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Carol Stream, IL —
Looking for a way to be active, Marie Lill was alerted to the DuPage Derby Dames through a Facebook post.
Ignoring the small detail that she had never skated before, the Carol Stream resident and mother of three began to teach herself the craft last April after asking for roller skates for her birthday. She attended tryouts for the roller derby squad in September and now, just a few short months later, Lill has fallen in love with the growing sport.
“I am so happy,” said Lill, who grew up in California before living in Illinois the past 15 years. “I’m thrilled, I’m so in love with roller derby. I’m head over heals in love with it.”
The initial stages were challenging for Lill, who had never been involved in sports growing up and admitted she didn’t have any knowledge of roller derby coming in.
“When I went to the try out, I was still kind of clutching the wall,” said Lill, who owns her own business (home daycare provider). “It was still really new and kind of intimidating. It took so much guts to go there because I knew I didn’t know how to skate really well. But they welcomed us with open arms and a lot of us learned together.
“One thing is I had no clue how to stop. When I was learning to skate on trails, when I needed to stop, I just jumped into the grass.”
Lill goes by the derby name of Madam Mischief, and her progress over a short period of time has been immense thanks to hard work and her newfound passion for roller derby.
“Everybody says I’m doing really, really good,” she said. “It is very exciting. I’ve improved so much; I go to open skates and different lessons and I’ve never missed a practice. I’ve worked hard and now I can skate backwards, stop, skate on one foot, even jump over a rope.”
All of that practice was put to the test Jan. 7 when the Derby Dames had an exhibition bout at the Coachlite Skate Center in Roselle in front of more than 500 spectators. With many butterflies swirling before her first actual contest, Lill received some advice from her children.
“Two of my daughters are teenagers and they’ve been in sports,” she said. “They said, ‘Mom, you have to get into the zone.’ I remember being so nervous beforehand. My husband had never seen me practice before, my mom came in from out of state, friends were there. It was a full house.
Looking for a way to be active, Marie Lill was alerted to the DuPage Derby Dames through a Facebook post.
Ignoring the small detail that she had never skated before, the Carol Stream resident and mother of three began to teach herself the craft last April after asking for roller skates for her birthday. She attended tryouts for the roller derby squad in September and now, just a few short months later, Lill has fallen in love with the growing sport.
“I am so happy,” said Lill, who grew up in California before living in Illinois the past 15 years. “I’m thrilled, I’m so in love with roller derby. I’m head over heals in love with it.”
The initial stages were challenging for Lill, who had never been involved in sports growing up and admitted she didn’t have any knowledge of roller derby coming in.
“When I went to the try out, I was still kind of clutching the wall,” said Lill, who owns her own business (home daycare provider). “It was still really new and kind of intimidating. It took so much guts to go there because I knew I didn’t know how to skate really well. But they welcomed us with open arms and a lot of us learned together.
“One thing is I had no clue how to stop. When I was learning to skate on trails, when I needed to stop, I just jumped into the grass.”
Lill goes by the derby name of Madam Mischief, and her progress over a short period of time has been immense thanks to hard work and her newfound passion for roller derby.
“Everybody says I’m doing really, really good,” she said. “It is very exciting. I’ve improved so much; I go to open skates and different lessons and I’ve never missed a practice. I’ve worked hard and now I can skate backwards, stop, skate on one foot, even jump over a rope.”
All of that practice was put to the test Jan. 7 when the Derby Dames had an exhibition bout at the Coachlite Skate Center in Roselle in front of more than 500 spectators. With many butterflies swirling before her first actual contest, Lill received some advice from her children.
“Two of my daughters are teenagers and they’ve been in sports,” she said. “They said, ‘Mom, you have to get into the zone.’ I remember being so nervous beforehand. My husband had never seen me practice before, my mom came in from out of state, friends were there. It was a full house.
“Then I remember going on the floor when it was time to start and being a bit nervous during introductions but after that, it was no different than practice. I was in that zone literally. I forgot that my friends and family were there, it was all about skating and roller derby.”
Already looking forward to the next bout against the Wisconsin River Valley Roller Girls on Feb. 18, Lill said the rewards from this experience are endless.
“It’s been so good,” said Lill, whose two oldest daughters have started a roller derby club at Bartlett High School. “I’m able to get out that extra energy I didn’t have a release for. I have always been high energy and didn’t have a lot to go and do. For me, to get that energy out is so incredibly fulfilling. And then just being on a team with a bunch of girls, we come from all different backgrounds but we all get along. We hangout together, go out after practice. I now have 40 girlfriends.”
