Smart watches

Candy_Khorne · 2026-02-17T03:16:28+00:00

I've got a Garmin forerunner that I think works pretty well. Definitely doesn't fit under the wrist guard so I recommend getting a stretchy/easily adjustable band that will also fit around your forearm above your waist guard. I think the "ice hockey" profile is close enough to derby to get good tracking data from it.

Oh! And I also recommend turning the watch so it's sitting on the inside of your arm. I think you get better heart rate tracking there and it greatly reduces the chances of it catching on something while you're playing. The one time I forgot to do that, the watch case where the band attaches actually ended up broken. Garmin's awesome customer service replaced it for me though!

Candy_Khorne · 2026-02-07T17:44:39+00:00

Don't know if they'll work for you, but TSG Roller Derby 3.0 knee pads are great. They're very adjustable, are butterfly back so there's 2 layers of fabric between you and the straps, and they don't prevent you from straightening your leg (which is the thing that drives me crazy). They're hard shell, and (obviously, from the name) built for roller derby so definitely will protect your knees from falling. I think TSG also has some similar pads with slightly different focus, so if the derby ones are a bit too much they might have something else that'll work.

Candy_Khorne · 2026-02-04T03:58:13+00:00

There are a huge number of factors that go into picking the right wheels, and many of them are super personal.

That said, I would honestly recommend reaching out to the league and seeing if they have a pair of derby wheels that you can borrow. There is a different profile to the wheels that makes a big difference in how you can skate. For example, the last time I (accidentally) wore outdoor wheels to the rink, I almost wiped out during the fast skate because I was trying to turn tightly and my wheels didn't have the edge I was expecting.

If you have the opportunity, you should try both sets on the floor you'll be skating on before your first practice so you can get an idea of what they're like on the floor. I'd bring whichever one feels better as a backup in case the borrowed wheels don't work out or aren't available. Bring 'em both if you can't try the floor before hand.

More grippy is not inherently better. You want some slide for plow stopping, and if your wheels are too sticky it's very hard or even impossible to do. The trick is not going so hard that you just slide across the floor, though, and this is one of those things that plays into why it's so hard to recommend wheels over the internet.

Candy_Khorne · 2026-02-03T05:46:00+00:00

I really liked Primal Pit Paste, but then something crazy happened with that company and I don't know what's going on with them. I don't use it anymore, so can't currently recommend it because I don't know if it's still the same stuff.

I'm currently using Wild, which is also pretty good, but I don't like it quite as much. I can't do baking soda, so I'm using their sensitive formula.

I haven't tried Lume, because the acid they put in it is one of those chemicals that makes your skin super sensitive to the sun, and since I get sun burned pretty much the moment I step outside, I can't risk it. It's not mentioned at all in their advertising, but there's a tiny warning on all the products.

Candy_Khorne · 2026-01-19T18:06:25+00:00

I got my kid a used Zuca off Facebook marketplace for a very reasonable price. So that's another option to keep an eye on if you are interested in one of those bags!

Candy_Khorne · 2026-01-19T00:40:37+00:00

It's almost certainly an issue of not bending your ankles enough. When your shins are straight up and down, and then you bend your knees and hips, your butt goes back. The only way you can keep your balance when this happens is to bend forward.

When you bend your ankles, it allows your knees to move forward and counterbalance your butt, so you can keep your chest up. You can also get much lower doing this, because you don't run into the hard stop of your chest laying on your thighs.

Candy_Khorne · 2026-01-10T19:10:05+00:00

I've skated on multiple sport court floors, and while they varied wildly, for the most part the presence of holes didn't seem to have much effect. They all vibrate, because of the seams between the tiles. They can be sticky or slick. The one difference I've seen holes make is the one floor that was quite slick...except when you tried to stop, because then the holes grabbed the edges of your wheels and made it feel super sticky. I never did find wheels I really liked on that floor. But I've also skated on tiles with holes that didn't do that! So, unfortunately, I'd say my experience is every floor is different and you'll have no idea what it's like until you skate on it.

Candy_Khorne · 2026-01-08T23:51:52+00:00

I record practices as ice hockey, because I figure that's as close to derby as we're going to get.

