Injuries are all real in Derby!

Injuries come in all different shapes, sizes and different areas of all kinds. I've seen a lot of crazy injuries during roller derby due to it being so aggressive and extreme.

Most girls think bruises and scrapes are pretty and feel proud towards it. Others like me can't stand floor burn and rink rash! I always wear figure skating skin colored thick tights under my fishnets. I can't just do fishnets by themselves, especially when your skating on concrete! I've seen rink rash that formed the shape of the fishnets its pretty cool looking but the feeling of a rink rash is not fun in my book.

The main hurtful injury I got that took me completely out of a game was in Arizona for ESPN filming, There were these huge wooden post that held the building up. One of my team players did a whip for me to get through and next thing you know the opposing team slams into me knocking me face first into this post. Now the post was padded up but not all the way, So my face hit towards the bottom of the post, and my legs fell foward everyone said it was like a cartoon incident, they've never seen anything like that it. Of course I got up, it took me a few but I got up and tried to skate but I seriously saw stars and couldn't even stand up. With my helmet strap just completly choking my neck when hitting the post kept me out of breath too. Took me out of rest of the game.

I've never broken anything, I had a small little sprain on my knee once but not from skating. Never really have had any real injuries. All my teeth are real, my nose is straight, only thing that I usually get is bruised up, even with my thick tights on, and scratches on my arms. I kicked myself in the mouth one practice and wasn't wearing a mouthguard and I can't imagine getting a tooth knocked out I think that's one of my biggest fears. I hate doctors and hospitals, I think just reallllly getting injured scares me to death, but you kinda gotta look at what your doing, anything can happen and when it happens, it happens without even knowing what happened.

I've seen broken ankles, broken fingers, broken wrists, bruises, scratches, I've even seen teeth marks on a girl once!
I think I've seen more injuries while working at the roller rink during public session hours. I've seen teeth get knocked out a broken bone somewhere at least once to every other week.

My team plays by no holds barred full contact and we never really get seriously injured. I've seen other team's players in a sling after their game, never really understood cause they play by rules, and have referees, along with penalty boxes and I see more injuries in that. We have injuries that take our team players out of our games, but It hasn't left them in a sling or crutches.

To avoid injuries, you have to pay attention in every single angle of your surroundings, sometimes the opposing team can pop out of noowhere. You have to learn how to fall safe and properly, and yes there is a right way to fall! Always wear your protective gear and make sure it fits tight, You don't want knee pads that are gonna slide down and not protect you when you have a knee fall. Thick tights are amazing, sometimes I'll double them depending on what kind of surface I'm skating on. Drinking plenty of water helps you stay hydrated and not make you dizzy, nautious, etc.
Try to hold falls as much as you can, I've seen girls just slam themselves on the floor when they're about to fall, and will their sit there for a while, while their opposing team are scoring points, Try to avoid falling as much as possible. When you fall jump right back up and get back in the game. Sitting on the floor can cause further injuries, someone can skate over your finger (NOT FUN!), fall right on top of you due to you being in the way and them not looking.