She’s been a part of the Hard Knox family for a long time, and now she’s ready to skate on the track! Get to know September’s Skater of the Month, stella stRAnGE.
Photo credit: Kevin Phanovich
Name: stella stRAnGE
Number: 704
Travel Team: Brawlers
Home Team: Black Bettys
Years skating: 1
You were nominated by Sharon Beavers, who said “I always see her on Facebook, posting videos of her skating in her living room, and I want to know how do you continue to be motivated to practice when we don’t haven’t regular practice?”
I guess probably the fact that it took me ten years to make the team and I don’t want to screw it up now that I finally did! I think I’m really lucky now that I have a practice space because I kept running into a lot of obstacles when I was trying to join for a long time— like my work schedule didn’t work with it, I didn’t have the money to get skates, I lived in a tiny apartment by myself, and didn’t have any practice spaces. So now I got a better job, I got a good pair of skates, and I have a house with hardwood floors, so it’s like well, if I don’t do it this time, then it’s not meant to be, because I’m just squandering my chance.
So how did you find out about roller derby then, if it’s been ten years?
I’ve kind of always known it was a thing, I’ve been a little bit obsessed with roller skating sports since I was a kid. There was this movie when I was a kid, Solarbabies, did you ever see it?
No.
I’m a sci-fi nerd. Anyway, I’ve been obsessed ever since I saw that, and the idea of it, and the old school roller derby, where it was all show. Then I went with my best friend to Adventure Con in Knoxville in 2009. I had just moved here in 2008, so I didn’t know anything about anything in Knoxville, and we went to Adventure Con, and we met a couple of the roller derby skaters who were there, kind of “evangelizing” for roller derby. I think it was Goblin that I met, and I don’t know, I got obsessed with it. I bought a tank top, and told my best friend I was gonna do it, and it only took me ten years after that. Things finally came together! That’s how it started, and then I went to a bout a couple of years later, and I was still obsessed with it. I met Deaf Rattle (because I had worked at the School for the Deaf) and some of my kids there were kind of obsessed with Deaf Rattle, and so I met her. Then I started practicing with the freshies in like 2012 or something, and I NSOed for most of the season in 2013. It’s been a very long and winding road.
Had you skated as a kid as well, or was it always just something you watched?
I skated in the rink very poorly as a kid, and I never learned to do anything. Like I could skate around in a circle going forward, and that was it. So I was not good at it, I don’t know where I got the idea that I would be able to do it, but I guess eventually I just figured out that, you know, you can still be fairly useful in roller derby even if you fall down.
Yes— I know that lesson well!
That’s a big draw for me!
What sort of NSO jobs did you do?
Oh my goodness, I can’t remember that far back, but I did the penalty box a lot that year I think, and I helped with scorekeeping. I feel like there was something else, I only did like three jobs that year I think, I’ve forgotten the rest.
Do you feel like doing those sort of jobs helped you understand the rules before you actually started skating?
It definitely helped me understand some of the rules, but it’s a completely different experience to be on the track and try to keep up with everything that’s going on, so I kind of feel like I’m starting over again now that I’m out there in the middle of it.
So this was the Fresh Meat Boot Camp that stuck for you. What was your experience of it?
It was awesome, it was wonderful! For one thing, when I got my new job, it was like everything started coming together. I had this schedule that would allow me to make it to practices, and I made a little bit more money, so the very first thing I did when I got my new job was go out and get some Antik skates because I was just determined that I was gonna really do it this time. That really turned it around kind of because before, I was wearing a pair of loaner skates that had bent trucks and terrible wheels and they were duct taped together, and then I got my new skates and I actually could sort of steer myself and (when people weren’t hitting me) not fall down the whole time. Once I got those, then I started going out and practicing in parking lots and I got the outdoor wheels and made it my mission to sort of start learning before boot camp ever started. I had been friends with Lyda-Kain and Kilty for years now, because I had this goal, and so they did boot camp this year, among other people, and that was really encouraging, to have people that I knew, that knew how long I’d been trying to do it, so I think part of it was just having them there, and okay, you really have to do this now, this is something you should follow through with. And I’ve just been saying I was gonna do it for so long, I said you know, if I can’t make it in ten years, then I’m probably not gonna make it, so it was kind of a do or die situation this year. And I had some really, we had a really awesome group of skaters in boot camp this year, the fresh meat group was pretty tight, and everybody was really encouraging and you feel like giving up a lot when you’re barely able to stay up on your feet, so that made a big difference too, getting close to the other skaters.