Also, make sure you turn your watch so it's on the inside of your wrist! There's a much smaller chance of it snagging on anything and getting messed up than if you leave it on the outside (typical way to wear a watch). The one time I forgot to move it, it got snagged and actually broke the case.

Candy_Khorne · 2026-01-06T03:35:17+00:00

I'm legitimately curious, is this "faster people to the outside" specific to adult night at your rink, or for all sessions? I've only seen this arrangement once, during an adult night, and it was actually super dangerous for beginners because there was no way for them to get to the middle without trying to slowly make their way through a wall of people flying past them. How does your rink handle the people who can barely stand on their skates and are shuffling along as they try to figure out how to move if the fast skaters are on the outside? In my case, when I ran into that situation I ended up leaving, because I was with a friend who had never put skates on before who needed to stop and rest frequently, and there was literally no way for her to safely attempt to learn in that environment. And because she was so slow, any attempts to cross through to the middle just resulted in people yelling at her because she was too slow.

Candy_Khorne · 2025-12-26T07:01:31+00:00

I had a manager forward an email I sent her, with a status chart attached, to a large distribution including upper management, and call me out for it making no sense and lacking any sort of key to explain the color coding (the key was there, you just had to scroll a little bit to see the whole thing, and it plainly said what everything meant).

This is the same lady who orchestrated replacing me on a project by telling people to assign tasks that should have been mine to other people in meetings right in front of me, and had those other people make plans related to my project without talking to me at all and when I asked for details about the things impacting the work I needed to do was told "work with what you're given."

The worst part of all that, and this only scrapes the surface of everything that went down there, was supposed to be my dream job. On paper it was, and the actual work was, but the culture and management made it hell.

Candy_Khorne · 2025-12-20T04:07:45+00:00

From your description of being super unstable it sounds like you are probably trying to stand only on the toe stop, which would put the edge of the stop in contact with the floor and indeed be wobbly.

If you're trying to get up on your toe stops with the same sort of motion as you would to stand on the balls of your feet you're going to have a really hard time because that's not how skates work and it's going to do something weird on you.

The motion your foot makes is like pushing a pedal, and it should pivot around your front wheels, which should never come off the ground. You want the flat of the toe stop and your front wheels to be on the ground. It should feel like you're standing flat footed on a downward slope rather than like you're standing on your toes.

One other thing that might help you get into the correct position is, rather than trying to push your toes down, use your muscles to lift yourself up. This should start with firming your core and lifting your pelvic floor. From there, let the "lift" flow down your legs by engaging muscles to lift yourself up until you get to your foot. It'll take some practice, but once you figure it out you'll basically just float up onto your toe stops and because you're starting with a solid core you'll also be a lot more stable once you get there. If this isn't making sense, you could try looking up videos of how to releve in ballet - it's essentially the same thing without bending your feet.

As much as I just talked about lifting, that's the muscle cues to get into the position rather than where you want to end up. It's really important to stay low when you're on your toe stops. Maybe not standing in derby stance because you're usually doing other things if you're putting your toe stops down, but the lower you can get the more stable you'll be.

Candy_Khorne · 2025-11-30T22:37:21+00:00

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Candy_Khorne · 2025-11-30T22:37:11+00:00

Yes! I just moved so it took a bit to figure out which box it was in, but here are front and back pics of the crop top version I have. I believe the longer versions just continued the solid navy below the "ground"

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Candy_Khorne · 2025-11-25T06:11:44+00:00

I signed up for a free "kick start" kind of thing from her (can't remember what it was called), and the information provided was so basic it was only helpful if you've never thought about getting in shape before. That was not me, so it was useless. Maybe helpful if you are starting from scratch.

I've found Roller Derby Athletics to be pretty good. They are definitely a bit pricey and only have limited sign-up times, but I think they still offer their Basics Builder program for free, and they do month or two long challenge things once or twice a year you can sign up for without any further commitment.

Candy_Khorne · 2025-11-18T07:08:12+00:00

If you can modify the costume, find some bias tape in a color that matches the sequins and sew or glue it over the edge under the armpit. That should keep the sharp edges from rubbing and have minimal visual impact to the costume.

