Is It Gone Forever?

I posted before about why I decided to join the team I have. The whole premise and ideals of this team, the positive energy which abounded, the boss lady who wanted things done right or not at all...

I went back to derby training last week for the first time in nearly 7 months, the first time since Mum died. It was a very different league I walked into. Not sure if it is the one for me anymore, not sure if it was a one-off and the disgruntled, unhappy vibe won't last. Am going back this week, have decided to give it a month and then see. Maybe this is not the league for me, maybe the changes to the hierachy and attitudes are not what I need anymore.

But I'm not ruling it out just yet. It may have been a bad night.

I hope so.

It Has To Happen

With all organisations, as they grow, so too do the demands, internal politics and conflicts. Yesterday I witnessed one such hiccup in our derby league. On the regular Wednesday morning skate a lot of the people attending are the derbyers. This little league is now growing at an incredible rate, and what once worked is starting to show sly cracks of weakness and dissent. Not through bitchiness (though I must add, you put of lot of strong women in a group and hell, whaddya think is gonna happen... ) or troublemakers, but purely from the pressure of ANY organisation that grows too quickly. Firm procedures, processes, rules and expectations have to be explained clearly AND enforced. It is no good worrying if you are goin' to be everybody's mate at the end if the whole damn thing implodes before it even gets started. If people want to act like a bunch of children there are times you need to treat them as such!

The whole philosophy of this league was what attracted me and many others, it would be a shame if it was lost. That is what WILL happen unless you all focus, find the issues, and resolve them NOW from a grassroots level. If you take the title, you have to do the hard yards, and not leave it all to fall on one or two people until they buckle from the strain.

So people, breathe, take a step back, and as I said yesterday, if you ain't part of the problem nor part of the solution: ZIP IT!

And even more tragically - my derby name might be taken already! How could I ever be anything other than Madmother after a decade of this username... *sob*

My only hope is that when the backlog on the international register clears, I am the one who applied for it first. Now I just have to wait it out...*sniff*sniff*