French Tickler- 2

Heartless Heathers 

Joined RCR: 2009, HH '09-present, AoA '10
Drink of choice: champagne
Derby wife: Quick and Deadly (ECRG)
Derby nemesis: no comment :)
Day job: server at St. Jack's restaurant
Theme Song: by Henry Rollins
Hometown: St. Louis, MO

So how did you get your start in roller derby?

I was living in Eugene at the time (2007), and the Emerald City Rollergirls were having a car wash down the street from my house.  I saw a flyer and thought “I could do that!”  I stopped by and they recruited me, told me where and when they play, and promised if I just showed up they’d show me how to play roller derby.  I literally had Bambi legs at first!  The league had just been founded by a group of ladies, so it was just getting it’s start.  Once I started skating with them they asked me to be the league secretary, and I became a board member.  I was the first drafted skater on the Church of Sk8in.

How did you end up in Portland with the Rose City Rollers?

Just before Christmas 2008 I had a really bad sledding accident and almost died.  I was basically incapacitated for about 6 months.  I had to wear a medical bracelet showing that I was at risk for internal bleeding.  Around New Years 2009 my job got me transferred to Portland, and my derby girls packed me up and helped move me up here.  I knew there was roller derby here, but I still wasn’t healthy enough to play.  On June 23^rd, 2009 I finally got to take off my medical bracelet and I started going to Fresh Meat practices right away.  I was drafted to the Heartless Heathers soon after.  I was excited cuz I already knew some Heathers from Eugene; Goody Two Skates and Izabell Ringer used to come down and skate with us, so the Heathers was always the team we rooted for. 

Your name is a little naughty!  How did you come up with it?

I have a tattoo of a feather on my arm, and the guys at work always teased me, saying it was my “french tickler”.  They started calling me Frenchie.  When it was time to pick a derby name, I knew that’s what it had to be.  I got the tattoo one of the times I went to visit my mom in Nashville when she was really sick.  She was so, so proud of me for doing roller derby.  It was something that even when she was in pain she could remember and be happy about.  So I did it for her.  My number, 2, is because I’m the middle child, and when we were kids we would use our number when we paged our mom at work.  I was #2. 

You mostly go by your nickname “Frenchie”.  Is that because your full name is too risqué?

You know it’s funny, I’ve been in several articles discussing how “family-friendly” roller derby is (or isn’t).  They say things like “how can this be PG-13 with names like ‘French Tickler’ and ‘Twat Rocket’?”  But I didn’t even think about it in the dirty sense, the condoms or whatever.  Maybe I’m naïve, but I always thought it was about the feather.  The reason I go by Frenchie isn’t cuz I’m embarrassed.  Honestly, it’s so that no one calls me “Tickler”.  I hate that name for some reason.  Plus I’m a certified wine steward, and in the wine industry everyone is called Frenchie.  So it fits!

You’re head of the Training Committee.  What does that entail?

It means I am a very busy woman!  Our main focuses are practice schedules, encouraging an environment of athleticism, and helping all programs and committees work together with the teams.  It also includes recruiting coaches when necessary, organizing travel team tryouts, and lots more.  Some of the more complicated stuff involves re-working practice schedules.  Practice commitments range from 2 hours (for someone on Wreckers who can drop in for a Wreckers practice whenever they want) all the way up to about 20 hours a week (for a skater who is on the travel team and also a home team).  We can’t minimize anyone’s commitment, we have to work with each individual’s idea of what they want to give and get out of the sport.

I see you doing a lot of behind-the-scenes support.  What else do you have your hands in?

The Training Committee really takes up a huge chunk of my time, so that’s my main focus besides skating.  In the past I’ve helped with sponsorship.  I helped the league get Barefoot to sponsor us through some connections I have.  I try to take time to be a fan too.  It’s fun to support our teams even when you’re not playing.  I travel for derby too- sometimes I go down to Eugene to watch them play, or I go to a tournament that our Wheels of Justice is in.  I like to check out other teams too.  Oh, and I also bench coached Axles of Annihilation last year.

So assuming you had any free time, what would you be doing?

I actually have non-derby friends!  I try to have a weekly date with them.  I am godmother to my friend’s daughter, so I try to spend as much time with them as possible.  I like to make dinner for people, I love to cook.  I like pinball and outdoor skating.  I love camping to get away from it all, and since I have a lot of connections in the wine industry sometimes I’ll call up a friend and ask to come camp out on their vineyard!

What was your skating/athletic experience before joining roller derby?

Oh the usual kid stuff.  There was a roller rink across the street from my high school, so I used to go skating.  I was really proud cuz I could do a cross-over, and I used to limbo.  As far as other sports, I was on the swim team.  Later on in life I worked at a facility that trained athletes who wanted to compete in triathlons but didn’t know how to swim correctly.

Any personal heroes, derby or otherwise?

I love Suzy Hotrod (GGRD) as a skater, but I’m also so impressed by Honey Hellfire and Napoleon Blownapart.  I’m in awe of how hard they’ve both worked and how far they’ve come.  Also Burnadeath from ECRG, same story of hard work and improvement.  Non-derby-wise, the Olympic medalist Tracy Caulkins.  The training facility I worked at in Nashville is named after her.  Everyone kept telling her she wasn’t good enough, wasn’t ever going to make it, and she worked hard and kept at it, and made it to the Olympics. 

You’re from St Louis, how did you end up here in Oregon?

I had a friend who lived in Oregon, and we worked on a non-profit ranch in Arkansas together.  After we went our separate ways we stayed friends and pen pals.  I came out to visit her one summer and we drove all over Oregon.  Eugene, Portland, Southern Oregon, the coast.  It was August, and it was so beautiful, and I was like “I should totally move here!”  So my sweetheart and I moved to Corvallis.  I didn’t know it was going to rain this much though!

We didn’t see you skate that much last season.  What happened?

I blew out my knee March of last year.  I got drafted after the 2009 season was over, so I got to play two bouts last season and then I got hurt during the last jam of a Wednesday night scrimmage.  I tore my MCL, stretched my LCL, and completely blew my PCL, which dislocated my kneecap.  I didn’t have surgery or anything; it would have been really expensive, they would have had to put a cadaver ligament in my knee, and you don’t really need your PCL anyway.  So that’s why you didn’t see me skating.  I started again last July, and I did all the preseason training coming into this season.

Any accomplishments you are particularly proud of?

Nothing big, just lots of little things.  I was an AmeriCorps volunteer, I was an EMT, I’m a certified wine sommelier.  I wanted to be on travel team so badly, and when I made AoA I almost peed my pants!  Well, not really, but that was so awesome.  I’d love to be on travel team again.  The industry I work in is very social, and not really conducive to being on travel team.  I already put my roller derby schedule ahead of work.  I have to tell my boss I need certain nights off, and that I can’t go to some wine show over the weekend because I have a derby tournament.  Maybe someday I’ll be on travel team again, when I’m not worried about little things like paying rent.

So what are you looking forward to this season?

I like playing roller derby.  I like to skate.  I’m excited to do that.

Anything else you want your fans to know?

Just that I love this sport so much.  When people come up to me after bouts and say “I love watching you skate!” I’m always like “I love to skate!”  I love roller derby!  I appreciate and respect the athleticism each girl finds in herself.  These girls may not be the type of athlete you can fit in a box, everyone’s skill and contribution is unique.