March Skater of the Month

This month we’d like to honor another stunning skater, who just happens to be the founder of our league:  Jenneral Ms.Chief!  This girl is an amazing athlete, leader, business owner, and an all-around fun person.  She was nominated for her die-hard love of derby since the very beginning, for always finding ways to improve, and for her tireless efforts as a coach.  Jenneral has helped lead HRD skaters and keep them motivated – throughout and between seasons, on and off skates.  She even makes time to remain on HRD’s Board of Directors, so she can help guide the league as it grows.

During her non-derby hours of the day (if you can call them that), Jenneral owns and works at local piercing and tattoo shop in Eureka called Primal Decor.  ”I love to poke holes in people,” she says.  ”While it is a job it’s also a second passion of mine.  Something about getting to participate in rites of passage, emotional growth, and physical decoration is very rewarding to me.”  She sees piercing and derby in a very similar light:  ”You have to be confident, calm, aggressive, and turn your adrenaline that your body is telling you is fear into success.  As a pivot I take my experience in the piercing room to the track.”

As far as hobbies go, Jenneral has many passions besides derby.  She loves to sew, re-purpose thrift store furniture, and work on cars (like her vintage VW bug and bus).  She even maintains a blog about her creative adventures!  On her days off, she also loves to go on outdoor adventures with Jason and Shadow – who you might recognize as HRD’s announcer and trusty sidekick.  They’re pretty much your quintessential derby family.

Our fearless founder has been off skates so far this season due to an injury, but has been more than making up for lost time as a bench coach.  We appreciate all of her many efforts to build and help our league succeed, and can’t wait to have her back on skates again!

Our First Volunteers of the Quarter!

In addition to our new “Skater of the Month” program, we’ve decided to start honoring one of our awesome bout volunteers for each quarter of the year.  We are lucky to work with so many great people who make our lives so much easier, and we want to give them some recognition as well!

Our very first Volunteer of the Quarter had to be Randy George, whose wife Amy and son Jordan deserve the title as well because they work together as a team.  Randy is what we like to call our “ParKing” – or the king of our parking lots.  At each and every bout, he spends hours chalking the lot to create parking spots for our guests and prevents what would otherwise be chaos out there!  He, along with Amy and Jordan, devote hours upon hours of their time, directing people to remaining parking spots as the lot fills up, and keeping a watchful eye while everyone else is inside.

When he’s not helping out Humboldt Roller Derby, Randy spends his free time as the PTA Vice-President at Jordan’s school, Grant Elementary in Eureka.  He’s also a semi-obsessed marble collector!  Amy works for the County of Humboldt, and together the three of them have adopted a section of Highway 101 through the Adopt-a-Highway program.  They work hard to make things better for everyone in the community by cleaning up and beautifying the highway.  We consider ourselves lucky that they have time to help us out so much on top of their busy lives, and we appreciate all the help and positivity they bring to HRD.  Thanks Randy, Amy, and Jordan! We’re so happy to have you as part of our volunteer team.

Sock Derby?!

Fans who came to see our first home bout of the 2011 season were in for more than they bargained for…Sock Derby!  When wet and wild conditions outside unexpectedly combined with hot and humid conditions inside, our concrete track turned into an oilslick – sending skaters, referees, and even our announcer tumbling to the ground.

Welcome to Humboldt County… where even indoor events get rained out!

It was simply too unsafe to continue the bout on skates, but nobody wanted to go home.  So, in a tremendous display of sportswomanship, skaters from both visiting and home teams stepped up, took off their skates, and made lemons out of lemonade.  Rather than cancel our event and disappoint our fans, the teams agreed instead to participate in Humboldt County’s very first (and hopefully last) Sock Derby bout!

Roller derby without wheels was one of the funniest things we’ve ever seen. Our fans were incredibly supportive, and happily cheered us on.  The whole thing reminded us why we love this sport and the people in it.  Here’s to surviving a bizarre opening to the 2011 season!  We’ll see you at the next bout – with our skates on.

P.S. Many thanks to the visiting skaters from Oakland and Reno for helping us salvage the evening.  We love you all!