my last doctor appointment, she commented I’d lost weight and asked me if I wanted to know – I did not. I was not even a little bit curious.  Not knowing, not wanting to know my weight- that’s liberating.

I don’t know how much I weigh. Its a good thing.

[dropcap type=”square”]M[/dropcap]iranda

Share your story to support, encourage and inspire each other at thisgirlcan.com.au and you could be selected for the This Girl Can Victoria campaign launching in early 2018.  To connect with the This Girl Can Victoria community, use:

• This Girl Can website: www.thisgirlcan.com.au
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/ThisGirlCanVIC
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/ThisGirlCanVIC
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThisGirlCanVIC
• YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/VicHealthMedia
• Hashtag #ThisGirlCanVIC

This Girl Can by VicHealth encourages women to get active: “This Girl Can celebrates women who are all kinds of active. Women who are giving their all, or giving it a go, but not giving a damn!” I am a This Girl Can Victoria Ambassador. However, the views expressed here are my views only and not those of VicHealth.

The post I no longer weigh myself appeared first on Miranda Mayle Photography.

Okay, so seriously… I play roller derby because I hate the gym and I dislike repetitive exercise. I need some strategy with my sweat, probably to distract me from the sweating bit… Roller derby is a sport where you have to juggle offense and defense at the same time which keeps it interesting.  Exercise which doesn’t feel like your exercising – my kinda active 😛

Roller derby is empowering, it doesn’t depend on a certain body size or shape. It’s very inclusive and there is a great sense of community. It also supports traits that are not always promoted for women. We encourage leadership on the track. And I’m competitive – like REALLY competitive, and that’s allowed, its respected, encouraged, heck even celebrated on track.

Then there’s the teamwork. I didn’t play team sports growing up so have only recently discovered the truth about together you achieve more.  There is nothing quite like the feeling of working with others to achieve a common goal, and its even better sharing the moment of success when you complete it (or did your darndest trying and are proud anyways).  That’s not to say nailing a tricky bit of footwork or having a stellar individual moment on track isn’t enjoyable, the teamwork aspect provides another layer of frosting (the nice kind, not one with undissolved sugar crystals).   Victoria actually has the number one Women’s Flat Track Roller Derby team in the world! (Check them out here: www.vrdl.org) Yep – you read that correctly – THE WORLD.  And that’s not my team – we’re around 300 (check us out here: www.southsearollerderby.com) and that ranking doesn’t limit us.  We never give up. When we’re beaten up, literally, beaten up on the track and on the scoreboard, we treat every jam as if its the first jam and the score’s back to zero zero.  Part of team chant is ‘fight’ and that’s about never giving up irrespective of the score whether we’re ahead or behind. We play because we enjoy it and take the time to celebrate the small successes.  You can’t be upset with the outcome if you gave your all on the track.

Oh and roller derby is one of the only women’s sports without a prefix. There’s men’s roller derby, junior roller derby and roller derby and that’s pretty cool.

If you want to find your local roller derby league to participate checkout the Skate Victoria website.  And don’t worry, you don’t have to have been a speed skating champion in your youth and you’re not thrown onto the track straight into gameplay.  The initial training is all about stopping, falling and basic skating skills and then increases intensity with your increasing abilities and confidence.  For a quick primer on gameplay I like http://badfishrollerderby.com/rules-of-roller-derby-flat-track/

For some goosebumps, checkout this inspiring video by the amazingly talented Photographic Storm 

Share your story to support, encourange and inspire each other at thisgirlcan.com.au and you could be selected for the This Girl Can Victoria campaign launching in early 2018.  To connect with the This Girl Can Victoria community, use:

• This Girl Can website: www.thisgirlcan.com.au
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/ThisGirlCanVIC
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/ThisGirlCanVIC
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThisGirlCanVIC
• YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/VicHealthMedia
• Hashtag #ThisGirlCanVIC

[dropcap type=”square”] M [/dropcap]iranda

This Girl Can by VicHealth encourages women to get active: “This Girl Can celebrates women who are all kinds of active. Women who are giving their all, or giving it a go, but not giving a damn!” I am a This Girl Can Victoria Ambassador. However, the views expressed here are my views only and not those of VicHealth.

The post So why roller derby? appeared first on Miranda Mayle Photography.

To connect with the This Girl Can Victoria community, checkout:

• This Girl Can website: www.thisgirlcan.com.au
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/ThisGirlCanVIC
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/ThisGirlCanVIC
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThisGirlCanVIC
• YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/VicHealthMedia
• Hashtag #ThisGirlCanVIC

If you’ve got a story to share visit thisgirlcan.com.au and you could be selected for the campaign launching in early 2018.

So get out, get active, love your body and find the activity you enjoy. Make friends, get fit, have fun and be fierce!

[dropcap type=”square”] M [/dropcap]iranda

I am a This Girl Can Victoria Ambassador. However, the views expressed here are my views only and not those of VicHealth.

The post This girl can! appeared first on Miranda Mayle Photography.