What positions have you enjoyed skating?
I don’t know yet! I’m still learning, but I like being on my toe stops, so it looks like I’m going to like jamming. I feel like I know what’s going on a little more when I’m jamming. I’ve always enjoyed team sports, but I’m very clumsy, and I don’t do details well. I ran cross country if that gives you an idea of how much focus I have, you just keep running until you hit the end, so that’s kind of how I feel about skating too. When I’m jamming, I know where I am and what I’m supposed to do, so I’m hoping that maybe I’ll get a little better at both, but right now that’s the one that’s more fun.
What’s the story behind stella stRAnGE?
When I started this whole thing, I was a bartender, and a lot of the roller derby skaters that I knew had names that had something to do with their profession and something to do with their personality. So it was “stella stRAnGE” because of bartending, stella, stella artois, that sort of thing, and then I’m a little weird, so “strange” sort of was a natural evolution, but then everybody loves a little double entendre, so that was part of it too. All of my friends decided that they were going to make signs that said, “We love strange,” and they’re very happy about that, so when I finally got there I had to, I guess I had to keep it.
How did you pick your number?
That’s from my hometown, it’s the area code where I grew up in North Carolina.
What brought you to Tennessee from North Carolina?
Kind of work and kind of personal life. I actually was separating from my ex and just sort of looking for a place to start over. I had worked at the School for the Deaf in North Carolina and I had applied at three different Schools for the Deaf, and I applied in Maryland, and Florida, and here. I got more than one of them, but this one had free employee housing, so I moved here and that was that.
What is your job? Is it still with Tennessee School for the Deaf?
No, so I was doing that when I first moved here, then I went into the service industry, and I had done that when I was younger, but I did it again, and did serving and bartending, and I bartended and became a bar manager, and did that until my daughter was about to be born, and then kind of had to do something else because there’s not a lot of 3 am childcare. So I went back into social services, and now I’m a state-wide trainer for employment services for people who have mental health and substance abuse issues.
So this might not exist with young children, but what do you like to do in your free time?
[laughs] That’s a funny joke! When I get free time, really skating is what I do. It’s the only kind of just for me thing that I really have these days, and it takes a lot of work to make it happen when you have little kids. It’s expensive to do and you have to really decide that it’s what you want to do, and then spend a lot of time planning how to make it work. It’s my “me time” now. I do a lot of skating at like 10 in my living room, that’s my extra practice time.
What do your kids think about your skating?
They love it! My daughter is skating herself now. She has, we got her a little pair of adjustable roller skates, and she asks me all the time to go skating. And my son just thinks it’s funny, he’s only two, and he doesn’t really know what’s going on, but he thinks it’s the funniest thing he’s ever seen when Mommy’s on roller skates. He likes to help me work on them.
What’s something that roller derby has taught you about yourself?
Probably that I’m very stubborn and if I have a goal, I’m pretty persistent if I want to get there. And then also I guess you kind of learn how to deal with frustration in roller derby, that’s kind of a big part of it because there’s always thirty other people who can do everything better than you and especially when you’re fresh meat you know. But you kind of have to learn how to talk positively to yourself when you’re around that many people who are all doing the same thing because everybody’s better at something than you are, and when you’re new, everybody’s better at almost everything than you are. So I guess it’s been kind of a life lesson to sort of realize that you can’t compare yourself to everybody else and you just have to focus on what you’re trying to do for yourself.
Who would you like to nominate for next month?
I’m a little bit fascinated with Kitty because of her track jumps. Like I want to do that someday, she’s my superhero in roller derby right now.
And what do you want to ask Kitty?
How she has the confidence to do those jumps and how she learned how to do them because that’s kind of my ultimate goal, but I’m also a little bit terrified.
Me too! She makes it look so effortless.
Yes, she does!
Thank you for a fantastic conversation, stella stRAnGE! I loved hearing how long your journey towards making the team has been, and cannot wait to take the track with you again. Until next time, be like stella stRAnGE and do something for one of your long-term goals.
-smalls-