Adventures in Bench Managing

The big bout was last night and I was in absolutely no mood for it, to tell the truth. I'd had a bad night's sleep, the weather was hideous, I'd hurt my bung hand packing the bout shopping we'd picked up from the cash and carry, I was feeling low on energy and enthusiasm, and I confess to turning up to the bout in a grumpy-ass mood and with a bottom lip that was threatening to trip me up. I felt a bit useless, especially when surrounded by all my fellow recent graduates bouncing with excitement about playing that evening, when I was scheduled to be rattling a collection tin. Ugh. Not good for the self-esteem.

However, a glorious intervention from the black team's bench manager Elle Quaeda meant that I was promoted to helping her out that evening. I went from feeling useless to excited. I was a part of it again! Bench managing is a frenetic, challenging job, involving getting the right skaters on the track, watching penalties, the box, who's playing well etc. With two people it's intense, with one it's a nightmare (according to Elle) so I was more than happy to step up to the plate. Being in a derby dressing room, the sound of the crowd above, is an intense feeling. Our team looked amazing, and the energy was incredible. There was a little pang of sadness as I watched the teams skate out onto the track, but I was also so, so proud of all the women I'd trained with from the beginning, hearing the crowd yell their names and cheer them on.

The game was fast and furious. The red team had almost double our number of points at half time, but we rallied magnificently in the second half (my derby sister Peku Lemu scoring an absolutely magnificent 16 points in one jam- so proud!). It wasn't enough though and we lost 151-126. Hurricane Hori, a Mascara Massacre player who recently moved up here from Chch after the quake, got a huge roar from the crowd in the last jam, which became her victory lap. It was an emotional moment and it was a real privilege to have been a small part of the game.

After the bout I went over to a friend's place with some people and we had tea and cake (no, really), before a relatively early night. Today has been spent relaxing, and getting some quality Bruja-time. Next bout is on the 21st May, and I'm crossing everything that I'll be fine for then!