I never thought I would get involved and love something as much as I do about roller derby. I'd heard about roller derby and I knew what it was before I joined, but I didn't think too much of it at the start of 2011.
It wasn't until the persistence of long time friend and derby girl "PollyWanna Smasha" finally got me involved by bugging me over and over to come and sign up as a referee. I gave her assurances that as soon as my indoor soccer season had finished I would have time to come and check it out.
I attended my first bout at the Cairns Recreation Centre on a Saturday night in May for the Reef City Rollergirls first intraleague bout between the "Cane Sugars" and "Monsoon Maidens" and I was instantly sold. Of course, I had no idea what the hell was going on at the time, but the sport intrigued me and the idea of girls skating around smashing the crap out of each other in fishnets and skirts was pretty appealling.
The next month, my friends' Marty and derby girl "Devilish Diva" dragged me to Townsville for a taste of interleague bouting at Northern Tropical Thunder. I felt a little out of place, but myself and Marty soon realised the girls loved it when they found out they had some supporters at the bout. We became honourary groupies!
The following Tuesday both myself and Marty rocked up at training and strapped on some skates and I haven't looked back! I quickly built up my skating skills, got familiar with the 46 pages of rules and I was reffing my first bout all within 4 weeks.
Since then I've developed an alter ego, "Carlos The Jackal" and I've really come out of my shell. I've gone from being a shy introverted geek to a more confident and wilder, but awesomely geeky guy on quads. I've made new friends and I love the Reef City Rollergirl family. I feel like I've got over 20 awesome sisters now and my fellow male referees are a great bunch of guys.
Reffing several intraleague bouts, becoming club secretary, a trip to Townsville to officiate and now the honour of representing Reef City as a referee at Tropicarnage Cup in Brisbane! Simply awesome. Oh and also getting a chance to play in a Merby exhibition bout. Yep, It's taken over and I'm loving it!
Thankyou Reef City Rollergirls, I don't know what I'd do without you lot!
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