Realy For Life - A Meaningful Event For All

In our mission statement we talk about giving back to the community and that is something that we value very deeply. At each of our home bouts for the 2010 season, we have taken on the effort of supporting a different charity. The idea of participating in Relay for Life was brought to us by our teammate Indiana Bruiser who had participated in the event the previous year. This was obviously going to be the biggest charity event for this season. The Relay for Life event began at 9am on August 21^st, and the same evening we had a bout against Mission City Brawlin’ Betties from Santa Barbara. It was a very passionate day for our entire league. Ladies shared their personal stories and 4 skaters cut their hair to donate at half-time of the game. We had goals to have someone skating on the track for the full 24 hours, raise awareness for our friends, our family and our fans and most importantly, to help fight the bout with cancer!

Each person in our league has their own story to tell, just like many of you. Cancer effects 1 in 3 people… look at your family members, look at your friends…. I look at my teammates and those numbers are scary! Our teammate Berle Scout was interviewed at the event and was asked why she was participating. This is her story... "The Relay for Life is an event that really hit home for me. I lost my mom to ovarian cancer two years ago and have since vowed to do my part in cancer prevention, research, and awareness. Everyone knows someone who has been affected by this terrible disease, and it was great to see so many people join forces to fight it. I was especially proud of my team, San Diego Roller Derby, who raised over $3,000 for the American Cancer Society. I was even more inspired by my teammates who donated their hair to Locks of Love during halftime at our bout that day and hope to do so in the future as well. I look forward to participating in the Relay for Life again in years to come and have confidence that our efforts will help on this long journey towards a cure."

Themes, decorations, schedules, food, water, more food, skaters… "FIGHTING THE BOUT WITH CANCER" was our theme. We decorated with a giant skate at our tent. We met a lot of interesting people, heard some very amazing stories and we were very honored to participate. It was really nice to have support from the other Relay for Life teams who thought it was cool to see us using our "unique from of transportation". In the morning after the closing ceremonies a lot of people complimented us for having skaters out for the full 24 hours, even though they could hear us skate by in the middle of the night; they still thought it was great that we were out there giving it our all. With an amazing turnout of skaters even in the middle of the night, and raising a little over 3,000 dollars and we were pleased with the outcome of our hard work and fundraising. Now that we have a year under our belt, we can’t wait to start planning for 2011!