eastside-sugar-babes

[eastside-sugar-babes]

Eagle Sharks’ & Roller Derby. #comic #sharkteeth #ideas #Sketchaday #doodle #ink #sketchbook #illustration #eagleshark

[eastside-sugar-babes]

Roller derby board game?!

[eastside-sugar-babes]

Sportsmanship: it extends beyond your team’s borders. Here a college senior hits her first home run but tore her ACL after rounding first base (sorry, no gratuitous injury shown). The rules do not allow her teammates to help her round the bases, without being called out, so the opposing team does it.

[eastside-sugar-babes]

[eastside-sugar-babes]

Last home game of the season! Had so much fun playing Toledo!

[eastside-sugar-babes]

Original photo, Roller Derby - Bout 6, by Gomisan, on Flickr 1. You are worth so much. Your team needs you. Your bench coach needs you. Your trainers need you. These people can’t do the things they do without you. Maybe you don’t get that self-worth in your life outside of derby as much as you should be, but here, you rock! 2. The importance of taking care of yourself! Mentally, physically, emotionally. Take care of your body; treat it like a temple, and it will do great things for you. Drink that glass of water or else you’ll be dehydrated for practice. Run that extra mile so you’re strong like bull. Say no to your friend who wants to get “one” beer the night before a bout. 3. Learn when to dance it out. Jitters before practice? The jam whistle? Dance that shit out and others are sure to join. In fact, if they don’t join, they’re doing derby wrong. 4. The real opponent is yourself. You are your biggest critic. Did you not make it through your initial pass as a jammer? Were you a “lone wolf” during scrimmage? That is OKAY. Everyone is still and always will be learning. Take this in a positive fashion and challenge yourself without being too hard on yourself. 5. You will have your teammates’ backs, and they will have yours. You have met the people who truly care about you and your well-being. They are your biggest cheerleaders and are the people who pick you up off the floor. You would do the same for them with no hesitation. 6. If you don’t follow the rules, you don’t win. We all know this: you spend more time in the sin-bin than you do on the track; eventually you are going to foul out of the game. But that’s okay; a lot of people don’t know the rules when they first join derby. It’s better to try and get a penalty than to play it safe. Luckily, we have awesome refs to explain our mistakes and help make us better skaters. Yay refs! 7. Choose a goal and accomplish it. Whether it’s something small, like smiling more in practice, or big, like skating 27 laps in five minutes. Choose something attainable every day and then crush it. 8. Recovering is just as important. Stretch. Drink water. Refuel with yummy food. Just because practice is over doesn’t mean you should let it all go down the drain. And yes, a shower beer is fully acceptable as a method of recovery. 9. Slow the game down. Being aware of your surroundings and always expecting the next play is good. It also helps you by not getting knocked on your ass because you weren’t paying attention. I give you this piece of advice from personal experience. 10. You cry, and then you raise hell. You are going to fail. And it will be okay. It is how you pick yourself up off that track, adjust your pads, and getting your ass back out there that matters.

Smax L Rose is a 23-year-old Vigilante who enjoys snuggling with her Great Dane, attempting to hit the high notes in “Welcome to the Jungle”, and drinking beer. Simultaneously.

[eastside-sugar-babes]

This was my last home game as a junior😁😁😁

[eastside-sugar-babes]

Found on @jammercandy’s Instagram

[eastside-sugar-babes]

Pride Parade today. Our theme was magical creatures so I went as a queer woman that survives a sci-fi TV series.

ha. 

Anyway, like my space leggings?

[eastside-sugar-babes]

[eastside-sugar-babes]

Epic day at Armageddon!!! Mental!!! Now #rollerdisco! Thank you @richcallender For having me present #clubbercise and @tadeamer for the skates! ❤️😘 such a top day!!! 🙌❤️ #Tikiboo ❤️ by jocooperdance http://ift.tt/1TC9Jcu

[eastside-sugar-babes]

Head over to my YouTube channel and watch my latest video! #moxxisjournal 😄 💛💜☝ LINK IN BIO ☝💜💛 by madmoxxi1177 http://ift.tt/1XKqUua

[eastside-sugar-babes]

For Mothers Day we spent our practice having an “open skate” with our team! Dash ended up on her butt a few times through the night though😂

[eastside-sugar-babes]

[eastside-sugar-babes]

So I saw THIS painting by Luis Ricardo Falero and all I could see is this… I call it “Witches rolling to their sabbath”

[eastside-sugar-babes]

Roller Derby and Autism: The Question of Disclosure

The Short Version (TL;DR):

If you’re not sure whether to tell your teammates that you’re autistic, there are three pairs of questions you can ask yourself to help make that decision. And don’t be afraid to take your time.

“Am I likely to need accomodations within training/scrims/etc? Will they be easier to explain if I have a solid label to share with people?”

“What kind of environment/culture/etc does this team seem to have? What are the individuals like?”

“Do I want my teammates to view me as eccentric/standoffish/a bit weird/however else it presents for me? Would I prefer that they have a specific ‘explanation’ for anything I do that they find weird?”

