The Gear

So you’ve been to Skate Away USA a few times, you’ve met the girls and you’ve rolled around a little. Perhaps you are like Jessica, our newest addition to our greenies and you broke your wrist the first night on those rented skates. (Kudos to Jessica by the way, she never missed a Wednesday practice or an off-skates. You truly are a bad-ass!) Anyway, you may have noticed that the girls who have been doing this for a while don some serious protective gear: a helmet, mouthguard, elbow pads, wristguards, kneepads, and skates.

Why? Because if you eat shit and hurt yourself not only does it suck, but it sucks to watch other girls skate while your waiting for your doctor to clear you. Seriously, it hurts in your gut when you watch other girls skate and you can’t. That’s real pain!

Your Helmet
Yes, I am aware that this is not Kailani's helmet, but I had to post this somewhere. Much love Styles, the 'fro was a fourth of July sensation!

First of all you need your brain bucket to fit! You can’t practice in the church of derby, or life very easily with a brain injury. It should fit snug and low on your forehead. When you wiggle it you should feel the skin of your scalp moving as well. The strap should be secured snug under your chin. Measure yourself according to the manufacturer's specifications

You want a safety-tested and -rated helmet. Ratings to look for are ASTM and CPSC. When we were beginning most of our girls just went with what came in the rookie package. Most roller girls from what I have observed are wearing skateboard helmets. The Triple 8 Brainsaiver is popular among our fresh meat and it’s CPSC certified. It was my first helmet, but after 6 months of training and falling as much as we do, I think I’m going to get a new one very soon. Probably an S-One.

Once a helmet has protected you from an extreme impact, gets cracked, or when the inner foam begins to feel loose inside the hard shell (and it will with all of the heat and the sweat you produce) it should be replaced. At the minimum, a helmet for an actively scrimmaging skater should be replaced once a year.

Mouthguard
With HDD, if you don’t have a mouthgard, you don’t skate! Period! Yeah most people think its for your teeth, but really, mouthgards are more about protecting your brain as well. They help prevent concussions. I have had great success with Shock Doctor boil and bite mouthguards, they come with dental insurance! WIN! I bought one with the highest coverage I could find. You can also go to your dentist and get fitted.

Mouthguards are definitely something to get used to if you have never worn one in your life. To this day Machete Abbey’s gag reflex is triggered at strange times... and mouthguards will do that, but you will get used to it.

Elbow Pads & Knee Pads
Don’t go cheap on these. The best ones range from about $50-$100. Just bite it and pay! Your joints are important! Especially your knees. A trip to Urgent Care is about $150 just for them to see you that doesn’t cover the Lortab prescription. After they’ve had a good look they refer you to Orthopedic Assicociates... and that’s more onto the bill. If you sustain an injury bad enough, you have to pay for the ambulance and the ER, and that’s even more money with x-rays, IV pain meds, anal probing... okay... so not really anal probing! But you really need to understand the importance of good pads. Trust!

Skateboard pads are usually pretty good.
Look for: a thick memory foam and ring-shaped padding on the knee. That keeps pressure off of the kneecap. There should also be a hard plastic cap over the knee, preferably with a flat, rather than curved, sliding surface.
I’m going to buy the 187 pro knees very soon. Tony Hawk endorses them. I started out with Triple 8, and I liked them well enough, but I’ve lost alot of inches on my thighs so they don’t fit well anymore.
... That brings us to fit. Your pads should start very snug. Again, measure yourself according to the manufacturer's specifications. The memory foam will conform to your unique curves... and eventually become too loose. When this happens buy new.


Wristguards
Do yourself a favor and buy yourself some Tripple 8 Hired Hands! I won’t recommend anything else and you can’t make me! Measure yourself...blah blah blah.....manufacturer's specifications.

Skates: the Boot
There’s only a little advice I can give you one this one. First, your feet are not like everyone elses. Not everyone will fit comfortably into the Riedell 265s. Currently I wear the 265s. However, Courtney, and Shawmarie wear Sure Grip Rebells. Courtney tried mine on before hers came in, they fit, but the boot was too slim for her comfort.

You want your boot to feel very snug when you first put them on, but not uncomfortable.
Usually, you will wear 1- 1 1/2 size smaller than your everyday shoe. I think I’m going to go down 2 sizes. Your toes should be about 1/4 of an inch from the end when you stand in it. It should not feel loose, and your heel shouldn’t slip. Your boots will break in especially if they are leather, so think about that.

If your skates are too lose, you will get painful blisters, and if they are too tight, you could permanently damage the bones in your feet... like Chinese foot binding ----------------------------->
Ew!

Sin City Skates is derby owned and operated and they have awesome advice for sizing.
My best recommendation is to call them and measure yourself on the phone with one of their girls. They can tell you the right boot for you.


Here are sites I have ordered from, but I am open to other suggestions. Again, I've had the best experience from Sin City.
1. Sin City Skates
2. Roller Girl Skates

.... so happy ordering... it will be a little pricey, but you will love this! Now go get some derby funk on those pads... but don’t forget to wash them on gentle and let air dry. Trust! You may not mind the smell of your own progress, but others will.

-Rx Bex
High Desert Derby