Kiri Te Karnage: The Revolution

I am a child of the eighties. Cabbage patch kids, Michael Jackson bubble gum cards, Madonna, Garbage pail kids, K.I.T.T.

One Christmas somewhere between ’85 and 87’, Santa bought me a beautiful pair of yellow and blue roller skates. They were amazing. I spent hours and hours skating on our driveway. And then, I grew out of them and Santa never bought me another pair.

18ish years later I started to see and hear of roller derby leagues in the states. Eventually I hear of some derby enthusiasts in little ole’ NZ and discover some leagues starting up around the country. My little sister joins one in Christchurch immediately. Still….. I ‘m not yet ready. In fact, lets be honest, I am a pussy. I don’t like to be hurt, and I don’t like confrontation. And lets face it, there is a bit of a difference between skating in your driveway as an 8 year old to skating with fully grown women clad in fishnets trying to STOP you skating!

2009….. a little bored, all my friends are settling down and having children and, after speaking to my sister – who was bouting overseas in Melbourne and loving it – I decided to re-evaluate the fact that I’m still a pussy at age 30 and though I may have been staring down the barrel at a mid-life crisis, it was time to give derby a go. My sister was quite supportive which in itself is a surprise as she’s never been overly encouraging.

I found the Richter City freshmeat and greet was on the next night. And, in the effort of trying something new and to not be afraid, I went a long.

I met Suffer Jet and Six Guns. I also met a new recruit – Rusty Stilleto. Everyone was encouraging and supportive. I grabbed the bull by its horns, borrowed some skates and went to freshmeat training the following weekend. And the following and the following.