We could be such good friends:

Hello.  My name is Elektra Q-Tion and I am a derby stalker. Now, before someone gets offended, please understand that I am not making light of the real danger and crime of stalking; I'm talking about finding your derby heroes and trying to learn from their styles.

First of all, do you know how lucky we are in this sport?  Our sport is at this amazing point in its history where we can actually interact with the major movers and shakers.  Do you think that amateur basketball players and easily see Kobe play live?  I get to practice with some of the most outstanding players in the WFTDA, but since I'm around them all of the time, I really don't need to stalk them.  We are really in the perfect moment to be in derby.  This is why it is so important to be careful how we approach some of our derby sheroes.

My first derby stalker fail came last year when at ECE, the Bootleggers played Gotham's B-team, the Wall Street Traitors.  Ginger Snap and Hyper Lynx were both playing and I was star struck; I actually was on the pivot line with Ginger when I said "If you hit me and leave your number on me, will you sign it later?"  Ginger gave me a blank stare and slowly moved away from me.  Sigh.  I blew that one.  I wanted to yell "I'm harmless!  I promise!"

After that gaffe, I stalked my sheroes through footage; I studied Suzy Hotrod, Mo Pain, Kelly Young, Athena, and a Joy Collision.  I made sure I read their blogs and interviews; and I watched their games on DNN constantly.  I was obsessed with their awesomeness, but I didn't impact anyone else with my fan-gooberness.

My second and more successful derby stalking happened at Rollercon this year.  I saw that Quadzilla was going to be there teaching, and I was like a giddy school girl.  I made sure I signed up for every one of his classes and showed up super early each time.  Yes, I had random thoughts about putting him in my suitcase and bringing him back to North Carolina so he could make my state MIGHTY, but I didn't go any further than asking him his opinion about ab work outs and of course his Antik skates.
In case you've been living in a hole for the last year.  I'm still sad that my feet are too narrow for the boots.  But as I was saying, I was well behaved.

Ok, I still took a couple of pics of him when he wasn't looking.

Yes, we are lucky that we can talk to the super stars of our sport, and most of them are pretty approachable!  Every person who is star struck just wants some of that amazing ability to rub off on them, just for a little while.  We still have to remember that they are people who need their space and don't need us following them around and stalking them on Facebook, unless they have a fan page for just the occasion! I try to approach my heroes is a much cooler manner than I did at ECE; I still feel weirdly awkward at times because I'm trying to be so casual and polite to them, but I think I have it under control....mostly.