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Loretta
This is great to have others write the way they feel about the old days. There is a new market out there that is looking to see the skating world make its comeback.
I wish I could have trained skaters for the future. Now that my kids are all grown, I feel a void in my life. Maybe this is another calling for me to get out my feelings on the web. I hope what I'm doing will not upset anyone, as I'm not trying to take any glory away from skaters of the past, nor the present, but just to try to express my feelings for all sports in which women participated in the 20th century.
Who ever heard of getting kicked in the private places in any sport; or tempers getting out of hand in baseball, basketball, football or especially hockey, which is the closest game to Roller Derby? What ever happened to having talent in your sport, or to work at earning all this money? Lastly, look at the fights. The only game now that is truly exciting is soccer. The only clean sports of late for women are bowling, golf, swimming, gymnastics, roller blading, speed skating, and ice skating. Even dancing has become a sport.
Women have had hard times for many years getting their talent out; to be able to compete in a man's world and get themselves out of the stereotype of making babies and being in the kitchen, cooking, cleaning, and doing what men expected of them. Now it's time that we woman keep our place in the home, take care of our children and still have the respect that we deserve, plus be able to be on an equal basis with regard to salary with the men in business and in sports. Money plays a big role in the difference between the women and men in sports.
We work just as hard to be team players as the men do, and now we're sharing in the world with the men. The big question to me is, if men could go into the woman's role, and can we all be treated as equal in the world of business and in sports, as well?
There are many woman whose place is only to be a housewife. This is a special field and talent. It was wonderful to be able to do this when the job market was enough to have families supported by the husband. But in this new place in time, it now takes two people to keep a family going. I will expand on this thought at another time.
As a child growing up there were very few women in the sports field that were role models. I had one favorite in my day. Sonja Henie, the beautiful ice skater, was my role model. I was a cocky kid who wanted to become an ice skater. But not having too many ice rinks around, I learned to roller skate. As I was tiny, I was used to having skaters do lifts and throw me all around during the free-style skating. I also tried going into dance skating, but I was more of a tomboy and being dainty was not my cup of tea. When the roller rink brought in speed skating, I took a shot at joining the speed club. I met many others who had the same outlook as I did. When Roller Derby came into New York, my friends and I at the roller rink went down for the tryouts.
When I was growing up in the 40's and 50's, there wasn't a big market for women, except to get married and raise a family. I had grown up with six siblings, and being the oldest, this was not the life I was ready for. Now after many years of not skating, I'm telling others all about the career that I had. In this new generation, woman are given more of a chance to compete in a man's world than in the past. Woman today look at life as if we're all independent, & we would like to make our own choices as to where our destiny will take us. Today, we as women have a choice of being anything we want, be it a sports person, homemaker, or even being the president of a business. Who knows, one day the President of the United States may even be a woman.
When women decide to be an athlete, it's a long haul to train for many hours, to work at being the best they can give, and being dedicated to their goals. After coming into the field, there is the possibility that you may have to leave your home and travel to different places. This also involves learning how to adjust to all kinds of different life styles.
Well, now that I've opened up another door, I guess I'll have to write another page in the chapter on woman in the wonderful world of sports and life itself.
Pleasure to be with you,
Loretta "Little Iodine" Behrens
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