Penny Pincher and flat track roller gals
James and I were college friends but rarely met in our late 20s except for alumni events. As life settled down we exchanged family pictures and when he obtained his amateur radio license we were in regular contact.
Visits on radio are like being in a room with your eyes closed, but at least we were in touch.
His youngest son, named for his father but called Jimmy, invited me to his wedding in deep southwest Georgia, nearly to Florida.
Jimmy is large, like his father, has red hair and good with his hands. He was not overtly fond of the job where he had medical and retirement benefits but felt like one pebble on a beach.
He built a small engine repair shop and loves going to work each day.
At the rehearsal dinner I got a look at his intended bride and thought the contrast striking.
Just as Jimmy was large all over, she was petite, slight, delicate, as if looking at her would cause her to break. Appearances are always deceiving. Penny was a middle school teacher, barely taller than her students. Her love for the kids returned in bushels. She is soft-spoken but her words confidently articulated.
Maybe it was her after-hours hobby that spoke louder than words.
Penny, known on the “roller derby” circuit as “Penny Pincher,” was a force on wheels.
This came to mind when my major daily newspaper ran an “above the fold” story about local female skaters on the flat track circuit.
The Women’s Flat Track Derby Association has a bright and cheerful website. If you have any measure of interest I recommend a trip there.
According to the WFTDA there are leagues from Japan to as far east you want to go.
If you would like to see a bunch of women fight their way around a flat track counterclockwise in Spain, Italy, France, Scotland, Hawaii or anywhere in between there is likely a league nearby.
The WFTDA has 450 leagues on six continents, which leaves one continent and I’ll bet that is Antarctica.
Reading the list it seems every large town has a league.
Penny left the track when other things occupied her evenings and two kids were added.
I asked Jimmy via email if she was as tough at home as she was on the track.
“She’s still Penny Pincher,” he replied.