Rollerderby is For Real!!!!

When I first agreed to help start a roller derby team with jamie it seemed like a fun novelty idea. This slowly morphed into an obsession. (And by slowly I mean overnight.) Then I started buying shit for derby like ALL THE TIME. But even after having bought a laegue's worth of padding and mouthguards and skates, I felt like it was a cool idea that may or may not be abandoned eventally like all of my other temporary (and often expensive) obsessions. I was especially felling like it was a pipe dream last week, when I didn't skate outside of a couple of spins on the dining room floor with Mac. (He HATES when I skate with him by the way.)
Last night I was very excited about the idea of skating.. and of having gear to share... and of our ever-increasing numbers.. but at the same time I was worried that with no better prospects than kid dodging and push brooming the mini-skate-park area it was all going to fall apart before it got enough steam to go anywhere.
I called Williamon County Pavilion last week (I called Herrin to see if they had a big enough community center and while on the phone with the lady who was telling me they were all carpeted it just hit me like a ton of bricks.) I googled the wilco pavilion and called them last Wednesday.
I talked to a very nice girl named Christy who said that they had been talking about having ANY kind of sports team and how it would drum up business. She seemed really excited (which got me excited.) She said they mostly rent for weddings (and Cat and Dog shows it seems). Their normal rate is $100 per event plus $20 per hour if it is after 4:30! (I felt a little deflated when she told me this!!)
Christy said she was going on vacation and would be back today. I said I would come by this afternoon to meet with her. (Totally forgetting it was my anniversary!!!) I called this afternoon to reschedule. Apparently Christy was really excited... She spent a good anount of time talking about it to her manager and they had just been brainstorming about us! She said $50 a practice... roughly 2 hour practices, roughly 2 hours per week. They are willing to work with us on hours and dates. She also said that her manager (Shannon) had already talked people into coming to our first bout. They are willing to help us find sponsors and advertise and sell tickets once we start bouting even!!!
This rocks so fuckin much that instead of a half deflated balloon of derby excitement I now have a so-full-it-popped derby excitement balloon!!!!