Who is Ellie Vation anyway?

I'm not famous in the Hollywood sense.  Nor do I get paid being Ellie Vation.  I play Roller Derby.  And I may get recognized by a few fans here and there.
Yes, Roller Derby was very popular in the 70s and it was even shown on TV.   Yes, that movie Whip It was about Roller Derby... and mostly got it right.
I play for the Charm City Roller Girls.  We are a WFTDA league based out of Baltimore, MD.  WFTDA is the Women's Flat Track Derby Association.  So, if you saw Whip It, you would notice they played on a banked track, where the track is sort of elevated on the outside and slopes inwards.  Well, a WFTDA league plays on a flat track, no elevation or sloping.  We skate counter-clockwise, bumping and hitting into each other on this track with an actual strategy to win.  More on actual rules and such of derby in a future post.
So, how did I get into this sport?  Well, I can thank my husband for that.  He attended a bout with his business partner, and told me all about it when he came home.  He thought I might be interested since I've been an athlete all my life.  My athletic career has ranged from dance (I'm talking ballet, tap and jazz), to volleyball, to basketball, to ice skating, to running, to softball...obviously, I don't like to sit still for too long.  And having a background in ice skating and growing up roller skating at the local Skateland, maybe Roller Derby was just the thing for me. 
So, I attended a Charm City Roller Girl's bout, and fell in love instantly.  Lucky for me, tryouts were coming up quickly.  So, I bought some derby worthy roller skates and all the necessary pads, helmet and mouth guard and hit an Open Skate session at the same Skateland I grew up going to.  I met a few other Skater Tots (other derby hopefuls) and some actual Charm City Roller Girls and began to work on the skills I needed. 
"What skills?" you ask.  Well, you need to be able to perform a variety of stopping techniques, various falling styles...oh... and that little endurance exercise of a particular number of laps in a certain time frame.
Tryouts came and I was as prepared as I could be.  A week or so later I received the official new.... I WAS A CHARM CITY ROLLER GIRL!!!!
After a year of training and going through the assessment process, I was drafted by the Night Terrors the Monday before the March 2011 bout.  I survived my first season and even better, the Night Terrors went undefeated in the CCRG Home Team Season and won the Home Team Championship!
Now, the 2012 Season approaches and I'm looking forward to helping my fellow Night Terrors defend our championship.
So, who is Ellie Vation?  Number U23 of the Night Terrors!  Come find me on the track.