As a professional female athlete from the 20th century, I have watched the skating sport transition through so many different changes over the past 5 decades. It has gone through some unusual highs and lows over those decades, but the sport has always been there even if you had to overlook some of the overblown hype or over-produced show business styles antics around it.
Now that my children have all grown, I am able to look at the world of banked track skating through the eyes of wisdom. In some ways I feel a void in my life, and wish I could have been there to help train some of the skaters for the future. As a substitute, I hope that a young skater might read one of my articles here on the Internet, and in their own way be able to take advantage of my experience. If my writings on the Web can help improve the banked track game in a small way, I would be very grateful.
Choosing a career in sports
Life in any sport is not an easy way of making your career. In my professional sports career there were many times I wanted to just throw in the towel. There are many frustrations that come your way. There is the stress of training and also, each player needs to learn to adapt to a lifestyle where skating and travel away from home can be awkward and upsetting. I send out much thanks to many of my peers, Bill Bogash, Mary Youpelle, Gerry Murray & Annis Jensen, Buddy Atkinson and Paul Milane, who stood behind me when I was trying to adapt to my sports career. These people took extra time and gave me a little push that gave me a wonderful feeling. When we were away from home and I was a little homesick, they made me feel as if I was part of their family.
Some of today's activities on the track make me wonder. For instance, who ever heard of getting kicked in the private places in any of the other sports? Did you ever see the players getting out of hand in baseball, basketball, or football? Even in the world of ice hockey and roller hockey, which are the closest games to Roller Derby, you might see some fights, however most of the theatrics and violence are kept under control with a firm set of rules.
I look at all the various sports today such as hockey, soccer, speed skating, and I know that the women of Roller Derby can help to improve the game by doing more of the skating, and by playing by the rules. A person’s temper can get out of hand in hockey, as well as in the banked track sport. Because of this, it is important that a skater train and learn how to control their temper. By doing this and not giving into their emotions at the heat of a moment, a skater can help to improve the game. Even with this being said, there are times when the tempers get out of hand and the fire needs to be put out. When I skated professionally, it was important that we held our tempers from fighting. Otherwise, we could get ourselves thrown out of the game or skate short handed, just like hockey. We would often try to contain our anger till the last girl's period. All of this was actually very hard to do and sometimes we just went at each other. This was just all part of the game.
Special challenges for women
Women have seen many difficult obstacles thrown in front of them that has kept them from getting their athletic talents noticed. There have been hard times that kept women from being able to compete in a man's world. In my day, it was very difficult, as a woman, to get out of the stereotype of making babies, being in the kitchen, cooking, cleaning, and doing what men expected of them. Being a professional skater in the Roller Derby changed all of that for me. We were some of the lucky women from the 50s who had a choice to become independent. A lot of people did not like that.
What I see now is a whole new world for women interested in sports. I am proud to see that women can keep our place in the home, take care of our children, plus be able to be on an equal basis with regards to salary with the men in business and in sports.
On top of all of this, we are able to demand the respect that we deserve.
There are many women who choose to be a homemaker. Other women are single parents, who hold down the duties of homemaker and breadwinner. This is a special field and it takes tremendous dedication. As someone once said, "being a Mom and housewife is the world's most important job". It was wonderful to be able to do this when the job market allowed a family to be supported by the husband. In today's society, a woman or family might not have the luxury of allowing one person to work, while the other stays home.
Women who went into sports in the 1950s
As a child growing up there were very few women in the sports field that were role models. I was considered a bit of a tomboy who enjoyed playing stickball, marbles and running with the boys. It was rare to see women athletes, but I had a favorite in my day. Sonja Henie, the beautiful ice skater, was my role model. I was a cocky kid who wanted to become an ice skater. I was so inspired by her skating that I looked for ice rinks so that I could learn to skate like my hero, Sonja. Being raised in the Bronx in New York City, there were no ice rinks nearby. However, there were roller rinks and they were open almost all the time. This was how I eventually discovered indoor roller skating.
At an early age of just ten years old, I was running track at the police athletic club in between frequent trips to the roller rink. I also skated on the streets. It wasn't long before I began to skate freestyle dance at the roller rink. I was a tiny girl, and I was accustomed to having skaters do lifts and throw me all around during the freestyle skating. I also tried going into dance skating, but I was more of a tomboy and being dainty was not my cup of tea. I felt that the skills for dance skaters were just too delicate for me and I wanted to do something that was more exciting.
From Speed Skater to Roller Derby
When the roller rink brought in speed skating, I noticed that unlike the roller-dance class where the teacher was a woman, the speed club was taught and dominated by men and boys. I took a shot at joining the speed club. The guys, as I called them in the speed club, had much more drive than the gals did. It seemed that the teachers had to be much harder to get the gals to "get the lead out" of their skates, and to begin to develop the speed and endurance that the men already had. This was the first time that I began to meet other girls who had the same outlook as I did. I finally felt like I had found a sport that held an interest for me. I found myself admiring those skaters who really gave the others a challenge. The skater who could out-race every one and had the guts and style to stay the course, got my attention. I loved it. But that all ended when the Roller Derby came into New York, as my friends and I at the roller rink went down for the tryouts.
Even though I was skating in speed clubs and at roller rinks, when I got on the banked track it was not as easy as I had thought it would be. Suddenly I was very clumsy and very unsteady on my feet. The banks are elevated at all different angles, and they made your skates want to roll into the infield. Consequently, you have to develop new muscles and balance to manage the banks. It took a few hours on those banks and slowly my legs developed the feel and skill to be a little more comfortable. I found that at certain speeds and strides, you would not be fighting the banks as much. I began to adapt to the sport.
A woman’s choice
When I was growing up in the 40s and 50s, there were few opportunities for women, except to get married and raise a family. I had grown up with five siblings, and being the oldest, I had a small taste of what it might be like to help run the home. This was not a life I was ready for. I knew that I wanted to do something else. I chose professional roller derby and now after many years of skating, I have the opportunity to tell others all about the career that I had. In this new generation, women are given more of a chance to compete in a man's world than we had in the past. Woman today can look at their lives and make independent choices that change their destiny. Today, women have the choice of being anything they choose. There is a world of options at their feet. They can be a sports person, homemaker, or even being the president of a business. Who knows, one day the President of the United States may even be a woman.
When a woman decides to be an athlete, it will be a long haul to train for many hours, to work at being the best, to learn to give, and to be dedicated to her goals. After coming into the field, there is the possibility that you may have to leave your home and travel to different places. You will have to perform when you do not feel like it, and learn how to adjust to all kinds of different lifestyles and people.
Well, now that I've opened up another door, I guess I'll have to write another page in the chapter on woman in the wonderful world of sports and life itself.
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