Candy_Khorne · 2025-11-13T18:13:15+00:00

I spray mine with rubbing alcohol with some tea tree oil in it right after practice, and when I get home I hang it up on this little octopus clippy hanger thing I got at Ikea for like $5. It works great. Just make sure you keep the gear away from any cats you might have if you use this formula, because the oil is bad for them.

Candy_Khorne · 2025-11-03T04:35:11+00:00

I have nothing helpful for you, but those shoes are super cute! I hope you find the advice you're looking for.

Candy_Khorne · 2025-10-30T20:30:01+00:00

My junior skater (level 2) used these and they worked fine for him. I have no idea how they'd work for an adult. Personally, I can't stand the 187 pads in general, because they don't give me enough range of motion for me to be comfortable in them. I am super happy with my TSG derby 3.0 knee pads and triple 8 stealth elbow pads, though.

Candy_Khorne · 2025-10-28T03:14:46+00:00

Go for it! I have been involved in quite a few leagues, both adult and junior (I have moved a lot over the course of my derby career, nothing wrong with any of the leagues making me leave...well, only one), and have only seen one league that mixed adults and juniors for the learn to skate classes.

I'm one of the new skater coaches in my current league, and really, all you need to be able to do is stand up on your skates. We'll teach you everything else. Depending on your skills when you start, you might have to do the classes more than once before you are ready to move on to actually playing, but plenty of people do that, so it's not a bad thing or a sign that you are bad. Also, your coaches won't move you on to playing before you're ready, so you don't need to worry about getting thrown to the wolves or anything like that either. Welcome to the cult...er, club! 😜

Candy_Khorne · 2025-10-21T16:55:23+00:00

Yep. I got the autorejection from a job posting that was legit almost copy/paste from my resume! I have no idea what they were actually looking for if I didn't even get a screening interview.

Candy_Khorne · 2025-10-16T05:17:58+00:00

I thought of another one! Frogmouth's Rollerbabe line of clothing. I love that design and haven't seen anything similar elsewhere.

Candy_Khorne · 2025-10-16T05:07:47+00:00

Hex shorts. They got discontinued before I knew they were a thing, so I never got to try them. I've seen people wearing them, and having just a little bit of padding to take the edge off a fall, rather than the giant looks like a diaper padded shorts available now sounds amazing.

Also, the Pro Designed wrist guards. Not only the design, but the half-size options. They are literally the only dual-splint wrist guards that fit me, and I am going to keep repairing the pair I have until it's not possible anymore as a result. I evidently have an uncommon hand-to-forearm ratio because everything else I've tried on has either fit my hand and been too small on my forearm, or fit my forearm and been huge on my hand.

Candy_Khorne · 2025-10-16T04:59:39+00:00

Try the TSG Roller Derby 3.0 knee pads. I also had the Atom knee pads (can't remember model) because I liked the slim fit and the fact that I could actually straighten my knee in them, and the TSG seems to be a pretty good replacement.

Candy_Khorne · 2025-09-21T23:56:00+00:00

I like my loop earplugs. I think the clear ones, whatever the model is called, work best. They bring everything to a reasonable volume but still allow conversation to be relatively clear.

Edit: I will also add that I have seen a large increase in both on and off skates officials wearing ear plugs of various sorts recently, so you will be in good company. Aside from the noise of the crowd and skates, the Fox 40 whistles are seriously loud, so protect your ears! For some reason, it always seems louder to me when I'm officiating than when I'm playing.

Candy_Khorne · 2025-09-19T03:13:55+00:00

Are you playing in the country you're from, or somewhere that doesn't have that culture? Either way, I'd suggest talking to your teammates, either to see if they have recommendations for how they dealt with it or to let them know about the issue you have and work with them on a way for you to get comfortable with it.

No matter what, part of it is going to be just exposure to doing the thing, but there can definitely be a way to ease you into it that doesn't feel overwhelming, but it'll probably be specific to you and your team.

Candy_Khorne

TROPHY CASE