When I was first approached about it, I told her I would look into it and think about it. All smart kids know that means one of two things: parents will ignore the fact that the conversation ever took place or that it is an immediate and resounding, “No!”  Maggie was not going going to let me get away with either option so I did what any tech-savvy mom would do: I Googled “roller derby Dayton Ohio” and found one adult league and no junior league options. I told her emphatically I was NOT driving her to Cinci so we were good. Or so I thought.

A few months later, junior roller derby came to Dayton Ohio and she was THRILLED. I was  not. I hemmed. I hawed. I asked a friend who does roller derby what she thought about my precious snowflake daughter hanging out with such riff-raff getting hurt by tough girls and was told, “Let her do it! She will learn so much and have so much fun!” Since I really did trust Kimberly, I grudgingly went to the first meeting. What helped is that a friend brought her daughter along as well. The girls were so excited about it and the moms are really cool, too.

What roller derby has brought to Maggie is such a sense of self confidence. Anyone who knows her well knows she is not really lacking in that area but she really does shine on her wheels. She is kind and considerate to the less experienced girls and is able to be hard (yet kind) to the girls she is practicing with each week.

My manager and I were IM’ing yesterday about Maggie and roller derby. He commented something along lines of, “What? She couldn’t pick something with less contact  like badminton? Doesn’t she like her teeth?” We both got a chuckle out of that. It really made me think, though, of how much she has grown since starting roller derby. She has always been kind and considerate of others. Compassionate. This has given her an outlet for some of that and has given her an avenue to strive to do her best and beat her own previous records. She is a leader and it shows.

I started this post last night when I think I had a different point I wanted to make but was unable to keep eyes open. If I remember where it was heading, I will come back to it.