It starts with sweaty palms and an increased heart rate, pretty soon your eyes are flushed with excitement and your body is trembling. You’re half way through your first roller derby date and it has you hooked.

Before you know it’s happened you’re having a tumultuous affair; you think about it more than once a day, it starts creeping into your everyday conversations, you reminisce about your training sessions and you feel the aches and pains from it with relish. Soon though, you want more from this relationship; you feel disappointed and frustrated – sometimes things are amazing between you and sometimes they’re really hard.

You’re tough on yourself and your role in this relationship, sometimes you feel you hold the power and sometimes you’re spiralling out of control; derby is mercurial. It takes you on a journey of self discovery in body and mind. You want more, you get more. You try harder, you start to see results. You beat on yourself and you’ll have a tough session.

But it’s not just you in this romance with roller derby, there’s a whole host of people. And the best thing is, you don’t mind. You relish the opportunity to talk to others, you share your experiences and help each other progress. And soon you realise this is not a sordid affair, this is a marriage of love, friendship and trust. Your derby family is there when you need them, they’ll give you a hug if you need it or a kick up the arse if you’re being ridiculous. They’ll support, encourage and never demand more than you do of yourself.

Roller derby doesn’t need a special day to “celebrate” the love we all have for it because every training session, scrim or game is a recognition of the hard work everyone puts in and the joy we all get from it (even if you think you’re having a terrible time!) So make every session count, try harder, laugh louder and love longer.

Walker Texas Danger x