Back in August, the first metaphorical jam whistle blew and we were off. We had a team meeting to start planning, and then Jam 1 ended. In September, we had our Calendar Shoot for the upcoming 2016 year; boobies were cast and molded, then mounted to plaques, and Jam 2 was called. Enter October, Jam 3, we lined up the plaques and made roughly $1,300.00 by auctioning them off plus raffling a number of baskets- a portion of the proceeds went to a local cancer association, and we were able to start making a name for ourselves.
Jam 3 was incredibly hard fought; there was a lot of background planning and foreground chaos, some proverbial penalties, and then having to pick up some pieces. There was almost a yes on a place to skate, and the only thing holding it back was time availability; we’re still waiting to hear back from friend at a local sport’s club, which will offer us a little space. The end of Jam 3 is also the ending of our Indiegogo campaign, and there is a huge push to get it over $1,600.00 (https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ny-fire-storm-roller-derby–2#/story). There’s some pretty great perks, and any sort of donation will be greatly appreciated by a lot of hot and sweaty derby skaters.
Tomorrow, we enter Jam 4, and we will start introducing our lovely skaters. On November 14, we will be having a Passion Party fundraiser at Billy Joe’s Ribworks in Newburgh, NY. Planning for Jam 5 and Jam 6 (December and January) are also now in development, and we will continue to call as many potential homes and sponsors as possible.
How we plan each Jam will affect our success; every time we can get our event out, it will bring us more positive publicity, which is a step in the right direction. This team holds a lot of promise, with such diverse abilities and talents- we are doing almost all the grunt work to build ourselves up, bootstrapping it every step of the way. A lot of research has been done, a lot of phone calls have been made, and there is still so much work to be done; each Jam presented a number of challenges, some worse than others, but for every problem we encountered, teamwork pulled us through it; and out of everything we have going for or against us, teamwork- this mutual trust, love, confidence in each other- will continue to endure each obstacle. After all, this is a marathon, we’re in this for the long haul; and we didn’t even finish all four quarters of our first game yet.
Be sure to follow us on our adventure. Next post will be introducing one hell of a mighty skater and one of our fearless leaders.
<3 Rök