Nadia Kean, aka owner of Strong Athletic returns to RollerCon
Posted by Nadia Kean on Jul 24th 2019
This past weekend I went to this little event that takes place every year in Vegas called RollerCon I've been to every RC except for the 2nd one and last year, and I'm so happy I went this year.
I'll be honest, I wasn't sure what it'd be like. Due to deciding to go last minute, I wasn't going to be coaching at all and I didn't have any games on the table either, so I was just going to be representing at Strong Athletic
I'm very happy to say that I had a blast! A true, old-school blast. I think it was the most fun I've had a RollerCon in years and the only bummer was that my wife and partner in life Carla Smith wasn't there.
My good friend Blaque Jac signed me up for a zillion games, so I kept getting notices in my inbox that I was added to another roster. My roomies were BJ and Lulu Croysdill so I always was surrounded by smiling faces. The amazing humans running the Strong Athletic booth included my right-hand woman Blaque Jac, Amber Schultheis, Darlane SprintJulep Besand and the incredible Jennifer Gaskins so I was always surrounded by badasses at Strong Athletic, including all of the folks who came by to shop.
I was part of the first Queer Skate Alliance game, which was super fun and inclusive. I also got to skate with Team Free Radicals which was amazing!
In the end I did coach a session on Saturday morning, which was a ton of fun, and I incorporated the next group waiting for their class in on it, so it was double the learning fun!
We launched new designs last week as well including our Strong Athletic & Fat tank, a collaboration we did with Chub Club. Our Strong Dedicated Photographer t-shirt we made for all the amazing roller derby photographers in the sport. Our Strong Athletic Trans design we made for all of the amazing Trans Athletes we know and adore. Our Strong Athletic Nonbinary design we made after many requests came in. We also got a lot of requests for new designs, so we're excited about what's coming up.
We were slammed at the Strong Athletic booth, and from the perspective of a small business owner, that is a massive blessing cause it means we were financially supported by people attending RC and we get to keep doing what we love to do.
I was slightly nervous about playing derby because besides doing a few demos during clinics, I haven't played the sport much since the World Cup. I'm happy to report back that it's still the beautiful sport that I love and that it's super fun as ever to play. It was absolutely lovely playing with friends that I adore and cheering on friends from the sidelines while they played was also a plus.
To everyone I saw, and those who I got to give massive hugs to, and those who I played with, and those who came by the Strong Athletic booth and those who told me you missed watching me skate, and those who asked about the next Strong Athletic Podcast: you truly add value to my life, and I want you to know that I'm thankful for that.