by Sylvia’s Wrath
COVID-19 has roller derby players the world over are missing our sport. We want to strap on our skates, hit our friends, and high five about it afterwards. Rocky Mountain Rollergirls are no exception; we LOVE roller derby. We love the execution of a well-timed hit, the excitement of learning new strategies and skills, the exhaustion after a tough scrimmage. But for most of us in the derby community, it’s not just about skating. Roller derby is community, its family. We don’t just skate together, we work to keep our league, our family, together and functioning. And the work of running a league is no small feat. It takes the efforts of all of our members to make it happen. Everyone does what they can, contributing their time and talents to keep things going.
This month, Rocky Mountain Rollergirls would like to acknowledge a member who has given so much of her time and talent to helping Rocky be the amazing league that it is, one who jumped right in with both feet and in a short time, has become an invaluable member, not only of the league, but of 5280 Fight Club as well. Congratulations to Mary Contrary, our April Member of the Month!
Mary “Contrary.” She is anything but. We are pretty sure the word “no” is not in her vocabulary. Mary joined Rocky just 6 months ago, but we already can’t imagine not having her and her partner, Crash, on our team. A transfer from Jet City, she has brought energy and an inspiring work ethic to this league, stepping up in countless ways to develop and enhance our community. Even though she had only been with us a short time, Mary took on the daunting task of heading up our New Recruit and Development (NeRD) committee, providing boot camps for brand new skaters to learn the sport, arranging recruiting events, and keeping her fellow NeRDs organized and up-to-date on schedules and opportunities to build up new members.
On top of that heavy load, Mary also took on the challenge of organizing our 2020 Besterns tournament, (originally scheduled for May, but currently postponed, much like the rest of life). This is a ridiculous amount of work for anyone, and Mary didn’t bat an eye before offering herself as tribute. As a new member, this level of commitment is practically unheard of, yet she didn’t hesitate to volunteer. A job like this can be akin to herding cats, but Mary does it all with a positive attitude and a cheery smile on her face.
Speaking of herding cats, did we mention she does all of these things, and STILL works full-time as a nanny? Running the recruiting committee and organizing a multi-day tournament would be enough, but this is all on top of being a caregiver to young children. AND…she also coordinated a fundraiser between Rocky Mountain Rollergirls and Girls Inc, working to provide snacks for young ladies participating in that program.At this point, you are probably exhausted just hearing about all the things that Mary does, but have you seen her skate?
From the work that Mary puts in off-skates, it’s pretty clear that she has boundless reserves of energy. Watch her on the track and you’ll know for sure. A teammate calls her a “squirrelly, skilled jammer”. She jukes, she jives, she slips by on the edges. She is one of those tiny jammers that finds the smallest opportunity and slips right by the toughest walls, leaving them walled up and wondering what happened. But she’s no one-trick pony, and you can’t be fooled by her size. When she hits the wall, you WILL feel it. She has shown off these talents with her home team, the United States Pummeling Service, and those well-rounded jamming skills have not gone unnoticed. Mary quickly joined our charter team in January of 2020 and we look forward to the day when we get to see her take the track as a Fight Club jammer in a game.
For now, we will have to settle for her virtual vibes. So, if you have a minute (and really, don’t we all right now?), give Mary a virtual high five and hug and tell her how deserving she is to be Rocky Mountain Rollergirls’ April Member of the Month!