Roller derby is a team sport, and we want our comfort and enjoyment to be our number one priority! It’s often useful to tell at least your team captains, or a couple of coaches and/or first aiders. Sometimes it can feel nice to just let everybody know and have it out there. Sometimes it might feel better to not tell anybody.

I’m really glad that my teammates know, and I feel that it’s likely that most of us will want at least a few of them to know eventually. But different teams are different, and we are all different too. So there’s no right answer for everybody.

The Long Version - More detail, and a couple of specific examples.

I started playing roller derby in August 2014, through a two-month junior roller derby trial program that East Vic Roller Derby was running (I was still in high school). After that I jumped straight into the grown ups freshmeat program. Roller derby is the best thing I’ve ever done for myself. I love this sport, and I love my teammates. But it was a while before I told them outright that I’m autistic.

If you’re somebody who is capable of ‘flying under the radar’ for the most part, it can be pretty tricky to work out whether to tell people you’re autistic, and when to do so. That applies to most situations. But what about a team sport that often prides itself on having a community full of ‘quirky’ individuals?

There are a few things to think about if you’re trying to make this decision, and I spoke to my friend about this last night, but now I’m making a post for all of us, in the form of “questions to ask yourself” that should help with the decision.

Ask yourself: “Am I likely to need accomodations within training/scrims/etc? Will they be easier to explain if I have a solid label to share with people?”

If the answer to both parts of that question is yes, then it’s probably better to tell somebody earlier on. Even if it’s only your captain, or a couple of coaches. You want to be the best at derby you can be! You want to have fun! We want you to have fun! We also want to you be able to kick butt !

As a now bouting-level skater, and my league’s freshmeat coordinator, I want all of the newbies joining us to feel okay asking for accomodations they might need. I can’t see any of our coaches rejecting anything like that. Even the ones who seem kind of mean at first. Our priority is your enjoyment and safety.

Ask yourself: “What kind of environment/culture/etc does this team seem to have? What are the individuals like?”

These are questions we need to ask to assess how safe it is to disclose our autism. It can also help us work out whether we only want a few people to know (coaches and particular friends), or whether we want absolutely everybody to be aware. It can be a really difficult thing to work out, and was a part of why it was several months before I told any of my teammates. Trying to ‘read’ people sucks.

When I first told people, it was gradual. One-on-one type stuff. I’m assuming that the small number of teamies who I had as mutuals on here found out first. Other than that I mostly waited for it to ‘come up’ in conversation. My team, however, has an incredibly family-like vibe. Small league; big friendships. The first few people to find out took it really well. Didn’t treat me any worse. It was enough that I felt comfortable getting interviewed for this [http://www.theage.com.au/national/young-adults-with-autism-20160119-gm99uz.html], regardless of who might see it. When it was published I shared it to my league’s members page on facebook. So now they all know. So do a couple of people from other leagues. I got great and supportive responses, because as I said, it feels like a big happy family.

A lot of teams do seem to have that family vibe, but I won’t assume that it’s the case everywhere. Try to gauge that first if you can, and I recommend ‘testing the waters’ with a few people first, if you’re able to. It might also be worth considering how old everyone in your team is and where you fall in comparison, and whether that seems to affect interactions and stuff.

Ask yourself: “Do I want my teammates to view me as eccentric/standoffish/a bit weird/however else it presents for me? Would I prefer that they have a specific ‘explanation’ for anything I do that they find weird?”

This is another pair of questions that is about our own comfort. Just because this is a sport that welcomes ‘weird’ people, it doesn’t mean that we want to be seen as one of the weirdest people. This also depends on how well you may or may not ‘pass’ as allistic, and how deliberate and tiring that effort is. If you’re particularly prone to meltdowns and other reactions to things that may be seen as ‘extreme’ it can also be helpful if people know what it’s about, so that they can resond appropriately to the situation. If you’re comfortable enough, maybe even tell them outright how to react if it happens.

Because of how close I am to my teammates, I’m really glad (mostly) that they know this about me. I can be very sensistive sometimes about being seen as weird, and I like feeling that I can ‘let my guard down’ around them without worrying too much about perceptions. Not that I always do, but the option is there!

I react adversely to loud noises a lot of the time. Balloons popping, sudden bangs. Whistles too, if I’ve zoned out and am no longer putting extra focus into being ready for them. Because my teammates know this about me, and most of them seem to know that it’s because I’m autistic, they’re in a better place to react. They know what my normal reaction is to stuff like that, which means that I don’t end up feeling embarrassed when it happens.

Just to repeat: Your priority in the disclosure decision should be your safety, your comfort, and your enjoyment. There’s no point playing derby if you’re going to be miserable and anxious the entire time.

And if another skater does give you a hard time for being autistic - or anything else - most leagues will have a policy about bullying that will help you address the issue. You should be in a poisition to speak to a captain, coach, or league rep about concerns. There should also be more than one person to choose from for that, so that you can talk to whomever you’re more comfortable with.